Commentary by Mark Wahl, CISA
Organizing principles for identity systems:
Expressing facts in RDF N-notation (20070806)
Kermit Snelson writes in Subjectivity a request to
- List eight random facts about yourself.
- At the end of your post, choose eight people and list their names, linking to them.
- Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they've been tagged.
As an incorrect but simplifying assumption, I'll use web page URIs to refer to individuals.
1. I have an OID assignment in the private enterprise tree.
This one should be straightforward as RFC 3061 provides a URN namespace of object identifiers.
<http://www.ldap.com/1/commentary/wahl/> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#seeAlso> <urn:oid:1.3.6.1.4.1.1466> .
2. My favorite drink is cider.
The attribute "favoriteDrink" is defined in RFC 1274, which is updated by RFC 4524.
<http://www.ldap.com/1/commentary/wahl/> <http://www.ldap.com/1/schema/rfc4524.owl#AttributeType_0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.5> "cider" .
3. I do not teach math.
Specifically, the first Google hit for my name is the web site of someone else.
<http://www.ldap.com/1/commentary/wahl/> <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#differentFrom> <http://www.markwahl.com/> .
4. I once shook hands with President Clinton.
There isn't an easy way to nail down a time in RDF. Ideally one could reference the object www.whitehouse.gov/president/, except that it changes every few years (and at the time, not only did the page not exist, but the domain of the web site didn't exist in DNS.) The closest might be
<http://www.ldap.com/1/commentary/wahl/> <...#shookHandsWith> <http://web.archive.org/web/19990429005552/www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/OP_Bio.html> .
5. In the past I've helped local theater groups with electronics/construction projects.
Unfortunately this would require an anonymous collection (a subset of the set "local theater groups"), which would be difficult to express as AFAIK there's no named RDF set that includes both current and no-longer-existing local theater groups. The individual statements could be listed, such as
<http://www.ldap.com/1/commentary/wahl/> <...#helpedWithSetAndPropConstructionOn> <http://www.rudemechs.com/shows/history/requiem_03.htm> .
6. I've picked vacation locations from maps of in-flight magazines.
How does one express in RDF a subregion of an image?
7. My wife and I name our children with names derived from names of characters of cult television shows.
This one would be needlessly verbose as three anonymous rdf:Bags (unordered sets) would be needed to encode "my wife and I", "children" and "characters of cult television shows".
8. I was a member of the UCL Bloomsbury Television at the same time that other people who later became famous were members of the colocated UCL FilmSoc.
Not going to attempt this one.
BTW, for the eight people, I have chosen:
| 1. | Babs Jensen from the U-M Directory | |
|---|---|---|
Babs is a big sailing fan, and travels extensively in search of perfect sailing conditions. |
 |
|
| 2. | Tyrone Slothrop from Gravity's Rainbow | |
Tyrone Slothrop is an anagram for "Sloth or Entropy". |
 |
|
| 3. | 6079 SMITH W from 1984 | |
...I have guided Eurasian rocket bombs to targets on Airstrip One by means of coded radio signals. |
 |
|
| 4. | The Prisoner from The Prisoner | |
For instance, do you remember that time you arrived back from Singapore? Change of climate, feeling a bit shaky. You were sickening for a... cold. Sneezed yourself out of our camera. Deciding to take a vacation. Now, where can you go? Ireland? Bit to cold that time of the year. Paris! Maybe not. "What was that? Sounded like a click! Something in the mirror? Or was it over there? Yes - over there, too!" You see, there's not much we don't know about you, but one likes to know everything. |
 |
|
| 5. | Agatha from Minority Report | |
In 2054, the six-year Precrime experiment was abandoned. All prisoners were unconditionally pardoned and released, though police departments kept watch on many of them for years to come. Agatha and the twins were transferred to an undisclosed location, a place where they could find relief from their gifts. A place where they could live out their lives in peace. |
 |
|
| 6. | James Cole from Twelve Monkeys | |
They wanted identification. I don't have any identification. |
 |
|
| 7. | The land surveyor K from The Castle | |
K. listened intently. So the Castle had appointed him land surveyor. On one hand, this was unfavorable, for it showed that the Castle had all necessary information about him, had assessed the opposing forces, and was taking up the struggle with a smile. On the other hand, it was favorable, for it proved to his mind that they underestimated him and that he would enjoy greater freedom than he could have hoped for at the beginning. |
 |
|
| 8. | Individuals matching the pattern (sn=FALL*) from The Falls | |
It was said that if the VUE had not happened, then Leasting Fallvo could have invented it. |
 |