The future of Web languages seems to be the Semantic Web, and OWL is one of its activities. Now a question arises: What does OWL provide that XML and XML Schema don't? The answer is outlined below.
1. XML provides a syntax for structured documents, but doesn't define semantic constraints on the meaning of the documents.
2. XML Schema is a language for restricting the structure of XML documents.
3. RDF is a data model for objects ("resources") and relations between them; it provides simple semantics for this data model, and these data models can be
Features of RDF
In general, RDF provides the basis for generic tools for authoring, manipulating, and searching machine understandable data on the Web thereby promoting the transformation of the Web into a machine-processable repository of information.
RDF provides the following features:
- interoperability of metadata
- machine understandable semantics for metadata
- better precision in resource discovery than full text search
- future-proofing applications as schemas evolve
Further development will enable RDF to also provide:
- a uniform
Abstract
The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a language for representing information about resources in the World Wide Web. This Primer is designed to provide the reader with the basic knowledge required to effectively use RDF. It introduces the basic concepts of RDF and describes its XML syntax. It describes how to define RDF vocabularies using the RDF Vocabulary Description Language, and gives an overview of some deployed RDF applications. It also describes the content and purpose of other RDF specification documents.
Status of this
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Resource Description Framework (RDF). W3C Main Page
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RDF FAQ Document, from W3C
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W3C Metadata Activity Statement. Explains W3C's plans for RDF and metadata in detail. Work on Metadata is part of W3C's Technology and Society Domain.
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RDF Interest Group. "The RDF Interest Group was established in August 1999 as an open forum for W3C Members and non-Members to discuss issues relating to W3C's Resource Description Framework." See the RDF IG Charter and the archives of the RDF-Interest mailing list
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