Re: PRISM and RSS

[Aaron Swartz <aswartz@swartzfam.com>]

dave.cantrell@gunter.af.mil <dave.cantrell@gunter.af.mil> wrote:

> Maybe I don't get the Taxonomy module (and to a larger extent, RDF) but why
> the need to use URIs as categories instead of plain ol' text strings? I can
> see the usefulness in URIs as an identifier, but unless I'm categorizing
> something into say a DMOZ category, it doesn't help me one damn bit.

It may not help you, but it sure helps the aggregators. Think about it: if
you have a site about programming, it's quite logical for you to put out a
file with <category>Python</category>. However, someone with a site about
snakes may put out the same thing (and mean something completely
different!). The clueless aggregating software would happily lump both
stories together. (You can see this kind of thing happening already in some
feeds, like Moreover's.) Using URIs, you make it clear to an aggregator what
you're talking about and prevent this kind of thing from happening.

> This would allow us to build modules into it without having to worry about
> RDF syntax. But it's already been done, and I can live with that. And even
> though I can't see any real-world practical use for RDF yet, I have been
> around long enough to never say "never" and just put faith in those smarter
> than I.

Thanks for the faith. I hope that RDF comes in handy for you someday soon!

-- 
[ Aaron Swartz | me@aaronsw.com | http://www.aaronsw.com ]