[topicmapmail] Identities and names (WAS - A somewhat new topic maps format)

[Murray Altheim]

Daniel Rivers-Moore wrote:
> Bernard
> 
> In response to your main message - yes, very important.

Yes, I agree.

> In response to your PS2 - you say "Or maybe the other way round ??"
> 
> I would say definitely the other way round.
> 
> "Bunzilla" is the (or a) name of Murray's rabbit

Actually, only one, her informal name. Her formal name is (honestly)
"Burroughs Deeply Underhay" (the first name after William S. since
she shares his attitude, the second after "Truly, Madly, Deeply", and
the third after the surname of the guy I bought my Mini from).

> "Bunzilla" is also the (or a) name of Peter's rabbit
>
> "http://www.altheim.com/bunny/#bid0537" is what the name "Bunzilla" is
> called in the scope of Murray's topic map of bunny names and the subject
> indicator formalism.

Hmm. I'd say the bID is an identifier for the name. More below.

> "X is called 'A'" is synonymous with "'A' is a name of X"

Here's where perhaps we can try to clear up some terminology. (Bear with
me here, I'm trying out some new shoes). An identifier is a subclass of
name that confers unique identity within a specific context or scope. So
for example, a US Social Security Number uniquely identifies an individual
within the US Social Security Administration (and increasingly within
every part of government and private life too, despite their original
intention), whereas there may be many individuals sharing the same name.

So in this instance, we can perhaps restate

 > So you can also say
 > "http://www.altheim.com/bunny/#bid0537" is a name of the name
 > "Bunzilla".

as
     "http://www.altheim.com/bunny/#bid0537" is a unique identifier
     for the name "Bunzilla" in the scope of the Comprehensive Bunny
     Name List.

Now, we're no yet talking about rabbits, just names of rabbits.

Since there is an inherent domain built into the identifier itself
("http://www.altheim.com/" or "http://www.altheim.com/bunny") we
have the advantage here of a built-in context or scope. Now, to make
this more complicated I might point out that I made a mistake in
posting Bunzilla's bID, as the official domain of bIDs is not
altheim.com but a PURL that happens to resolve to it, so her real
bID is actually

    http://purl.org/ceryle/bunny/#bid0537

This means that there are two unique identifiers for "Bunzilla"
(the name): an official one, and an unofficial one. Then again,
there's also the IP address version too:

    http://132.174.1.35/ceryle/bunny/   [via purl.org's IP address]
    http://155.212.7.37/bunny/          [via altheim.com's IP address]

Now, I point this out to hilight the fact that behind the scenes of
all this is a regression of name resolution issues, not just here and
on computers, but in "real life" too. This is what I think confuses
TimBL in his classic name-address myth nonsense.

> Strictly, we know that in Topic Map terminology,
> "http://www.altheim.com/bunny/#bid0537" is the subject indicator for the
> topic whose subject is the name "Bunzilla". 
> 
> But in ordinary language, a name serves precisely the function that a
> subject indicator does in the topic maps formalism - it indicates to the
> hearer/reader what subject is being spoken of. A topic maps subject
> indicator is therefore a particular kind of name. There are of course
> other kinds of name within the topic maps formalism - IDs, XTM
> baseNames, ISO13250 display names and sort names, etc., and it would
> therefore also be true to say that "bid0537" is a name of the name
> "Bunzilla", and is *the* name of the name "Bunzilla" in the scope of
> Murray's topic map of bunny names and the ID formalism.
> 
> Daniel

Yes, and I think this is where the name/identifier differentiation may
be of use. The string "http://purl.org/ceryle/bunny/#bid0537" is a
unique identifier for the name "Bunzilla" in the scope of the Comprehensive
Bunny Name List PSI set. Now, adhering to use of that PSI set we are able
to create subjects for each of those names. The bID is not a name of the
topic, it is an identifier for the topic, just as in XTM that
subjectIndicatorRef would be contained within a <subjectIdentity> element,
not a topic name. Likewise, the XTM ID is a unique *identifier*, but the
rest of the things you mentioned, base names, display names, etc. are
simply names -- they don't uniquely identify a subject.

Now, in order to create a unique identity an identifier (a kind of
name) must be used within a context or scope. The regression of naming
works in progression in scoping, such that to *further* identify an
individual using an identifier within a scope, one then takes that
identifier and uses it within a new scope to provide further identity,
e.g., one could take the bID for the name "Bunzilla" (since that is
an appropriate identifier for my bunny), and provide further scope
or context by saying she's "Murray's bunny" or use her mailing address
or geospatial location or mother's maiden name, etc., noting that
each of those identifiers also has scope/context. So, in reality,
there is no name/identifier differentiation, just a matter of level
of contextualization...

[okay, I should edit that last paragraph to make it more clear, but
I'm missing my lunch by several hours at this point...]

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim                         http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK                    .

    "Shhh. Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting wabbits." -- Elmer Fudd

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