ISSUE-105: Graph vs. dataset syntaxes

• From: Markus Lanthaler <markus.lanthaler@gmx.net>
• Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2012 19:13:34 +0100
• To: <public-rdf-wg@w3.org>
• Message-ID: <01ed01cdd314$3de2c1d0$b9a84570$@lanthaler@gmx.net>

While JSON-LD is a dataset syntax we expect that in most cases it will be
used to express simple graphs. This might become problematic if a consumer
is unable to process datasets -- even in the case where the dataset consists
of only the default graph. In JSON-LD we resolved this issue by specifying
that a consumer expecting a graph, MUST ignore everything but the default
graph.

This allows publishers to expose their graphs in, e.g., both JSON-LD and
Turtle. Summarized, the behavior of a consumer would be as follows:

Exposed  |  Expected  |  behavior
---------+------------+-----------
Data set |  graph     |  use default graph as graph, ignore rest
Data set |  data set  |  exposed = expected
Graph    |  data set  |  use graph as default graph in dataset
Graph    |  graph     |  exposed = expected


This might have consequences on how data should be modeled (what should be
put in the default graph and what in a named graph) but that's beyond the
scope of a syntax.

I would therefore like to propose to standardize this behavior for all RDF
data set syntaxes.


Regards,
Markus


--
Markus Lanthaler
@markuslanthaler

Received on Wednesday, 5 December 2012 18:14:16 UTC