WG New Spec: RDF 1.2 Semantics

[pchampin]

Specification

https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf12-semantics/

Explainer

https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf12-primer/

Links

• The WG's request for this TAG review: https://
• Previous early design review, if any: https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/####
• An introduction to the feature, aimed at unfamiliar audiences:
  Compared to RDF 1.1, the three main new features in RDF 1.2 are
  • triple-terms, that allow to make statements about other RDF statements (asserted or not) in a better way than the old-style reification
  • the ability to attach a base direction on language tagged strings, which complies with i18n good practices
  • a way to declare which version of RDF is used in RDF concrete syntaxes
• A description of the problems that end-users were facing before this proposal:
  • triple terms: https://www.w3.org/2021/12/rdf-star.html#background-and-motivation
  • base direction: https://w3c.github.io/rdf-dir-literal/#introduction
  • version announcement: was not neccessary before RDF 1.2 introduced the two features above
• Alternatives considered:
  • triple terms: https://w3c.github.io/rdf-star/presentations/RDF-star_Lotico.pdf#page=7
  • base direction: https://w3c.github.io/rdf-dir-literal/
  • version announcement: Which parties carry what costs of text/turtle changes, and do those outweigh which benefits for whom? w3c/rdf-star-wg#141
• Examples of how to use the proposal to solve the end-users' problems: see explainer
• What do the end-users experience with this proposal: since RDF's "end-users" are developers and information architect, the notion of "user experience" does not quite apply
• User research you did to validate the problem and/or design, if any: none by the WG (but triple-terms have long been studied by the academic community as RDF* / RDF-star)
• Web Platform Tests: N/A

The specification

• Follows the Web Platform Design Principles.
• Includes Security and Privacy Considerations sections based on answers to the Security/Privacy Questionnaire.

Where and by whom is the work is being done?

• GitHub repo: https://github.com/w3c/rdf-semantics/
• Primary contacts:
  • Peter Patel-Schneider (@pfps), Invited Expert, Editor
  • Dörthe Arndt (@doerthe), Invited Expert, Editor
  • Enrico Franconi (@franconi), Invited Expert, Editor
  • Adrian Gschwend (@ktk), Zazuko, chair
  • Ora Lassila (@rdfguy), Amazon, chair
  • Pierre-Antoine Champin (@pchampin), W3C / Inria, Editor
• Organization/project driving the specification: W3C
• This work is being funded by: none
• Primary standards group developing this feature: RDF & SPARQL WG
• Incubation and standards groups that have discussed the design:
  • https://w3c.github.io/rdf-star/

Feedback so far

• Active horizontal reviews: Horizontal Reviews tracker for RDF Semantics w3c/rdf-semantics#164
• Multi-stakeholder feedback: N/A
• Major unresolved issues with or opposition to this specification: none
• Status/issue trackers for implementations: none

You should also know that...

No response

---

Track conversations at https://tag-github-bot.w3.org/gh/w3ctag/design-reviews/1160