Proposed addition to Charter

[Danny Ayers <danny666@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Charter is looking good!

One thing I'd like to propose is the addition of the third item here:

   * A conceptual model of a log entry.
   * A concrete syntax for this model.
   * An  RDF/OWL representation of this model
   * A syndication format using this syntax.
   * An archiving format using this syntax.
   * A weblog editing protocol using this syntax (the Atom API).

I'd suggest the deliverables would be an OWL ontology/RDF schema 
together with an XSLT stylesheet for an Atom => RDF/XML representation. 
Additional informational docs would be desirable too. Note that this is 
not suggesting an RDF/XML syntax for Atom, just a means of creating a 
normative mapping between the models.

I don't believe there is any negative impact on any aspect of Atom. On 
the positive side, there are the following benefits:

   * the RDF representation can be used as a sanity check for
     constructs in the Atom model
   * RDF-based systems can produce, consume and process Atom in a
     consistent fashion
   * Atom systems will be able to interoperate directly with Semantic
     Web systems


As background for this proposal, I believe one of the objectives of Atom 
is build on the best features of legacy RSS. The best feature of  RSS 
2.0 is the simple syntax, the best feature of RSS 1.0 is the RDF model.

Regarding workload, I think Sam and Norm both have got draft XSLT for 
Atom => RDF/XML, and I've made a start on an OWL ontology at [1]. I 
think a reasonable aim is to have usable versions of each of these to 
associate with the next release of the format. I'll be happy to 
coordinate/act as (co-)editor/liaise with RDF groups for this part of 
the specifications.

Cheers,
Danny.

[1] http://dannyayers.com/2004/02/atom/