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Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT)
https://w3c.github.io/dxwg/dcat/
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DCAT TTL - The label for the class dcat:Resource #1388

Closed aidig closed 3 years ago

aidig commented 3 years ago

The label 'Catalogued resource' for the class dcat:Resource in the TTL ontology distribution of the ontology) implies that this is the class of all catalogued resources, yet it is stated in section 5.1 DCAT Scope that this class also covers resources which are not documented in any catalog:

dcat:Resource represents a dataset, a data service or any other resource that may be described by a metadata record in a catalog. This class is not intended to be used directly, but is the parent class of dcat:Dataset, dcat:DataService and dcat:Catalog. (..). dcat:Dataset and dcat:DataService can be used for datasets and services which are not documented in any catalog.

Although the label in the TTL distribution narrows the scope to "catalogued", the definition of dcat:Resource does not restrict the resource to be listed in a catalogue.

dcat:Resource
  a owl:Class ;
  rdfs:comment "Resource published or curated by a single agent."@en ;
  rdfs:label "Catalogued resource"@en ;

If dcat:Resource is to be understood and reused in other application profiles as a a resource not necessarily documented in a catalog, then the label 'Catalogued resource' seems somewhat inappropriate as the label for the DCAT defined class dcat:Resource in TTL distribution of the DCAT ontology...

riccardoAlbertoni commented 3 years ago

@aidig: Thank you for the comment. To clarify the overall expectation of resources being part of catalogs, we added "The instances of Resource SHOULD be included in a catalog" in the usage note for dcat:Resource.

'SHOULD' is to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174], which implies Resources are typically defined as part of catalogs, but the specification acknowledges that there are cases in which they are not.

You can find more explanations in the DCAT teleconference minutes accessible at https://www.w3.org/2021/07/07-dxwgdcat-minutes#t03

riccardoAlbertoni commented 3 years ago

@aidig: We are closing this issue as we think the above change has clarified the issue you pointed out. In case you think otherwise, please feel free to contact us again, reopening it. Thanks a lot.