Network Working Group A. Swartz
Internet-Draft AaronSw.com
Expires: February 21, 2003 August 23, 2002
application/rdf+xml Media Type Registration
draft-swartz-rdfcore-rdfxml-mediatype-01
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes a media type (application/rdf+xml) for use
with the XML serialization of the Resource Description Framework
(RDF). RDF is a language designed to support the Semantic Web, by
facilitating resource description and data exchange on the Web. RDF
provides common structures that can be used for interoperable data
exchange and follows the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) design
principles of interoperability, evolution, and decentralization.
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Table of Contents
1. Discussion of this Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. application/rdf+xml Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Social Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Fragment Identifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. Historical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
8. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
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1. Discussion of this Document
Please send comments to <mailto:www-rdf-comments@w3.org>. To
subscribe, send a message with the body 'subscribe' to <mailto:www-
rdf-comments-request@w3.org>. The mailing list is publically
archived at <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-comments/>.
2. Introduction
RDF is a language designed to support the Semantic Web, by
facilitating resource description and data exchange on the Web. RDF
provides common structures that can be used for interoperable data
exchange and follows the W3C design principles of interoperability,
evolution, and decentralization.
While the RDF data model [2] can be serialized in many ways, the W3C
has defined the RDF/XML syntax [1] to allow RDF to be serialized in
an XML format. The application/rdf+xml media type allows RDF
consumers to identify RDF/XML documents so that they can be processed
properly.
3. application/rdf+xml Registration
This is a media type registration as defined in Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures [6]
MIME media type name: application
MIME subtype name: rdf+xml
Required parameters: none
Optional parameters: charset
Same as charset parameter of application/xml.
Encoding considerations:
Same as charset parameter of application/xml.
Security considerations:
Security considerations include many of those described in
section 10 of RFC 3023 [4] and more, due to the semantic nature
of RDF. RDF documents may make assertions about anything and
it is expected that future work with Digital Signature and "Web
of Trust" will make it more clear how to build secure RDF
systems.
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Interoperability considerations:
It is recommended that RDF documents follow the newer RDF/XML
Syntax Grammar [1] as opposed to the older RDF Model and Syntax
specification [3].
Published specification: see RDF/XML Syntax Grammar [1] and RDF
Model Theory [2] (working drafts as of 2002-03) and the older RDF
Model and Syntax [3]
Applications which use this media type:
RDF is device-, platform-, and vendor-neutral and is supported
by a range of Web user agents and authoring tools.
Additional information:
Magic number(s): none
Although no byte sequences can be counted on to consistently
identify RDF, RDF documents will have the sequence "http://
www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" to identify the RDF
namespace. This will usually be towards the top of the
document.
File extension(s): .rdf
Macintosh File Type Code(s): "TEXT"
For further information:
Dan Brickley <danbri@w3.org>
RDF Interest Group <www-rdf-interest@w3.org>
More information may be found on the RDF website: <http://
www.w3.org/RDF/>
Intended usage: COMMON
Author/Change controller:
The RDF specification is a work product of the World Wide Web
Consortium. The W3C and the W3C RDF Core Working Group have
change control over the specification.
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4. Social Context
RDF/XML documents may be asserted to be true, and such an assertion
should be understood to carry the same social import and
responsibilities as an assertion in any other format. A combination
of social (e.g. legal) and technical machinery (protocols, file
formats, publication frameworks) provide the contexts that fix the
intended meanings of the vocabulary of some piece of RDF, and which
distinguish assertions from other uses (e.g. citations, denials or
illustrations).
RDF/XML documents with this media type might be published with the
intent of being such an assertional representation (as distinguished
from other XML or text that may just happen to look like RDF
assertions).
5. Fragment Identifiers
Section 4.1 of the URI specification [5] notes that the semantics of
a fragment identifier (part of a URI after a "#") is a property of
the data resulting from a retrieval action, and that the format and
interpretation of fragment identifiers is dependent on the media type
of the retrieval result.
However, in RDF, the thing identified by a URI with fragment
identifier does not bear any particular relationship to the thing
identified by the URI alone. This differs from some readings of the
URI specification [5], so attention is recommended when creating new
RDF terms which use fragment identifiers.
The rdf:ID and rdf:about attributes can be used to define fragments
in an RDF document.
6. Historical Considerations
This media type was reserved in RFC 3023 [4], saying:
RDF documents identified using this MIME type are XML documents
whose content describes metadata, as defined by [RDF]. As a
format based on XML, RDF documents SHOULD use the '+xml' suffix
convention in their MIME content-type identifier. However, no
content type has yet been registered for RDF and so this media
type should not be used until such registration has been
completed.
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7. IANA Considerations
This document calls for registration of a new MIME content-type,
according to the registration template in section 2.
8. Acknowledgements
Thanks to Dan Connolly for writing the first version of this draft
[8], to Andy Powell for reminding us we needed one, to Marshall Rose
for his xml2rfc [9] converter, and to Graham Klyne, Jan Grant and
Dave Beckett for their helpful comments on early versions of this
document.
References
[1] Beckett, D., "RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised)", W3C rdf-
syntax-grammar, March 2002, <http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-syntax-
grammar/>.
[2] Hayes, P., "RDF Model Theory", W3C rdf-mt, February 2002,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-mt/>.
[3] Lassila, O. and R. Swick, "Resource Description Framework (RDF)
Model and Syntax Specification", W3C REC-rdf-syntax, February
1999, <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax>.
[4] Murata, M., St.Laurent, S. and D. Kohn, "XML Media Types", RFC
3023, January 2001.
[5] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource
Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998.
[6] Freed, N., Klensin, J. and J. Postel, "Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures", BCP
13, RFC 2048, November 1996.
[7] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[8] Connolly, D., "A media type for Resource Description Framework
(RDF)", March 2001, <http://www.w3.org/2001/03mr/rdf_mt>.
[9] <http://xml.resource.org/>
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Author's Address
Aaron Swartz
AaronSw.com
349 Marshman
Highland Park, IL 60035
USA
Phone: +1 847 432 8857
EMail: me@aaronsw.com
URI: http://www.aaronsw.com/
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