[uf-discuss] VIA or VIA SELF to indicate authoritative hCard[was:UID URL to indicate (relatively) more authoritativehCard(Was:Vote on this: rel="me self" to indicate anauthoritative hCard)]

Tue Feb 13 14:38:10 PST 2007

On Feb 13, 2007, at 12:32 PM, Ryan King wrote:
>> And if the uid is not an url, then authors can't assert authority, 
>> correct?
>> I'm not even considering authority for now. We need to just deal 
> with related hCards first.

I'm no longer clear on what you're proposing, Ryan. I thought you 
were proposing UID+URL as an alternative to VIA, as a way to declare 
authority through identification rather than through origin. But if 
you're not considering declaring authority at all, then how does this 
solve our original problem?
On Jan 23, 2007, at 12:22 PM, David Janes wrote:
> Wouldn't it be great if there was a well defined way of getting from
> _an_ instance of a hCard to the _best_ (or canonical) hCard for that
> person.

Merely indicating that two hCards are related doesn't tell us which 
one is best or most authoritative.
>> I see the one explicit relationship as simpler. I'm not 
>> understanding what you think is
>> simpler about a general "relatedness".
>> Because the explicit relationship isn't helpful. As someone writing 
> a consuming application, I don't care that an author thinks their 
> hCard is definitive for a given entity, just tell me which ones are 
> related and I'll figure out the right data.

I think the explicit relationship of authority is central to solving 
David's problem, a very common practical problem for hCard 
publishers. Self-declared authority is not helpful, but one hCard 
declaring another as more authoritative is exactly what we need. 
There are multiple ways to declare that authority. Origin is one 
basis of authority, and the VIA and SOURCE suggestions make use of 
this kind of authority. Identification could be considered another 
basis of authority, and I earlier thought that's what you were trying 
to do with UID+URL, but if you just want to know that a bunch of 
hCards are related and figure out for yourself which one is best, I 
don't see how that solves David's problem.
Peace,
Scott