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Re: [ontolog-forum] PDF and the semantic web

To: "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Alexander Garcia Castro <alexgarciac@xxxxxxxxx>
From: Pat Hayes <phayes@xxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:23:15 -0600
Message-id: <017B3431-E9D5-4659-A4DE-E30A473C74EC@xxxxxxx>

On Feb 11, 2009, at 9:45 AM, Alexander Garcia Castro wrote:

Sorry if this is not the right venue; I decided to send this email because in the past I have seen some semantic web issues being discussed here.

I think one of the W3C mailing lists might be more suitable for this topic. Try    semantic-web@xxxxxx



I would like to know how applicable could the PDF format be within the context of the Semantic web?

NOt very: the primary purpose of PDF is making visually accurate documents, rather than semantic information. 

The PDF format is closed; annotating PDFs, as in tagging not the file but the information within the file, is not possible by means different from those provided by ADOBE. For instance, if I wanted to tag a word, or an image within, inside, a PDF I would have to do it with my acrobat reader -the latest version; But if I wanted to facilitate such operation via WEB I could only do it if and only if I had the XSLT so I could transform the PDF into XML.

Right. 

This limitation is, IMHO, a huge one within the context of the semantic web where we should be able to define links and use them.

I don't quite see why you feel this is a SWeb problem. 

Furthermore, being forced to have a third party application just for displaying a file that should be displayed directly by the browser is not a nice feature.

That is an issue for browser implementations. 

If PDF was open it could be rendered by the browser.  Aren't closed formats such as PDF viable within the context of the SW?

Im not sure what exactly you are asking here.

After all the PDF was a solution within the context of portability and exchange of information

... for human readers, yes. But not for software inference agents, which is the point of the SWeb.

; the main problem it was solving was a simple one "I want my document to look on display and once printed,  the same everywhere" and "I want people to be able to read my documents without loosing the format of the document and without having to consider the OS". Isn't the PDF obsolete within this context?

What context? PDF seems to work well for its intended purpose. (?? Maybe I havnt understood your point.)

Seriously, I suggest re-sending your message to the semantic-web@xxxxxx  mailing list. 


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