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Re: [ontolog-forum] What is Data? What is a Datum? 2013-01-09-0930

To: <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Ed Barkmeyer <edbark@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:44:32 -0500
Message-id: <50EF2830.8000104@xxxxxxxx>

On 1/10/2013 2:51 PM, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
> On 1/10/13 2:32 PM, Ed Barkmeyer wrote:
>> On 1/9/2013 8:36 AM, John F Sowa wrote:
>>>> Sjir,
>>>>
>>>>>> I would just have said that a datum is a proposition that is taken to
>>>>>> be, or asserted to be, true.  The context for that role is any context
>>>>>> in which the proposition is taken to be true.
>>>> I agree.
>>>>
>>>> I would also add that not all data is propositional.  For example,
>>>> the list of names and numbers in a telephone book consists of paired
>>>> instances of two kinds of data.  Each pair becomes a proposition
>>>> when the instances are inserted in an appropriate schema:
>>>>
>>>>       "The person named _________ has the telephone number ________."
>> I disagree.  That is, the meaning of each pair in the telephone
>> directory is a proposition of that form, and the pair is a datum. It is
>> not necessary to express the sentence per se.
>>
>> Is John saying that the name of the person is not by itself a
>> proposition?  I would argue that, if one considers the name of the
>> person alone to be a datum, then it expresses a different proposition,
>> to wit:  There exists a person whose name is X. Further, the presence of
>> the name in the telephone book implies the proposition:  There exists a
>> telephone number N such that the person named X has telephone number N.
>> Both of these follow from the proposition that is the meaning of the
>> pair (datum).
>>
>> The distinction I am making is in what the datum is.  I argue that a
>> datum is a proposition.  A value without any interpretation is not a
>> datum.  It is a child without a meaning.
>>
> Thus, in Turtle notation [1] for RDF model based data representation
> syntax, the following is an example of a Datum (a single proposition),
> right?
>
> <#PersonX> <#hasPhoneNumber> <tel:+999-999-9999> .
>
> While this is Data i.e., more than one proposition, as in:
>
> <#PersonX> <#hasPhoneNumber> <tel:+999-999-9999> ;
>                       <#knows> <#PersonY> .    (01)

IMO, yes.    (02)

-Ed    (03)

>
> Links:
>
> 1. http://www.w3.org/TeamSubmission/turtle/
> 2. http://www.w3.org/TR/turtle/ .
>    (04)

-- 
Edward J. Barkmeyer                        Email: edbark@xxxxxxxx
National Institute of Standards & Technology
Systems Integration Division, Engineering Laboratory
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8263                Tel: +1 301-975-3528
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8263                Cel: +1 240-672-5800    (05)

"The opinions expressed above do not reflect consensus of NIST,
  and have not been reviewed by any Government authority."    (06)



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