FOAF and jabber/XMPP

Created by Stuart Yeates (University of Oxford) on June 20, 2006

I've been working with FOAF recently, which is an RDF schema (format) for representing personal information and connections between people and appear to have found a wrinkle in the standard.

foaf:mbox is correctly described in an implementation independent manner, allowing for email message boxes, jabber message boxes and even voicemail message boxes. Unfortunately, foaf:mbox_sha1sum, which is the protected form of foaf:mbox to hide it from unwanted messages, is specified in such a way that only email is permitted:

A foaf:mbox_sha1sum of a foaf:Person is a textual representation of the result of applying the SHA1 mathematical functional to a 'mailto:' identifier (URI) for an Internet mailbox that they stand in a foaf:mbox relationship to.

I suggest that this be changed to:

A foaf:mbox_sha1sum of a foaf:Person is a textual representation of the result of applying the SHA1 mathematical functional to a URI that they stand in a foaf:mbox relationship to. Note that the URI must be complete, including any 'mailto:' or similar prefix.

foaf:mbox could also be clarified by changing:

The foaf:mbox property is a relationship between the owner of a mailbox and a mailbox. These are typically identified using the mailto: URI scheme (see RFC 2368).

The foaf:mbox property is a relationship between the owner of a mailbox and a mailbox. These are typically identified using the mailto: URI scheme (see RFC 2368) or any other scheme which defines a protocol suitable for storing messages for an owner.

In an ideal world, of course, the jabber/XMPP community would get their act into gear and finish standardising already so we could make direct reference to the xmpp: URI scheme

Stuart's blog
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5179 reads

I support this suggestion.

Submitted by Anonymous on June 20, 2006 - 8:06am.

I support this suggestion. In particular, it allows FOAF to define unique URIs to individuals, which in turn enables distributed identity systems.

		FOAF and jabber/XMPP Created by Stuart Yeates (University of Oxford) on June 20, 2006 I've been working with FOAF recently, which is an RDF schema (format) for representing personal information and connections between people and appear to have found a wrinkle in the standard. foaf:mbox is correctly described in an implementation independent manner, allowing for email message boxes, jabber message boxes and even voicemail message boxes. Unfortunately, foaf:mbox_sha1sum, which is the protected form of foaf:mbox to hide it from unwanted messages, is specified in such a way that only email is permitted: A foaf:mbox_sha1sum of a foaf:Person is a textual representation of the result of applying the SHA1 mathematical functional to a 'mailto:' identifier (URI) for an Internet mailbox that they stand in a foaf:mbox relationship to. I suggest that this be changed to: A foaf:mbox_sha1sum of a foaf:Person is a textual representation of the result of applying the SHA1 mathematical functional to a URI that they stand in a foaf:mbox relationship to. Note that the URI must be complete, including any 'mailto:' or similar prefix. foaf:mbox could also be clarified by changing: The foaf:mbox property is a relationship between the owner of a mailbox and a mailbox. These are typically identified using the mailto: URI scheme (see RFC 2368). to The foaf:mbox property is a relationship between the owner of a mailbox and a mailbox. These are typically identified using the mailto: URI scheme (see RFC 2368) or any other scheme which defines a protocol suitable for storing messages for an owner. In an ideal world, of course, the jabber/XMPP community would get their act into gear and finish standardising already so we could make direct reference to the xmpp: URI scheme FOAF \| jabber \| RDF \| Resource Description Framework \| standardization \| XML \| XMPP Stuart's blog Login or register to post comments 5179 reads I support this suggestion. Submitted by Anonymous on June 20, 2006 - 8:06am. I support this suggestion. In particular, it allows FOAF to define unique URIs to individuals, which in turn enables distributed identity systems. Login or register to post comments
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