| RDF for the beginner | |
In order to express semantics in RDF, the practitioners rely on ontologies (also called vocabularies or schemas). Although everyone can write new ontologies about anything and publish them, the most popular ontologies are the ones that solve problems and that are the result of a consensus. This way, software anticipate the expected behavior when processing data based on popular ontologies. One of the most popular ontology in the documentation field is Dublin core. It was actually used as a reference in the DITA vocabulary written by the DITA Technical committee at the OASIS.
In RDF, an ontology describes the semantics of certain things through their relations with other things. For instance, if we made an ontology about dogs, we could either focus on the genetic bounds between races, their abilities for certain tasks, the characteristics of their hair, or even their appearance in famous movies. In the end, there is no wrong ontologies, only ontologies that serve different purposes.