2: Web Addresses
Use Web addresses (URLs/URIs/IRIs) to name things. Other Information:
Each thing that someone might need to refer to — cities, agencies, people, projects, items in inventory, websites, events,
etc — should be assigned a universally unambiguous identifier (nothing else uses the same identifier), so that every source
of data about that item can be merged, always knowing it’s the same item. It’s okay (and unavoidable, in some cases) to have
multiple identifiers for some items; the important thing is to be able to use the same identifier, when we know it. We use
Web addresses to build these identifiers, because we already have a structure for making sure there are no unintended duplicates,
and because it allows an important element of of centralization. Each time some organization mints a new web-based identifier,
it gets the ability to provide (through its web server) some core data about that item. It’s not that their data will always
be correct, but it provides a starting point, a seed around which a shared understanding of the item can grow.
Objective(s):
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