Human and machine readable attribution

Whenever we post information on any electronic network, there are at least two audiences: human beings (typically viewing the information through a web browser) and automated agents (e.g. web crawlers). Until recently those who wished to inforrm these two audiences of any use restrictions or intellectual property had to do so twice: in machine readable form and in human readable form. One of the problems in having two forms is that with time (or even from the start) they may not represent the same restrictions or openness. That can lead to, at the very least, misunderstandings and annoyance. Fortunately, one of the more useful ways of the Semantic Web is how it allows for a flexible combination of representation that allows both audiences to be served in the same expression. Here is a particularly useful and recent example.