[Developers] Consumer product type (was Modeling question)

[Jeff Prucher]

Following up on a recent discussion on the data-modelling and developers
lists (threads begin here: 
http://lists.freebase.com/pipermail/developers/2008-January/001156.html
and here:
http://lists.freebase.com/pipermail/data-modeling/2008-January/000250.html),
we're proposing a new type to be used for consumer products.  This type is a
fairly simple type, with only three properties, all of which expect the type
"webpage": "official website", "external reviews", and "purchase links". The
type would most likely be used as an included type on types that are
designed for more specific products, and can be used for everything from
board games, to computer software, to digital cameras (and more -- examples
in the earlier discussion included pharmaceuticals, books, and cars).

We decided against trying to encode an association with a brand,
manufacturer, or other company type since the relationships between
products, brands, and companies can vary greatly between different types of
products, and we want to enable communities and interest groups to maintain
a more precise structure. 

The type is published in my private domain, with some examples of how it
might be used: 
http://www.freebase.com/view/schema/user/jeff/default_domain/consumer_produc
t

Comments welcome.

Jeff Prucher
Type Librarian & Ontologist
Metaweb Technologies, Inc.