HAL already incorporates standards for the URI template spec and the CURIE syntax. It's also going to be rejigged to incorporate terminology direct from the Web

HAL already incorporates standards for the URI template spec and the CURIE syntax. It's also going to be rejigged to incorporate terminology direct from the Web Linking RFC. The above being the case, it doesn't seem as if HAL is re-inventing anything significant from a standards perspective, and avoids inheriting baggage associated with pulling in elements from other namespace. Perhaps not a completely 'pure' approach, but the primary objective is simplicty - and I think doing things this way is a good balance. If this is something you feel strongly about, please join the google group and raise it there so we can discuss merits and trade-offs in more depth.