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Subject: Metadata: Engineers, Be Not Afraid!
Greetings! I know when I first encountered metadata discussions years ago my reaction as a hard core SGML markup junkie was probably quite similar to that of a number of engineers. I can't say I was overjoyed at the prospect of discussion of terms like: CompositeTangibleAndIntangibleObject (examples at end of post) and similar things that would drag on for months if not years. But, much has been learned in the last decade or more of metadata discussions. Such as where most of the ratholes are and not attempting to be the ultimate solution, for anything. Not to mention experience at incorporating metadata into markup solutions. There are a number of members of this TC with extensive experience with metadata issues. I am sure none of them are interested in revisiting any of the known ratholes of prior metadata discussions. I am not sure how that would look in a subcommittee charter, "The subcommittee will not revisit any known metadata ratholes." but if it would make anyone more comfortable I would not oppose it. ;-) Seriously, I know time is too short to produce any really complete proposals prior to discussion/voting on a metadata subcommittee, but I think it would be worth asking during that discussion, who is interested in proposing a plan of work and when do they think they could have something before the subcommittee. There is nothing sacred about having a subcommittee in fact and in place before starting to work on such proposals and in fact it would make the first or second meeting of such a subcommittee (if approved by the TC) more productive than most of the ones I have attended. The other thing to note is that I suspect most of those interested in metadata are interested in an engineering (here in the sense of markup) solution that allows users creative ways to use metadata in ODF. That is to robustly support metadata, but to fashion as little of it on our own as possible. Outside of office applications, which needs better metadata, I suspect we lack the domain knowledge to write metadata for other people. We can, however, give them a very nice home for what they write in ODF. Hope everyone is having a great day! Patrick PS: Oh, CompositeTangibleAndIntangibleObject = collection of individuals with tangible and intangible components. ;-) Examples: people (mind and body), information bearing objects (intangible information on tangible media) book, CD, etc. -- Patrick Durusau Patrick@Durusau.net Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model Member, Text Encoding Initiative Board of Directors, 2003-2005 Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work!
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