[humanmarkup] TopicMaps Published Subjects TC Liaison/Joint Committee

[Rex Brooks <rexb@starbourne.com>]

HI Everyone,

I thought I would suggest that we form an official liaison between 
our HumanMarkupTC and Topic Maps Published Subjects TC in order that 
we ensure our respective work is compatible at the least and 
well-integrated at best.

Also we in HumanMarkup need to be informed about how topic maps will 
operate and whether the rules for establishing relationships between 
topic areas will be hard and fast or more loose in terms of what is 
allowable. We also need to understand what relationships actually 
mean. What exactly is an association? How is it defined. How is it 
established. When is it susceptible to being merged into a larger 
category that includes topics formerly related only by association?

I would like to invite members of the topicmaps discussion to have a 
look at our document: HM.frameworks which attempts to systematically 
describe the ontological frameworks within which are contained 
taxonomies we have gathered for use in HumanMarkup and that might 
well be thought of as related topics suitable for mapping purposes. 
That document can be found at:

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/humanmarkup/documents/HM.frameworks.txt

Please note that this document is text-only with no line breaks, in 
order to facilitate later formatting for formal use, so it is best to 
save it onto a local system and open it in a word processing program 
for easier readability.

I am only subscribed to the topicmaps-comment list, and not 
personally committed to joining the topicmaps TC, since I am very 
busy with HumanMarkup and have planned to be personally involved in a 
similar liaison task with the Web Services Component Model TC. I do 
not wish to speak for anyone, but I have brought this proposal up 
with a few individuals within our group, and it is not yet clear that 
anyone will actually be able to step forward and undertake the task 
of attempting to form an official liaison. I hope so, though, as I 
consider the work involved with my own plans, I am acutely aware of 
just how time consuming and difficult such a task can be. However, I 
do think it is important.

Ciao,
Rex

-- 
Rex Brooks
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison, Berkeley, CA, 94702 USA, Earth
W3Address: http://www.starbourne.com
Email: rexb@starbourne.com
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