Re: [office-metadata] Finding a common proposal..

[Patrick Durusau <patrick@durusau.net>]

Bruce,

Snipping to the issue of metadata appearing in content.xml:

Bruce D'Arcus wrote:
<snip>

>> By separating meta data as much as possible from the content, we ease 
>> the transformation of meta data and encapsulate it into a different 
>> stream.
>
>
> ... and perhaps suggest that we might clarify how this relates to the 
> 4.5 requirement I mention above. It seems to me this might be the crux 
> of the matter.
>
> To my mind, the metadata that definitely must belong in the 
> content.xml file is that which is associated with some displayed 
> content. It is the statements that say this piece of content has this 
> relationship to the document; "this is an event I am hosting" or "this 
> a citation" or "this is a medical diagnosis."
>
> Everything else can be put in the package.
>
> But let's be clear: when you move the metadata out of the content, you 
> lose other functionality; for example, the ability for the user to be 
> able to access specific chunks of content as metadata-enhanced; 
> imagine being able to hover over a span of metadata-enhanced text that 
> represents a client -- "Jane Doe" -- and having the application 
> display additional information about them.
>
Sorry, I don't see why you would say that? Where is the loss of 
functionality?

Can hover over a span of metadata-enhanced text that represents a client 
and have it display additional information whether the metdata is "in" 
the content.xml file, in a separate metadata file in the package or even 
remote to the package of the document (the asymmetric metadata case). 
The last one requires a bit more effort but not much. It does have to be 
associated with the content in order for that to happen.

OOXML links notes (in a separate file), for example, to the content, by 
use of a common "id" on both, but in separate files.

Since we are going to specify "RDFa" entirely in the new metadata 
section, we can have whatever linking mechanism we want to bind the 
content to the metadata.

> Also, I take it Elias would argue that from an API or even user 
> perspective, it really shouldn't matter where the metadata is. One 
> adds statements to either to the document or to content within the 
> document and then accesses them. Where they're serialized won't matter 
> much (though will to external tools like XSLT and such).
>
+1!

Actually I have been told there are advantages to having separate files, 
even though a little bit harder with XSLT. You have all the notes, for 
example, in a separate file which enables them to be processed 
separately and without a larger content model than necessary. Thinking 
that with metadata there might be similar advantages. Where in a medical 
situation I want to extract all the metadata from an entire store of 
documents for navigational purposes, say all the times Doctor X entered 
a prescription for valium for patient Y. Should not be necessary for me 
to process all the document content to get that answer. If the metadata 
resides in content.xml, I do.

Hope you are having a great day!

Patrick

> Bruce
>
>
>
>

-- 
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!