Re: [tm-pubsubj-comment] ISSUE 10 - PSIs "name" "subject" and"description"

[Murray Altheim <m.altheim@open.ac.uk>]

Steve Pepper wrote:

> At 15:38 24/04/02 +0000, Murray Altheim wrote:
> 
>>> dc:subject is unnecessary on PSIs. We only need its equivalent
>>> on PSI sets. (See separate posting, on ISSUE 9, proposing to call
>>> this "keywords", to avoid confusion.)
>>
>> Huh? I would have thought this one of the more *important* ones.
>> Why would we only want this on sets? Individual PSIs have a subject.
> 
> Of course every PSI indicates a subject (in topic map terms). That's why 
> we have them. But what would it mean to have a metadata property called 
> "subject" on a PSI? What would be the value of that property?


You hit it on the nose. The PSI is in *topic map terms*. The only
reason to use Dublin Core at all is to hook into the DC semantics,
to allow non-TM tools a chance to play in the TM sandbox.

 From the DC element "subject":
 >  Name:        Subject and Keywords
 >  Identifier:  Subject
 >  Definition:  The topic of the content of the resource.
 >  Comment:     Typically, a Subject will be expressed as keywords,
 >               key phrases or classification codes that describe a topic
 >               of the resource.
 >               Recommended best practice is to select a value from a
 >               controlled vocabulary or formal classification scheme.
                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The key here is "controlled vocabulary." If we're defining things
in a PSI set, it might be a good idea to connect it via an existing
controlled vocabulary, such as one found in a library system. Any
tools that are DC element set aware would "understand" the dc:subject
as such and process accordingly. It seems a shame to go to all the
trouble to make XTM/PSI sets ISO 11179 compliant and then leave out
dc:subject. Or maybe I'm getting this all wrong.

Now, OTOH, I did a preliminary PSI set for DC last year (I think it
is included in that pile of stuff I posted to this group) which
created PSIs for each of the DC elements. Then, an author could
scope a base name with the dc:subject PSI. That's how I'd planned
to use it, though there certainly may be better ways.

Murray

......................................................................
Murray Altheim                  <http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/>
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK

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      The rice leaves in the garden
      Rustle in the autumn wind
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