[tm-pubsubj-comment] ISSUES

[Suellen Stringer-Hye <Stringers@LIBRARY.Vanderbilt.edu>]

Not that this adresses the issue of whether to include dc:subject in the 
PSI, but in the reverse one would like to be able to insert the PSI identifier 
into the dc:subject field of the metadata. Thus looking something like this 

<meta name = "DC.Subject" 
scheme = "MeSH" 
content = "Myocardial Infarction; Pericardial Effusion"
psi = "insert psi-identifier"
> 


In fact one could do away with the scheme and content elements entirely 
and insted it would be 


<meta name = "DC.Subject"  
psi = "insert psi-identifier"
> 

Whatever we come up with for Topic Map applications should not 
impede this use. 

My main interest in working with this TC is pretty simple---to move and 
leverage already published subjects in the analog realm into the digital 
realm in a way that will be useful across applications so in that I guess I 
differ from many in the group. I have already had communications with 
some folks at the Library of Congress and they are planning to "publish" 
some subjects soon. It would be nice if we had some templates already 
in place that we could point them to. 

---Suellen 



 
> 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
> 
>       In the evening
>       The rice leaves in the garden
>       Rustle in the autumn wind
>       That blows through my reed hut.  -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> To subscribe or unsubscribe from this elist use the subscription
> manager: <http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl>


Suellen Stringer-Hye
Jean and Alexander Heard Library
Vanderbilt University
stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu