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Subject: [tm-pubsubj] Published Subject = Subject Indicator + Subject Descriptor
Trying to answer again Mary's interrogations concerning ISO 13250 vs XTM 1.0 terminology, and pushing the reflection a little further. The subject line of this message sums it all IMO. We work clearly in the perspective of a Web-based use of Topic Maps and Published Subjects, where descriptors non available on the Web are to be ruled out. 1. Subject Indicator is the address (URL) of the ressource, to be used through XTM syntax as an identifier for a <topic> element, through an xlink attribute in <subjectIndicatorRef> One of our TC requirements is to recommend a standard structure for those URLs, and Mary's propositions are to be considered and discussed. I don't know if the use of www.purl.org namespace is the best solution, although I thought about it too. In any case, permanent availability of the URL is a requirement that we should stick too. 2. Subject Descriptor contains information that *both humans and systems* should be able to retrieve when resolving the Subject Indicator. We should recommend standard structure(s) (DTD and/or XML schema) for the Subject Descriptor that will allow both intelligent agents to use their content, not only their address, and human authors to understand it. My opinion a few months ago was, in the spirit of "paradigm consistency", that the best structure for a Subject Descriptor should be a Topic Map, written in XTM syntax. Now I think that would be maybe a mistake. As widely discussed on various Topic Maps forums, Topic Maps are in potential danger of falling in a recursivity trap, if identity of a <topic> is always defined by reference to other <topic> element(s) in the same or other Topic Maps. Subject Descriptors should be the points where this recursivity ends, where the Topic Maps gain their primitive semantics from some meta-level. That's why in my present view, the Subject Descriptor should be: -- a standalone ressource, not a Topic Map, to show clearly that it lives at the TM meta-level, as an end-of-recursivity-point. -- certainly using RDF description + Dublin Core elements to be consistent and interoperable with other semantic standards. -- permanently available from the Subject Indicator URL, but also portable for off-line applications (e.g. CD-ROM catalogs ...) Bernard Bernard Vatant - Consultant bernard.vatant@mondeca.com Mondeca - "Making Sense of Content" www.mondeca.com
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