Re: [xtm-wg] Topic Map Queries

["Anthony B. Coates +44 20 7542 2165 City Rd, London" <tony.coates@reuters.com>]

While I agree with Ann's assertion that searching a Topic Map may be no less a
job that searching the Web, and should be seen in those terms, I am less sure
about the conclusion that there cannot be a topic map query language.  I agree
that there are many possible ways you could construct a search strategy.  At
Extreme ML 2000, where I tried to float the phrase "Fuzzy Topic Maps", I was
thinking about agents navigating topic maps looking for content that matched
some pattern or set of patterns, with association weightings guiding where the
agent looks next.  Such an agent could improve itself genetically by building
up its own association weightings based on feedback from its user.

However, away from this "agent" view, which doesn't really correspond to the
way most people do searches in the here and now, if a topic map cannot be
searched like a big database, then it will seem like a black hole of lost
information to many users.  There needs to be a standard way of
searching/querying a topic map, a standard way that can be supported by all
search tools.  It doesn't have to express every possible nuance of how you
could interpret a topic map.  It doesn't have to constrain search tools which
might care to extend it.  However, I do think a core query language would be a
very good thing.  It would be nice if it were close to some standard XML Query
Language, but since we don't have one of those yet, the field seems somewhat
open.

So, all I really want to suggest is that an 80/20 query language might be a big
help in getting XTM accepted as a preferred paradigm for hyperlinked
information.

	Cheers,
		Tony.
========
Anthony B. Coates
Leader of XML Architecture & Design
Chief Technology Office
Reuters Plc, London.
tony.coates@reuters.com
========

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