[osis-core] Latest Revision
Patrick Durusau
osis-core@bibletechnologieswg.org
Wed, 05 Dec 2001 09:53:47 -0500
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NOTE: We promised the public posting of this draft to the website by the
end of this week. Please review and get back to me by Thursday. I am
leaving Friday for the XML 2001 conference and will have limited time
(read none at all!) to deal with changes or corrections. Thanks! Patrick
Greetings,
I had a delightful conversation with Kees this morning on the phone and
have incorporated several of his suggestions in the latest draft. Some
significant changes to note:
1. Using the language "standard editions", understood to be modern
editions of the biblical text. In order to get a useable but expandable
work product out the door, I think we need to focus on the standard
editions and cover variants on those in a later release. No matter how
many notes BHS and NA27 have, they remain just texts with notes. From a
markup standpoint, it is not even a critical apparatus, just notes on a
text. (I take a critical apparatus as allowing the automatic
re-construction of base and witness texts, a far cry from BHS and NA27.)
2. By that narrowing of the focus, I have introduced several other
changes: (I am not suggesting we not pursue these, some are my pets as
well, but I would like to get us a scope we can meet and do it well in
the time available. I intend to pursue these other issues onward and
will not simply declare victory as some text projects have done.)
Delete LTS 3, the images, graphics, video, etc. not really part of a
standard edition. Is important for children's bibles, illustrated
bibles and the like, but we can add that in a separate module. I don't
think we have to revisit the HyTime linking, etc. issues at this point.
3. Changed on LTS 3 (renumbered from 4) that structures like a table of
contents will be defined. From a markup standpoint it is really an
artifact of the rendering process but I think Kees is correct in
thinking some publishers/authors will be happier with static structures
here.
4. I have removed certainty and responsibility from the notes section.
If we are authoring standard editions, there is really no question about
certainty or responsiblity. Those can only arise when working with
original witnesses. BHS and NA27 are reports about witnesses and hence
there is no uncertainty about what they report. We may disagree with
those sources but there is no doubt about what they say about a
particular text or witness. To the extent they speak of a witness, it is
a note.
5. I have dropped the open issues section as inappropriate to a
requirements document. In particular take note that resolving multiple
references is no longer a requirement for OSIS 1.0. Recall that I have
suggested that the scope be limited to standard editions and that is not
an issue for such texts. It is an issue I think we should address, just
not in the OSIS 1.0 release. In that regard, note the editing of
Reference 1.
I have deleted Reference 6 as being a duplicate of Reference 2. If the
document is required to declare a numbering scheme, OSIS will need to
provide a mechanism for so doing. The resolution of that scheme against
others is a topic for a later release.
Comments, suggestions, corrections, additions, deletions are all welcome!
Patrick
--
Patrick Durusau
Director of Research and Development
Society of Biblical Literature
pdurusau@emory.edu
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<h1>OSIS Requirements<br>
</h1>
<h2>BTWG Working Draft 5 December 2001</h2>
<dl>
<dt>This version:</dt>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/08osis-requirements-20011205.html">http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/08osis-requirements-20011205.html</a>
<br>
</dd>
<dt>Latest version:</dt>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/osis-requirements.html">http://www.sbl-site.org/osis/osis-requirements.html</a>
<br>
</dd>
<dt>Previous versions:</dt>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/07osis-requirements-20011203.html">http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/07osis-requirements-20011203.html</a>
</dd>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/06osis-requirements-20011110.html">http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/06osis-requirements-20011110.html</a>
</dd>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/05osis-requirements-20011109.html">http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/05osis-requirements-20011109.html</a>
</dd>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/04osis-requirements-20011108.html">
http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/04osis-requirements-20011108.html</a>
</dd>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/03osis-requirements-20011106.html">
http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/03osis-requirements-20011106.html</a>
<br>
</dd>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/02osis-requirements-20011102.html">
http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/02osis-requirements-20011102.html</a>
<br>
</dd>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/01osis-requirements-20011020.html">
http://www.sbl-site2.org/osis/01osis-requirements-20011020.html</a>
</dd>
<dt>Editor:</dt>
<dd>
Patrick Durusau (Society of Biblical Literature) <a href="mailto:pdurusau@emory.edu"><pdurusau@emory.edu></a><br> </dd>
<dd><b>More names need to go here (or above) mine! But, I need voiced approval to add your names, not silence!</b></dd>
<dt>Contributors:</dt>
<dd>
Steve DeRose
(Brown University) <a href="mailto:Steven_DeRose@Brown.edu"><Steven_DeRose@Brown.edu></a><br> </dd><dd>
Troy Griffiths (Crosswire) <a href="mailto:scribe@crosswire.org"><scribe@crosswire.org></a><br> </dd><dd>
Jerry Fincher (American Bible Society Interactive, ABSi) <a href="mailto:dandjfincher@juno.com"><dandjfincher@juno.com></a><br>
</dd>
</dl>
<hr title="Separator for header">
</div>
<h2>
<a name="abstract">Abstract</a>
</h2>
<p>This document describes the draft requirements for the Open Scriptural Information Standard (OSIS) 1.0 specification.</p>
<h2>
<a name="status">Status of this document</a>
</h2>
<h4>Distribution: Public</h4>
<p>This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. This document is the first public OSIS Requirements working draft.</p>
<p>This is the first public working draft of the OSIS 1.0 requirements document. It should be reviewed and commented upon by members of the Bible Technology Working Group in general, the OSIS group and its working groups in particular, and any member of the public at large that is interested in the encoding of biblical texts. It is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or made obsolete by other documents at any time. This document should only be cited as a "work in progress".</p>
<p>Comments on this document should be sent to the Editor, Patrick Durusau (Society of Biblical Literature) <a href="mailto:pdurusau@emory.edu"><pdurusau@emory.edu></a>.</p>
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
1 <a href="#section-Overview">Overview</a><br>
2 <a href="#section-Terminology">Terminology</a><br>
3 <a href="#section-General-Requirements">General Requirements</a><br>
4 <a href="#section-Metadata-Requirements">Metadata Requirements</a><br>
5 <a href="#section-LTS-Requirements">Large Text Structure Requirements</a><br>
6 <a href="#section-Notes-Requirements">Notes and Annotation Requirements</a><br>
7 <a href="#section-Pharse-Requirements">Phrase Level Requirements</a><br>
8 <a href="#section-Reference-Requirements">Reference/Linking Requirements</a><br>
9 <a href="#section-Conclusion-Requirements">Conclusion</a><br>
<a name="section-Overview"></a><h2>1. Overview</h2>
<p>This document contains the requirements for the Open Scriptural Information Standard (OSIS) under development by the Bible Technology Working Group (BTWG).</p>
<p>The purpose of this requirements document is to chart a proposed scope of OSIS 1.0 to allow evaluation of that scope by the user community to make sure all the relevant requirements have been identified. It is hoped that the user community will use this document as a framework for their suggestions, criticisms or additions to the requirements for OSIS 1.0.
</p>
<p>These requirements do not address the encoding of biblical materials such as commentaries, lexicons, concordances, and other reference materials. Those texts will be the subject of future OSIS specifications, work on which, is already underway. This will include specification of linking and reference mechanisms for these materials.</p>
<p>To the extent possible, the use of markup syntax has been avoided in this document except where necessary to make reference to such syntax for purposes of illustration. Reviewers should feel free to contribute their remarks using any means of expression or illustration they find helpful. It would be most helpful, however, if such comments were directed at specific portions of this requirements document by section number, to assist in collating and evaluating responses.
</p>
<p>This proposal relies heavily upon prior work on texts and biblical texts, most notably by the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), Logos Research Systems, SIL International (XSEM, directed by Dennis Drescher), ThML (Harry Plantinga) and Chinese Christian Markup Language (CCML) in deriving the proposed requirements for OSIS 1.0. The degree to which that effort has been successful credit should be given to prior work in this area. Any shortcomings or gaps in the following requirements should be credited to the editor/contributors and not the materials used as their starting point.
</p>
<p>The format and structure of this document is patterned after the requirement documents prepared for W3C, <a href="http://www.w3c.org">http://www.w3c.org</a>, specifications.</p>
<h2>
<a name="section-Terminology"></a>2. Terminology</h2>
<p> The following key words are used throughout the document to specify
the extent to which an item is a requirement for the work of the Bible Technology
Working Group:</p>
<dl>
<dt>
<b><a name="terminology-must"></a>MUST</b>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>This word means that the item is an absolute requirement.</p>
</dd>
<dt>
<b><a name="terminology-should"></a> SHOULD</b>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>This word means that there may exist valid reasons not to
treat this item as a requirement, but the full implications should be
understood and the case carefully weighed before discarding this item.</p>
</dd>
<dt>
<b><a name="terminology-may"></a> MAY</b>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>This word means that an item deserves attention, but further
study is needed to determine whether the item should be treated as a
requirement.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>When written in all CAPS, MUST, SHOULD and MAY, have the specific meaning assigned above. If written in normal case, they have their usual non-technical meaning.</p>
<a name="section-General-Requirements"></a><h2>3. General Requirements</h2>
<h4>Definition of Scope</h4>
<p>OSIS 1.0 SHALL specify a standard for the authoring of standard editions of biblical texts. Authoring is understood to include the requirements of translators seeking to produce new standard editions of the biblical text.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: This requirement is not meant to deprecate the importance of encoding original manuscript witnesses or other more complex material nor to preclude the extension of the OSIS standard to include such materials. Indeed, the OSIS group has several working groups pursuing those topics at the present time. It does mean that progress can be made on the relatively clear requirements of standard texts even while research proceeds on other materials.</p>
<h4>General Syntax</h4>
<p>Must Use XML Syntax.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: The OSIS specifications will make use of the W3C core standards, including, but not limited to: XML 1.0, XLink, XPointer, CSS, XSL, XSLT, SVG, XML Schema and others.</p>
<h4>Modular Architecture</h4>
<p>The OSIS specification will use a modular architecture that will allow for the re-use of elements from other modules with expanded content models or additional attributes.<p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: To promote the use of OSIS by the users and producers of biblical texts it is important that the learning curve for use be as gradual as possible. The OSIS project seeks to promote such use by providing a layered series of "modules," the most basic of which meets the most basic needs of all users. Additional capabilities are added to those "modules," allowing users to build upon knowledge already acquired.</p>
<h4>OSIS Specification Language</h4>
<p>The canonical version of OSIS documentation and encoding specification will be in the English language.</p>
<h4>Non-English OSIS Specifications</h4>
<p>OSIS 1.0 MUST provide a mechanism for the transformation of XML Names in the OSIS encoding specification from English into languages that can be expressed using the Unicode character set.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: It is the intent of the OSIS project that not only will biblical texts will become easier to produce and deliver by the use of this standard but also that interested parties can participate in that work in their own languages. The project will provide sample uses of this transformation mechnism into several target languages.</p>
<h4>SGML Compatibility</h4>
<p>Compatibility with SGML is not a priority.</p>
<h4>Conformance</h4>
<p>OSIS shall declare the requirements that must be meet by a document to be considered as complying with the OSIS specification.</p>
<a name="#section-Metadata-Requirements"></a><h2>4. Metadata Requirements</h2>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: The listing of requirements in Sections 4-8 as "Metadata; Large Text Structure; Notes and Annotation; Phrases; Reference/Linking" is based upon the experience of the drafters with encoding texts and is meant simply to orient the reader familiar with that realm of discourse. No significance should be attached to a particular requirement appearing in one section or another (experts will differ on their classification).</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: Metadata in this context should be understood as information about a particular text in its most general sense. For example, to say that the King James Version was published in England is a partial description of a particular text, versus "In the beginning, ..." is part of the text being described. It is the description of the text in its largest sense that the following requirements are meant to address.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: In this document the term "metadata" does not refer to declarations in XML Schemas.</p>
<p><b>Metadata.1</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST include metadata annotation covering the types of metadata specified in Dublin Core.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: Dublin Core metadata is cited here as an illustrative minimum and not restrictive in terms of the categories or labels to be supported for OSIS metadata. The metadata specified by Dublin Core falls into categories of Content (Title, Subject, Description, Type, Source, Relation, Coverage), Intellectual Property (Creator, Publisher, Contributor, Rights) and, Instantiation (Date, Format, Identifier, Language). For current information see: <a class="ref" href="">http://dublincore.org/</a>.
</p>
<p><b>Metadata.2</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST include mechanisms for recording library classification data such as Library of Congress, Dewey or other publication or cataloging data.
</p>
<p><b>Metadata.3</b> Within OSIS 1.0 all metadata MAY be inherited by elements in a document instance unless over-ridden at a lower element level.
</p>
<p><b>Metadata.4</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST provide mechanisms to include metadata on any element.
</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: This requirement addresses the need to include metadata that may be at variance with that recorded for the document instance as a whole. One possible use would be to indicate revision or authoring information on a particular paragraph or section of a larger work.
</p>
<p><b>Metadata.5</b> OSIS 1.0 metadata MUST include specific mechanisms for addressing digital rights management and confidentiality.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: Digital rights management is an important issue for both publishers and software vendors. A working group will be given the task of evaluating the various DRM (digital rights management) mechanisms that are available for inclusion in metadata and charged with making a recommendation for inclusion into the OSIS 1.0 metadata mechanism. This is an illustration of an area where the BTWG does not intend to re-create the work of other more focused and technically competent groups addressing this issue.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: There are several types of bible specific metadata or at least data that is most often of concern for people who use, publish biblical texts that are not specifically mentioned above. Those would include metadata about translators, translations, versions, version abbreviations, and language usage. All of those items are actually subsumed under the more general categories of Dublin Core metadata but are listed here to assure readers such items have not been overlooked.</p>
<p><b>Metadata.6</b> OSIS 1.0 SHOULD declare a keyword syntax for use in construction of indexes and other finding aids (with associated metadata).</p>
<a name="section-LTS-Requirements"></a><h2>5. Large Text Structure Requirements</h2>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: While boundaries of what constitutes a "large text structure" varies from person to person, the term is used here to simply delimit the requirements for such structures as opposed to smaller structures in a text. No conclusion should be drawn from the listing of a structure within this category as opposed to the following <a href="#section-Notes-Requirements">Notes and Annotations</a> or <a href="#section-Phrase-Requirements">Phrase Level Structures</a> sections.
</p>
<p><b>LTS.1</b> DIV structures within OSIS 1.0 must allow document divisions such as book, chapter, or more finely grained divisions. Such structures may, but are not required to correspond to traditional divisions of the text.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: The divorce of DIVs from traditional structures avoids problems of referencing other structures that do not correspond to traditional divisions. This will not impair the ability of software (or presentation in print) to use such traditional structures for display or printing.</p>
<p><b>LTS.2</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST define the use of opening and closing milestones to mark structures that do not properly <b>nest</b> in the sense of a well-formed XML document.
</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: Structures under consideration for markup with milestones include (but are not limited to) page, book, chapter, verse, quote, line, a semi-open set. Milestones may also be used for recording multiple perspectives on a biblical text. (The important concept of perspectives on a text was isolated in XSEM and acknowledged in CCML.)
</p>
<p><b>LTS.3</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST define default structures for common divisions of printed texts, including such structures as title page, front, body, back, as well as place holders for generated text objects such as a table of contents, index, table of illustrations, etc.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: OSIS 1.0 is not being designed in isolation and there are a number of presentation and printing practices that will find expression in specific mechanisms in OSIS 1.0. Considered from a markup standpoint, most of these divisions are artifacts of the rendering process but they will be included for use by authors who prefer static structures for a table of contents, indexes and the like. </p>
<a name="section-Notes-Requirements"></a><h2>6. Notes and Annotation Requirements</h2>
<p><b>Note.1</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST provide a mechanism for the representing notes (note being used in its most generic sense, a footnote for example) on a text.</p>
<p><b>Note.2</b> Notes MUST be allowed to attach to any portion of text in the document instance.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: Notes may range from philological notes (some translations read, etc.) to longer discursive material that may provide longer explanations of material in the text.</p>
<p><b>Note.3</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST define the usage of notes as critical apparatus in a biblical text.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: A critical apparatus is merely a specialized expression of the more general concept of a note. Given its importance in biblical studies and the more common view that critical apparatus is something different from a mere note, the drafters wished to indicate that it has not been overlooked.</p>
<a name="section-Pharse-Requirements"></a><h2>7. Phrase Level Requirements</h2>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: All markup can be reduced to a series of <seg> elements with appropriate attributes. Parsers and software work as easily with text encoded in that manner as with more human readable encoding. However, one of the implicit goals of OSIS is to ease the encoding of biblical texts, often by people who lack software beyond simple text editors. Therefore, a number of phrase level elements are declared that correspond to commonly recognized structures in biblical texts. The element set is constructed to provide an intuitive set of elements that can be easily used without extensive training. No implication should be drawn from these elements as to the eventual processing, storage or manipulation of the text by more sophisticated applications.</p>
<p><b>Phrase.1</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST declare elements for phrase structures such as, abbreviation, name, place, quote and similar elements.</p>
<p><b>Phrase.2</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST declare word level annotation mechanisms, apart from both notes and reference/linking.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: Word level annotation is of such importance in biblical studies, software and publishing that it will be treated separately from both notes and reference/annotation. It could actually be treated as part of either but the OSIS developers want to create easy to use mechanisms that will work across texts and with the minimal skill set needed to create such annotations.</p>
<p><b>Phrase.3</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST declare a reference scheme for both part-of-speech (POS) and LEMMA for words found in a biblical text. Alternative schemes will be allowed, but must be in addition to the normative OSIS reference.
</p>
<a name="section-Reference-Requirements"></a><h2>8. Reference/Linking Requirements</h2>
<p><b>Reference.1</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST declare robust pointing and linking mechanisms for intra- and inter-document referencing.</p>
<p><b>Reference.2</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST require the declaration of a numbering scheme for references to biblical texts. All subsequent references must either declare a referencing system or default to the one declared for the document as a whole.</p>
<p><b>Reference.3</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST declare a syntax for the three uses of reference: point here (location identifier), relevant material here (location plus subject), and, relevant material there (other location relevant here).</p>
<p><b>Reference.4</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST provide for both inline and out-of-line linking of texts.</p>
<p><b>Reference.5</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST declare a mechanism for alignment of parallel passages.
</p>
<p><b>Reference.6</b> OSIS 1.0 MUST provide a list of references commonly found in standard editions of the biblical text.</p>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: OSIS will not be able to address all possible references made from biblical texts. The intent of this requirement is to allow the standard to declare the references used in such standard works as <i>Biblia Hebraica Stutgartendia</i>, <i>Novum Testamentum Graece</i> (27th Edition), and the <i>SBL Handbook of Style</i> and other such standard works as basic references.</p>
<a name="#section-Conclusion-Requirements"><h2>9. Conclusion</h2>
<p><i>Non-normative comment</i>: This document represents the present stage of requirements development for OSIS 1.0. The eventual OSIS 1.0 standard will meet the needs of its user community only with the contribution of requirements and discussion of the foregoing and proposed requirements. Your comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.</p>
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