[osis-core] Reference to entire work?

[Todd Tillinghast]

Patrick,

> Todd,
> 
> Just a question at this point on the exchange about pointing to an
> entire work.
> 
> Assuming that the osisRef is bound to a <work> element in the header,
> which could (would need to add probably) a statement about its
internal
> reference system, I am not certain I understand the issue about
> "pointing to the entire work?"

I am not sure how we bind an osisRef to a <work> element? 
We have not reached a consensus regarding how to form a work specific
reference.  



> 
> If Bible.KJV:Gen.1.1 is pointing at the first verse of the first
chapter
> of Genesis in the King James Version of the Bible,

Actually Bible.KJV:Gen.1.1 is an identifier for the first verse of the
first chapter of Genesis in the King James Version reference system but
not necessarily to the King James Version of the Bible.  If we want to
make version specific reference we need to do something like:

Option 1: <reference osisRef="Bible.KJV(Bible.KJB):Gen.1.1">

OR if you don't like the (Bible.KJV) (Steve thinks it is "tacky")
Then 
Option 2: <reference work="Bible.KJV" osisRef="Bible.KJV:Gen.1.1">
I think this is an unfortunate alternative only because you need two
values rather than one to describe the reference, but agree that it
looks cleaner.  And would be easier in some ways because you wouldn't
have to parse out the work.  

I think this is a matter of personal preference.  We need to make a
decision and go with it.  I will agree with the alternative that the
group prefers.


> why isn't: Bible.KJV pointing to the work as a whole? (Leaving aside
for
> the moment Harry's question about short aliases to works, although I
> think it works there as well).

I agree that Bible.KJV would point to the entire REFERENCE SYSTEM.  The
problem we have is that we need the ":" to distinguish between
references that have defaulted the reference system and references that
specify the reference system.  If we simply say "Bible.KJV", I would
expect that it would be intrepted as a reference in the default
reference system (Bible.KJV:Bible.KJV in expanded form is "Bible.KJV" is
the default reference system).  That actually is not too bad now that I
look at it!  

Three options:
1) Don't allow references to the entire reference system and/or work.

2) Make the reference system on both sides of the ":" mean the entire
reference system. osisRef="Bible.KJV" where the default reference system
is "Bible.KJV" to mean osisRef="Bible.KJV:Bible.KJV" in expanded form OR
spelled out as in osisRef="Bible.TEV:Bible.TEV".  This still does not
give us a reference to an entire work just an entire reference system.
I suppose we would either have: 
2.a) <reference osisRef="Bible.TEV(Bible.TEV):Bible.TEV(Bible.TEV)"/> OR
2.b) <reference work="Bible.TEV" osisRef="Bible.TEV:Bible.TEV"/> 

3) If the identifier is one of the NAMED works or reference systems
specifically defined in a <work> or <refSystem> element in the header
then the reference points to the entire reference system or work.  I
LIKE THIS!  The only problem is what a work and reference system can be
named the same thing.  (This is an other good reason not to have them be
IDs.)  This allows us to reference works without a reference system when
referring to the entire work.  This does sort of overload the meaning of
osisRef though.
3.a) <reference osisRef="Bible.KJV"/> ambiguous if "Bible.KJV" is
defined as a work and a reference system.
3.b) <reference work="Bible.KJV" osisRef=""/> invalid syntax for
osisRef.
3.c) <reference work="Bible.KJV" osisRef="Bible.KJV"/> the reference
system is not needed but the syntax is correct.
3.d) <reference osisRef="Bible.KJV(Bible.KJV)"/> again the reference
system is not needed but the syntax is correct.

Thoughts?

> 
> Am I missing something special about references to entire works?
> Admittedly, you might want to have a reference to a specific
> translation, but the details of that would be in the <work> element
and
> need not appear in the string that is used to link to that entry.
> 
> Patrick
> 
> Todd Tillinghast wrote:
> 
> >>At 11:14 AM -0600 08/21/02, Todd Tillinghast wrote:
> >>
> >>>Currenly we have a nice mechanism to point to a reference within a
> >>>
> >work
> >
> >>>but not to an entire work or reference system.
> >>>
> >>><reference osisRef="Bible.KJV(Bible.TEV)"/> is invalid.
> >>>
> >>That is kind of tacky, isn't it?
> >>
> >
> >With out this sort of syntax we have no way of optionally saying that
I
> >mean this reference identifier in this reference system in this
> >translation.  This is a necessary behavior.  There have been
alternate
> >syntaxes thrown around over the past year but this seems to make the
> >most sense.
> >
> >We did have the work follow the rest of the reference at one point.
> >
> >What about this seems tacky?  Do you have any alternate suggestions?
> >
> >Naturally an aliasing mechanism would make things look simpler, but I
> >think that would just complicate things for now.
> >
> >>>
> >>>But <reference osisRef="Bible.TEV:Gen"/> is valid.
> >>>
> >>>If we change the regex to no have a ":" then we have no way to
> >>>distinquish between a reference to an entire work or reference
system
> >>>and a reference that is defaulting the reference system.  We could
> >>>
> >allow
> >
> >>>the following:
> >>>
> >>><reference osisRef="Bible.KJV(Bible.TEV):"/>
> >>>
> >>>One ugly thing is that the reference system is not needed when
> >>>
> >referring
> >
> >>>to the entire work.
> >>>
> >>True; I could live with that and the extraneous-seeming colon,
> >>though; this seems a rare enough case that it can get away with
being
> >>a little ugly.
> >>
> >
> >If we are going to do this we need to adjust the regex accordingly.
> >
> >>>Do we need a <workReference> element?  It is tempting to add
another
> >>>attribute to <reference> named osisWorkRef but then both attributes
> >>>would be optional.  I would rather see another element and have the
> >>>attributes be required.
> >>>
> >>>Todd
> >>>
> >>
> >>--
> >>
> >>Steve DeRose -- http://www.stg.brown.edu/~sjd
> >>Chair, Bible Technologies Group -- http://www.bibletechnologies.net
> >>Email: sderose@speakeasy.net
> >>Backup email: sjd@stg.brown.edu
> >>
> >
> >Todd
> >
> 
> --
> Patrick Durusau
> Director of Research and Development
> Society of Biblical Literature
> pdurusau@emory.edu
> 
>