[osis-core] Proposed works syntax: work identifier

[Harry Plantinga]

Patrick,

Is the the "work identifier" an internal ID only, or does it have some
relation to the outer world?  E.g. if I want to mark up a passage as a
reference to Ps. 41 in the LXX, could I say

<work workID="ralph">[elements identifying an LXX edition of the bible, or
simply the bible.lxx]</work>
...
<reference osisRef="ralph:Ps.41.3">

Or does the work identifier have some external significance, validation in
the
Scheme, etc?

Option A: Work identifier is merely an internal ID. You can use whatever
you want, whatever you put into the <work> element. The work is identified
externally (author, title, osisIDScheme, ISBN, whatever) in the <work>
element.

Option B:  The work identifier is from a standard set, either encoded into
the schema with an x-extension mechanism, or defined on the
bibletechnologies.org
website, or whatever.

I was thinking of option A.

Option B would result in lots of extra typing:  I might have to write
something
like <div osisID="x-augustine_confessions.pusey:III.iv.5"> instead of
<div osisID="conf:III.iv.5">

Also, Option B would mean encoding a whole bunch of bible versions into
the schema, which doesn't seem practical. You'd have to know in advance
the relevant bible versions or update the scheme regularly.

> >"I want any edition of the bible.lxx" where bible.lxx is one of those
> >standardized osisID schemes we've discussed. Do I have to know a title,
> >publisher, author to fill in?  Or is there somewhere that I can use
> >a generic osisID scheme name such as bible.lxx, which is defined outside
> >this document?
> >
> >What were the other fancy kinds of bible version specifications from
> >Rome that I recall someone enumerating on this list some time ago. How
> >woudl they work?  E.g. suppose I want a bible (any bible) in American
> >English. I suppose I would use <language>en-us</language> but where
> >to I say "a bible, any bible"?
> >
> Are you saying that I should be able to say (not in syntax but hopefully
> clear)
>
> osisRef - give me Matt.1.1 but only from any English translation? or
> from a particular translation?
>
> Wouldn't that be defined in the header (with some improvements) as I
> have suggested? In other words, if you have in the header:
>
> <work osisWork="bible.nrsva">etc.
>
> osisRef="Matt.1.1" (assuming work defaults from an attribute on
> osisText) mean any Matt.1.1 that is using bible.nrsva as a reference
system.
>
> If you wanted to specify that your references are to a particular edition:
>
> <work osisWork="bible.nrsva.niv">etc.
>
> osisRef="Matt.1.1" is defaulting to pointing only at an NIV translation,
> although the software could fall back to some other NRSVA edition
>
> Or even to a particular language:
>
> <work osisWork="bible.nrsva.niv.spanish:>etc.
>
> I think the problem is and one of the reason I suggested splitting up
> most of this into attributes is what happens if someone wants to skip
> part of the expression? I don't care about NSRVA or NIV but want
> bible.spanish as my osisWork. Not unreasonable but virtually impossible
> to validate with datatyping.
>
> Now, if we abandon datatyping altogether, user has an example syntax and
> if they follow it, other OSIS applications will be able to find their
> materials, don't follow and it won't,   then that is an entirely
> different story.
>
> Maybe the problem is that I keep seeing it as a datatyping problem.
>
> >
> >I think we need some way of tying a <work> to a pre-defined osisID
> >scheme. That was the purpose of my proposed additional attribute to
> >specify an externally defined osisID scheme such as bible.lxx or
> >josephus or augustine_confessions.pusey
> >
> No problem with referencing an outside scheme.
>
>  From an earlier post you made today:
>
> <work refWork="LXX"><osisWork>bible.lxx</osisWork></work> would give us a
> way of saying "I want to use the osisID scheme of bible.lxx" without
> identifying a title, author, publisher, etc.
>
>
> I think what is also unclear to me is why user's should be able to or
> able to avoid doing author/title/publisher/etc.?
>
> Either they want to specify a reference system (some of which will be
> predefined with that sort of information) or not. If someone is going
> outside a defined set, I don't understand the reluctance to force them
> to provide some minimal information about it. (I may be mis-reading your
> post completely  so please correct if I have run off into the weeds.)
>
> Not sure what the refWork (which I have renamed in the schema to be
> osisWork  to be consistent with our other usage) gains you in addition
> to <osisWork>bible.lxx</osisWork>
>
> I would just say: <work osisWork="bible.lxx">, etc. and end with
> whatever (if any) other information you wanted to include.
>
> Could even have: <work osisWork="bible.lxx"/>, with osisWorkType (the
> type of the attribute value) being one of our extensible attribute
> lists. The value in osisText of osisWork should match one of those
> values or with the "x=" extension.
>
>
> I think we are getting a little closer!
>
> Patrick
>
> >
> >>Interesting question: If we do specify reference systems using this
> >>method, do we need to pursue the grain/character pointing issue at this
> >>point? In other words, you can use osisRef to point to as fine a level
> >>as specified by a reference system or it can point to an ID, which might
> >>take you to a word for example?
> >>
> >>Advantage would be that we can simply say that osisWork and osisRef have
> >>to comply with a character (no spaces, commas, periods (other than as
> >>syntax separators) no @, etc.) and period delimited syntax. We could
> >>even specify a couple of common ones in advance.
> >>
> >>Do need to think about the canRef and osisRef where someone uses a
> >>divergent reference than needs to map back to the canonical set.
> >>
> >>Have you thought about the Psalms problem if we use NRSVA? I am torn
> >>because if we use BHS, then users will have unfamiliar numbering leading
> >>to errors. If we use NRSVA, then, well I could declare a bible.bhs
> >>system and say that my osisRef in the head for a psalm maps to
> >>bible.bhs.ps.v?  work="bible.bhs" osisRef="Ps.---"
> >>
> >
> >I don't recall what the psalm problem was exactly.  Is it that some
> >psalms (e.g. 42) have a header (For the leader. To "Lilies.") that
> >is not a part of any verse?
> >
> >That's the nice thing about making up your own set of osisIDs. Make
> >one up for this part.  So psalm 42 would have
> >
> >Ps.42.header (or Ps.42.0)
> >Ps.42.1
> >Ps.42.2
> >Ps.42.3...
> >
> >The mapping could map Ps.42.0 and Ps.42.1 to Ps.42.1 in a greek edition.
> >In this regard, I'd rather have the reference version have a separate
> >Ps.42.0 and Ps.42.1 -- finer granularity for mapping other versions
> >into/out of this one.
> >
> >Of the dozen or so most common English editions (NRSV, NIV, KJV, etc etc)
> >I think they all coincide exactly on the OT and have only two minor
> >variations in the NT (3 John 15 and a verse in Rev, if I recall
correctly.)
> >I think we should definitely use something in this class for a standard.
> >
> >-Harry
> >
> >
>
> --
> Patrick Durusau
> Director of Research and Development
> Society of Biblical Literature
> pdurusau@emory.edu
>
>