[osis-core] Milestones Summary

[Patrick Durusau]

Guys,

An attempt to summarize the issues and ask some questions that may (or 
may not!) help frame this for resolution:

1. Prev/Next: TEI allows these attributes both for crossing boundaries 
as well as segments that are "out of order" (which assumes you have some 
notion other than the order of appearance in the text as the correct 
order for the segments).

2. Assuming segs were in the proper order, interesting idea about using 
a segID mechanism to find all the particular segs for a verse for 
example. (Suggested by Troy.)

3. Not quite sure about the assumption that English translations with 
multiple levels of quotes (the most common case cited so far) will have 
additional levels of overlapping markup. I do agree in principle that we 
need mechanisms that would solve that problem. Annotation markup is most 
generally pointing (attaching) to a segment of text and does not 
generally exist in the same node as the principal text.

4. Note that the original milestone mechanism had a large array of 
milestone elements with implied semantics, none of which are really 
required for actual use. Consider that we now have a milestone element, 
that you can use anyway you like. Perhaps better attributes would make 
it easier to duplicate the functions Troy saw in the original mechanism.

Simply lacking a "meaningful" name, verseStart, quoteStart, verseEnd, 
quoteEnd, does not affect the use or operation of the current milestone 
element. It may be the case that we need to take the case of Matthew 13 
as an example of where the milestone element should be used.

I am wondering if we are seeking a uniform solution to what may be a 
problem that varies according to context and that we are artificially 
creating a Hobson's choice for ourselves.

5. XML Syntax Question:

It is always possible to write an XML element as devoid of content, 
i.e., <quote id="123" type="quoteStart" />, provided the content model 
does not require another element to appear within it. (Or so I am 
reading the standard, Steve, can you confirm?)

Assuming that is the case, should we look at the content models for a 
possible solution? In addition to the generic milestone element?

Comments on:

A. Use of generic milestone (assume some type typology)?

B. Empty element (where allowed by the content model)?

C. Segmentation (where appropriate)?

D. Do we need a uniform solution?

E. Other solutions?

I think we all realize this is a problem that needs a robust solution 
and within the constraints of our time and other duties (Todd is 
managing a larger brood now!) we are all listening and trying to 
understand the posts and questions being posed.

Patrick
  

-- 
Patrick Durusau
Director of Research and Development
Society of Biblical Literature
pdurusau@emory.edu