[osis-core] declaring identifiers/subjects and types thereon

[Patrick Durusau]

Chris,

Chris Little wrote:
> Patrick,
> 
> I don't know if I quite understand this.  I interpret that you're saying
> 
> <identifier type="OSIS">Bible.NASB</identifier>
> 
> is incorrect, but
> 
> <identifier type="OSIS:">Bible.NASB</identifier>
> 
> is correct.  I don't understand the purpose of this, as it just looks 
> like a namespace without any actual reference.  Or is the idea that it 
> references an abstract document that would never exist?
> 

Yes, that is what I said was the current case, along with noting that it 
was ERROR on my part.

The goal was to allow people (who want to) to declare an identifier or 
subject that refers to a work, so they can use it as a prefix later in 
the document.

The various simple strings that were enumerated in the schema had that 
function. That is: ISBN, ISSN, etc., could be used as prefixes to values 
so the software has a chance to know what sort of identifier it is 
dealing with.

The "type" attribute should allow that simple string to be entered 
without the ":" that everyone seems to find so offensive. The content of 
the identifier and subject elements should also not be required to have 
the colon.

In the case of an identifier, the goal is:

<identifier type="ISBN">158516002-4</identifier>

Which gives the ISBN identifier for this work (the KJV version from ABS).

Same is true for subject:

<subject type="LCSH">Bible</subject

What I hear being voiced is that type="OSIS" is being used as the 
programmatic identifier for this work.

Fine by me.

Note that since <subject> can occur any number of times, there is no 
reason for it to be a list, hence it can have spaces in the content of 
the element, although not in the type attribute.

Same is the case for identifier.

To answer Todd's concerns, using his example:

<osisText osisIDWork="rvr" ...>
    <header>
       <work osisWork="rvr">
          ...
          <identifier type="fba">Bible.es.RVR.1960</identifier>
          ...
       </work>
       <work osisWork="fba">
          <title>Forum of Bible Agencies Bible Translation
Identifiers</title>
          ...
       </work>
    </header>
</osisText>

Note the change of the type attribute on identifier to match the 
osisWork attribute on the separate work.

This allows us to specify additional information on the authority that 
provided the name in question. Same would be true for subject.

Chris thinks we should return the list of simple values for both 
identifier and subject. I have no real case against that, but do think 
it would be better to have a stock set of work elements that are capable 
of directly the user to more information on the source of the identifier 
or subject.

Note that I would prefer to return the enumerated list along with a 
joint to xs:string and not attribute extension, so that if someone wants 
to use the work mechanism to add one we don't have, they can do so 
without the "x-" prefix.

For SBL purposes, I am sure we will draft work elements for all the 
enumerated types on both identifier and subject.

Now, assuming the following:

1. I fix the osisGenRegex (no longer relevant to this discussion),

2. Get a show of hands on type on identifier and subject being xs:string 
and having enumerated types for the most common values, which can also 
be represented as work elements,

Does that close this part of the final debate?

Hope everyone is at the start of a great week!

Patrick

-- 
Patrick Durusau
Director of Research and Development
Society of Biblical Literature
Patrick.Durusau@sbl-site.org
Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface
Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model

Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work!