[topicmapmail] Embedding XTM Was: XTM Datatypes

[W. Eliot Kimber]

Anthony B. Coates wrote:
> ** Reply to message from "W. Eliot Kimber" <eliot@isogen.com> on Fri, 13 Dec
> 2002 06:12:09 -0500
> 
>>>The problem is that you have to know what it *means* to have XTM embedded
>>>another XML format.  I suggested one semantic interpretation, but surely not
>>>the only one.  The issue is that I'm not convinced that everyone would
>>>implement topic map extraction identically to the way I would.
>>
>>I'm not sure what you mean by "know what it means". I don't see how the 
>>context in which a topicMap element occurs can, in any way, affect the 
>>way that topic map would be interpreted WRT the definitions in XTM 
>>and/or ISO/IEC 13250--it is just a set of topics and associations.
> 
> 
> I wasn't thinking that the XTM tags would change their semantics.  Rather, it
> was the way that XML content in the general document was associated with the
> topic map that I thought might be open to interpretation.  My thinking was that
> you would insist that all links from the XTM content to the non-XTM content be
> explicit in the topic map, rather than implicit based on
> location/proximity/etc.  However, it struck me that this wasn't the only
> possible interpretation, hence my original question.  That said, I seem to have
> been flogging a proverbial dead horse, since there doesn't seem to be any
> dissenting opinion, only people wondering how I could have conceived of other
> interpretations.

Ah, that explains it. Yes, I think the XTM spec (and 13250) are pretty 
clear that they provide no license to infer any relationships based on 
structural relationships not explicitly defined in the spec and in no 
case includes elements outside the XTM or HyTM vocabularies.

While it would be convenient to be able to do some structural 
implication, I've come to agree that it is probably an essential 
simplification to disallow it.

Cheers,

E.
-- 
W. Eliot Kimber, eliot@isogen.com
Consultant, ISOGEN International

1016 La Posada Dr., Suite 240
Austin, TX  78752 Phone: 512.656.4139