[topicmapmail] Any PSI for the concept of topic map?

[Murray Altheim]

Steve Pepper wrote:
> * Bernard Vatant:
> 
> | "Is there any available PSI for the *concept* of topic map - not the
> | topicMap element in an XTM file?"
[...]
> Consensus of what a topic map *is* is the responsibility of
> SC34, the ISO committee that is designing the standard. 

By now, I'd hoped that issues of scope and identity should seem
rather more commonplace. Consensus of what a Topic Map *is* is
only the responsibility of SC34 within the scope of ISO. Topic
Maps are a concept that ISO may publish as a standard, but what
a Topic Map *is* is not controlled by ISO SC34, or by anyone.
The closest we had to a consensus was when we were all still
working together as a community.

> At the moment such a consensus can be said to be found in 
> several places:
> 
>   * In ISO 13250:2003, the updated version of the Topic Maps
>     standard that includes the XTM DTD, but not the prose of
>     XTM
> 
>   * In the XTM 1.0 Specification which, while not official,
>     arguably contains a more readable explication of Topic
>     Maps that in many ways is closer to the ISO committee's
>     consensus than ISO 13250 itself (since it was published
>     a couple of years later than the standard).
>
>  [There is another definition in] the current committee draft
> of the Topic Maps Data Model (TMDM) which was approved through 
> international ballot just two months ago.
> 
> (In case anybody is wondering, there is as yet no consensus
> regarding the Topic Maps Reference Model (TMRM), but we expect
> to make major progress in this direction at the workshop to be
> held in Montréal in August.)

While it may be considered as wishful thinking, I've debulleted
the TMDM since there is demonstrably not a consensus yet that it
represents a definition of Topic Maps either within ISO or the
greater Topic Maps community. Publishing an ISO committee draft
does not constitute any consensus on a definition of Topic Maps.
The TMDM and the TMRM as definitions of Topic Maps are currently
at the same level of consensus in this regard: none.

So to answer Bernard's question, as I've already done (and you
chose to ignore), the only two safe identifying documents are
the existing standard ISO 13250 and the work of the Topic Map
community as present in the XTM 1.0 Specification. At this time,
everything else constitutes a work-in-progress.

Murray

......................................................................
Murray Altheim                    http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK               .

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