[topicmapmail] PSIs - alternatives - The Impact of Semantic Handshakes

[Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Inf. Lutz Maicher]

Hi there,

* From: "Simon Grant" <asimong at btinternet.com>
* Subject: [topicmapmail] PSIs - alternatives


| PSIs. Have people considered the idea of not trying to have unique
| PSIs, but instead having a group of PSIs refer to each other, when
| their sponsors consider that they are equivalent?

Yes, I thought about and I wrote a paper about this "Impact of Semantic 
Handshakes" and submitted it to TMRA. The current working draft can be 
downloaded by [1].

| A "democratic" alternative would be to have PSIs resolving to a file
| that named other, equivalent, PSIs, along with a description of the
| subject as seen by that authority.

The equality mechanism of TMDM Topic Maps enforces this "democratic" 
alternative. If you detect for your subject another PSI, add it to your 
Topic's set of Subject Identifiers. The next time, your Topic is requested 
(by TMIP/TMRAP) or merged, the documentation of your local integration 
decision is spreaded around and might lead to further integrations.

In fact, the "Impact of Semantic Handshakes" I describe is built in the 
standards and will lead to a bottom-up standardisation of terminology. Once, 
two PSIs are added to a Topic and Topics are spread around, the 
standardisation/alignment process commence by its own.

Greetings from Leipzig,
Lutz

[1] http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~maicher/forschung3.html#[Maic06a]