FW: [topicmapmail] Reference to Topic Maps

[Murray Altheim]

Thompson, Miles wrote:
[...]
 > Stian I just wanted to add a 'me too' on your question. When writing
 > about topic maps it can be a really challenge to find a good, definitive
 > site to refer people to, especially when it comes to a url for "the
 > official standard".
 >
 > This wasn't always the case. Once upon a time the site
 > http://topicmaps.org/ was pretty much 'the' site when to refer to when
 > it came to an "official topic maps standard" - and it was a beautifully
 > simple and easy to reference as a definitive document.
 >
 > It is a shame that does not appear to be the case any more. Perhaps
 > those folks working hard in the thick of the trees and churning out all
 > these great updated standards don't realise how confusing its getting
 > for us folks outside the forest.
[...]

Miles,

The failure of the topicmaps.org website as a solid place to find
information on Topic Maps has a long history that I won't go into
at this point. Many if not most of the original TopicMaps.org team
responsible for developing the XTM 1.0 Specification are still at
work in the Topic Maps domain, but that domain has both enlarged
and splintered both socially and technologically. That's a shame,
and despite the best efforts of a number of individuals I don't
see this changing -- it's now been six or seven years (depending
on how one is counting). The ISO committee is but one part of the
larger Topic Maps community now. There are a number of activities
now but no real center, as you suggest.

I've discussed for over a year now the idea of editing the historical
http://www.topicmaps.org/ website and I'm still committed to working
on that despite the significant time that has elapsed since our
earlier discussions. I should probably get off my butte and contact
Steve or Michel again to get this moving. Problem is, as you seem to
understand, most of us are extremely busy in the thick of the trees
(in my case, bushes).

I can offer one thing: for anyone who wants a central location to
post/keep information about XTM 1.0 (which is what I am still using
in my own projects), I host the CeryleWiki, and it has a number of
pages on Topic Maps and XTM 1.0, including a brief tutorial. For
anyone who wants to edit Topic Map and XTM 1.0 related content on
the CeryleWiki site I'm quite willing to set up a login, just
contact me (off list) and I'll set it up (I don't permit anonymous
logins to avoid spammers).

If the Topic Map pages on the CeryleWiki became a definitive or
even subsidiary resource for either Topic Maps or XTM 1.0 I of
course wouldn't discourage that, I just know that these things
have a way of working themselves out within a community despite
the wishes of any single individual; I can only make the offer.
I certainly will be filling out the wiki in greater detail as
the Ceryle application is released.

And while I've been saying it for quite awhile (I am but one
person but may have found a SourceForge savvy person willing to
do the CVS work), I'm fairly close to releasing a first public
version of Ceryle, which for those that haven't yet heard, is a
very Topic Map-based application that includes a graph visualizer,
an embedded wiki that essentially is a dynamic Topic Map editor,
among other features.

More info at:

    http://purl.org/ceryle/wiki/
    http://purl.org/ceryle/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=TopicMap
    http://purl.org/ceryle/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=IntroductionToTopicMaps

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim <murray06 at altheim.com>                              ===  = =
http://www.altheim.com/murray/                                     = =  ===
SGML Grease Monkey, Banjo Player, Wantanabe Zen Monk               = =  = =

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