[topicmapmail] Opera topic map question

[Steve Pepper]

* Alexander Mikhailian
|
| Thanks for the hint, these are excellent topic maps.

I'm glad you like them.

| > Feedback on any- and everything to
| > do with modeling issues, content, etc. is very welcome.
| 
| Actually, I browsed already through the Italian Opera topic map and here
| is one question.

Oh dear. My bad conscience! I really need to update that
topic map. (Actually the Norwegian Opera topic map is a much
better reflection of my current thinking on best modeling
practice than the Italian Opera topic map.)

| * Writers, composers and librettists do not depend on persons. However,
| in the context of this precise topic map, I would find it useful to see
| a supertype-subtype hierarchy under "person".

In the Italian Opera topic map there *is* such a hierarchy. See
http://www.ontopedia.net/omnigator/models/topic_nontopoly.jsp?id=subtype-of&tm=I
talianOpera.ltm&topline=0&todo=expandall

(I'm afraid this link will get broken into two lines, but I expect
you can piece it together.)

So I'm not sure I understand your question...

| * Dates do not form a hierarchy either, although I would naturally
| expect "date-of-birth" be the subtype of "date" also.
| 
| In my opinion, the only reason for not creating a hierarchy for these
| two topic sets is because these topics are referenced by PSIs and a
| hierarchy would contain assumptions about the relations between topics
| referred by PSIs that are not true outside this precise topic map.

Yes, I guess I should have a hierarchy there. I haven't done it for
two reasons:

(1) I've started using Ontopoly rather than LTM. It's a great tool,
but it has certain limitations. Creating a hierarchy of occurrence
types is one of them.

(2) The semantics of occurrence type hierarchies has not yet been
clarified. This is something the ISO working group is looking at in
connection with the formal semantics of the TMDM which will be
published shortly.

| Since the Italian Opera topic map is an exemplary document, I believe
| it's ontology has been thoroughly thought and the possible hierarchies
| are not there for a reason ;-)

It's nice of you to say so, but there are a few things in the
Italian Opera topic map that I plan to change in the near future.
In the meantime, the Norwegian Opera topic map is more exemplary ;-)

Steve

--
Conference Chair, Topic Maps 2008
Oslo, April 2-4 2008
www.topicmaps.com  NEW