Re: concept schemes

On Mon, Feb 07, 2005 at 12:27:55PM -0000, Alistair Miles wrote:
> > Personally, if I were King of the Forest, I would ban the word
> > "scheme".  For one thing, it is simply too close to "schema",
> > which is almost as bad, and in overlapping but nonetheless
> > different ways.  At a minimum, we must acknowledge that
> > in practice, people get them confused all the time, myself
> > included.  
> 
> Personally I have never been quite happy with the word
> 'scheme' myself, but it was the best thing we had at the time,
> and was inspired by the dublin core class dc:SubjectScheme.

I know, we're stuck with "scheme" in DCMI as well... ;-(
Changing jargon is really disruptive.

> I think it's too late to change the URI, but if anyone has any suggestions about better names for this thing, I'd love to hear them (e.g. 'system', 'schedule' ... ?).

Right, changing the labels would be nice if it's not too late...

> > Assuming we have to use "scheme"...:
> > 
> > -- I like Aida's suggestion for "subject heading systems".
> > 
> > -- In http://www.willpowerinfo.co.uk/glossary.htm, there is no
> >    definition of "scheme" itself, though there is (analogously)
> >    a definition for "schedule" (which, however, I would have
> >    expected to read "a SET of terms...").
> > 
> > > I think you have to call it a "concept scheme" rather than 
> > a "conceptual 
> > > scheme", because the latter form makes it sound as though 
> > it is not a 
> > > real scheme, just a conceptual one . . .
> > 
> > -- Yes.  I had been vaguely uneasy with the notion that
> >    "concept" or "conceptual" could be used interchangeably
> >    here, and this comment puts the finger on why.  I would
> >    also prefer just "concept scheme" (assuming "scheme"
> >    is used at all).
> 
> Yep, I agree, will scrub 'conceptual scheme' from the guide.

Tom

-- 
Dr. Thomas Baker                        Thomas.Baker@izb.fraunhofer.de
Institutszentrum Schloss Birlinghoven         mobile +49-160-9664-2129
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft                          work +49-30-8109-9027
53754 Sankt Augustin, Germany                    fax +49-2241-144-2352
Personal email: thbaker79@alumni.amherst.edu

Received on Monday, 7 February 2005 14:32:48 UTC