RE: Definition of Documents -- OOPS - error fixed -- use this email to comment

I don't disagree with the combination, but I do want to double check on something.  I recall, but cannot point to anything, that for WCAG we rather deliberated avoided normative phrasing that was based on author intent.  If my recollection about this is correct, then "meant to function as a single entity" is just a little too subjective.  If, and only if, I am raising a valid issue then perhaps we could tweak the phrasing to something like "experienced by the end-user as a single entity"?

From: Gregg Vanderheiden [mailto:gv@trace.wisc.edu]
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 10:52 PM
To: Peter Korn
Cc: Alex Li; public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org Force
Subject: Re: Definition of Documents -- OOPS - error fixed -- use this email to comment

In not sure why it doesn't -- since the hard drive files are clearly a collection and not meant to be an entity -- since each persons is different.
But since we agree that that the note and the added text solve the problem together --  I think we are all set.

Since we can't actually have the note 3 without support in the definition -- having the extra phrase in the definition helps the note too.

So, does anyone disagree with the combination?

Just double checking since it will be up for clearance on Friday where we are hoping to bring this to a conclusion and send on to WCAG WG.

thanks

Gregg
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.


On Aug 19, 2013, at 5:05 PM, Peter Korn <peter.korn@oracle.com<mailto:peter.korn@oracle.com>> wrote:

Gregg, Alex,

I don't see how Gregg's change addresses hard drive partitions.  BUT they are already addressed by our Note 3, so I'm not worried about those.

Further, as I think about this, I think the other concern of an e-mail file is likewise addressed by our Note 3 ("software configuration AND STORAGE FILES such as databases").  A mail file containing in a single file an entire folder of e-mails is fundamentally a simple flat file database STORAGE FILE.

I don't mind the generalization language that Gregg suggests inserting.  It makes Note 3 more of a specific example of the general new phrase Gregg proposes.  But I also think we were prescient enough in crafting the language of Note 3 to cover all of the examples cited so far as potential problems.

Peter
On 8/19/2013 1:54 PM, Alex Li wrote:
Gregg,
How does the change prevent readers from interpreting a hard drive partition as a "single entity"?
All best,
Alex

From: Gregg Vanderheiden [mailto:gv@trace.wisc.edu]
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 1:32 PM
To: public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org<mailto:public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org> Force
Subject: Definition of Documents -- OOPS - error fixed -- use this email to comment

Sorry,
grabbed the wrong draft - here is the actual current definition with change.    (last one was missing the new note 3)
G

In responding to comments made during our public review of WCAG2ICT it appears that we have a flaw in our definition of document. Our current definition is:

document (as used in WCAG2ICT)

assembly of content<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#wcag2ict-def_content>, such as a file, set of files, or streamed media that is not part of software and that does not include its own user agent

Note 1: A document always requires a user agent to present its content<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#wcag2ict-def_content> to the user.

Note 2: Letters, spreadsheets, emails, books, pictures, presentations, and movies are examples of documents.

Note 3: Software configuration and storage files such as databases and virus definitions, as well as computer instruction files such as source code, batch/script files, and firmware, are examples of files that function as part of software<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#wcag2ict-def_software> and thus are not examples of documents. If and where software retrieves "information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user" from such files, it is just another part of the content<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#wcag2ict-def_content> that occurs in software and is covered by WCAG2ICT like any other parts of the software. Where such files contain one or more embedded documents, the embedded documents remain documents under this definition.

Note 4: Anything that can present its own content<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#wcag2ict-def_content> without involving a user agent, such as a self playing book, is not a document but is software<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#wcag2ict-def_software>.

Note 5: A single document may be composed of multiple files such as the video content, closed caption text, etc. This fact is not usually apparent to the end-user consuming the document / content<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#wcag2ict-def_content>. This is similar to how a single web page can be composed of content from multiple URIs (e.g. the page text, images, the JavaScript, a CSS file etc.).

however, this definition is so broad that an entire email system (such as Outlook which stores all of the email in a single .PST file) would qualify as a single document. In fact, an entire hard drive (that did not contain the OS or apps that displayed it)  could be considered a document.

I therefore suggest that the phrase
"that is meant to function as a single entity rather than a collection,"

 be added so that it reads:

assembly of content, such as a file, set of files, or streamed media that is meant to function as a single entity rather than a collection, that is not part of software, and that does not include its own user agent

Comments welcome

Gregg
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Director Trace R&D Center
Professor Industrial & Systems Engineering
and Biomedical Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison
Technical Director - Cloud4all Project - http://Cloud4all.info<http://cloud4all.info/>
Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International - http://Raisingthefloor.org<http://raisingthefloor.org/>
and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project -  http://GPII.net<http://gpii.net/>