- From: tjeddo <tjeddo@gmail.com>
- Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2009 10:23:21 -0700
On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 12:52 PM, Gordon P. Hemsley <gphemsley at gmail.com> wrote: > I also propose allowing parenthetical citations and footnote markers > (as is used in the various W3C/WHATWG specifications) to also be > marked up with <cite>, though I'm not sure if TabAtkins agrees with me > on that point. > I agree. In fact I argue that this is should be the primary use case for the cite element (i.e., acknowledging sources). The current HTML5 draft definition provided for the cite element is inconsistent with the HTML4 specification, and furthermore now prohibits the cite element from being used for actual in-text citations as it was primarily intended for in HTML4 (see below) . I believe it would be most beneficial to provide a new element to simply markup the title of works, or just settle for using the <i> or <span> tags, and reserve the cite element for true in-text citations. To support my point here are some relevant quotes and characteristic examples given from the HTML4.01 specification [5]. Here is the definition provided for the cite element in HTML4.01. "CITE: Contains a citation or a reference to other sources [5, p. 91]." The HTML4.01 specification provides the following examples demonstrating the uses of the cite element: "As <CITE>Harry S. Truman</CITE> said, <Q lang="en-us">The buck stops here.</Q> [5, p. 91]" and more importantly "More information can be found in <CITE>[ISO-0000]</CITE> [5, p. 91]." Both these examples are now illegal under the current HTML5 draft definition for the cite element. While clarity certainly needs to be provided on the usage of the cite element; it is the second example that most closely matches the spirit and intention of the definition. That is, in-text citations. HTML5 should focus on refining the specification to handle this second in-text citation example. I've taken a shot at formalizing the emerging concepts people have been discussing on this mailing list to support valid in-text citations using the cite element. For those looking for the value proposition in all this, you can skim to the end of the email. Constructive criticism and corrections are appreciated. A Proposed Markup Scheme for the CITE element in HTML5 I've sampled a variety of passages containing real citations to markup in the emerging citation scheme that is being discussed on this mailing list. This way I don't have to overly contrive my examples. My goal here is to illustrate how the cite element can be revised to support first class citation support in HTML5. Also, all these examples are taken from sources about writing so there is a good chance we will all agree they are valid examples. Example 1A [1]: Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3). Candidate HTML5 Markup: <span id="symbols">Humans have been described as <q>symbol-using animals</q></span> <cite for="symbols" href="#bib-burke">(Burke 3)</cite>. Note: The cite element is used here to make the citation relationship between the paraphrased/quoted content and the original source explicit. The 'for' attribute indicates the paraphrased/quoted content that, in this case, is the content of the span element with id="symbols". The href attribute provides a URI that resolves to a bibliography entry (in this case on the same page), or an actual online resource that contains the paraphrased/quoted content. HTML5 aware browsers would render the "(Burke 3)" text as a hyperlink that would move the browsers displayed area to the fragment "#bib-burke" on the same page (the bibliography entry). This could alternatively be an explicit URI with or without a fragment identifier appended that navigates to a separate page. Example 1B [1]: Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3). Note: An MLA-valid variant of Example 1A Candidate HTML5 Markup: [Option 1] Human beings have been described by <cite for="symbols" href="#bib-burke">Kenneth Burke</cite> as <q id="symbols">symbol-using animals</q> (3). Note: It is the content of the whole sentence and not just the part between <q> tags that needs to be attributed to the author, therefore something like option 2 may be more appropriate. [Option 2] <span id="human-trait"> Human beings have been described by <a href="#bib-burke">Kenneth Burke</a> as <q>symbol-using animals</p> (3). <cite for="human-trait" href="#bib-burke" /> </span> Note: Here an empty cite element is provided with just attributes to make the citation relationship between the cited content and the original source explicit. <a> tags around the author's name can be optionally added to provide a hyperlink from the author's name to the bibliography entry. Example 2 [4, p. 7]: For this reason, the American computer scientist Leslie Lamport has developed the LaTeX format (Lamport, 1985), which provides a set of higher-level commands for the production of complex documents. Candidate HTML5 Markup: <span id="latex-fmt">For this reason, the American computer scientist Leslie Lamport has developed the Latex format <cite for="latex-fmt" href="#bib-lamp85">(Lamport, 1985)</cite>, which provides a set of higher-level commands for the production of complex documents.</span> Example 3A [3, p. 95]: The rate of convergence is quadratic as, shown by Wilkinson [27]. Candidate HTML5 Markup: <span id="quad-conv"> The rate of convergence is quadratic as, shown by Wilkinson <cite for="quad-conv">[27]</cite>. </span> Example 3B [3, p. 95]: Several variations have been developed [2], [7], [13]. Proposed HTML5 Markup: <span id="variations"> Several variations have been developed </span> <cite for="variations" href="#bib-2">[2]</cite>, <cite for="variations" href="#bib-7">[7]</cite>, <cite for="variations" href="#bib-13">[13]</cite>. Example 3C [3, p. 108]: Knuth [164, p. 3] notes that "Many readers will skim over formulas on their first reading of your exposition. Therefore, your sentences should flow smoothly when all but the simplest formulas are replaced by 'blah' or some other grunting noise." Candidate HTML5 Markup: Knuth <cite for="qt-knuth" href="#bib-164">[164, p. 3]</cite> notes that <q id="qt-knuth">Many readers will skim over formulas on their first reading of your exposition. Therefore, your sentences should flow smoothly when all but the simplest formulas are replaced by &slquo;blah&srquo; or some other grunting noise.</q> Example 4 [2]: Students having a hard time finding databases isn't a new phenomenon. At the University of Washington, they have problems too. With the addition of so many new databases to the campus online system, many students were having difficulty locating the database they needed. At the same time, the role of Session manager had evolved. The increased importance of the Session Manager as a selection tool made it a part of the navigation process itself. (Eliasen, 1997, p. 510) Candidate HTML5 Markup: <p> Students having a hard time finding databases isn't a new phenomenon. At the University of Washington, they have problems too. </p> <blockquote id="student-difficulty"> <p> With the addition of so many new databases to the campus online system, many students were having difficulty locating the database they needed. At the same time, the role of Session manager had evolved. The increased importance of the Session Manager as a selection tool made it a part of the navigation process itself. <cite for="student-difficulty" href="#bib-Eli"> (Eliasen, 1997, p. 510) </cite> </p> </blockquote> Additional Thoughts on this Citation Markup Approach: The 'for' attribute can be optionally dropped in which case the content requiring the citation implicitly becomes the parent element containing the cite element. User agents can only assume these cite element semantics apply when they have previously detected the HTML5 doctype. As mentioned on this mailing list, the 'cite' attribute is semantically closer fit than the 'href' element within the cite element; however, it has been noted it looks redundant with the element name. I am impartial on this one and just used 'href' in the examples. Although, Hugh Guiney also mentioned that XHTML2 had planned to use the cite element and attribute together (e.g., <cite cite="...">) In most of the proposed markup of the examples, the default italics styling applied to the content of the cite element is not desirable. But this is easily enough fixed by the css rule: cite {font-style: normal} I believe there is a significant value proposition for adding true citation support to HTML5, for example: * Search engines will have structured citation content to index. Algorithms can be developed to better associate content with authors, specific quotes with their speakers. This ultimately means more relevant searches for the Internet community. * If a standardized microdata vocabulary emerges for marking up bibliography entries to complement this citation approach, crawlers can be udpated to traverse these citation structures and extract out specific information more readily. * Professors might ask their students to write their papers in wiki-like content management systems that encode the citation content in this approach; thereby making it possible to use tools that check for plagiarism. * Using CSS, authors can readily highlight all their content that contains citations to do a double check before publishing. * Dialogs can be marked up to make explicit who a statement belongs to. Once again this structure can be exploited by search engines to provide more relevant searches. * Overall we have a chance to standardize how authors encode citations in HTML, which should further encourage Web authors to adopt the encouraged practice of providing support for their claims. Regards, Tim Eddo References for the Examples: (...not the sources cited in the examples) [1] Purdue OWL. "MLA 2009 In-Text Citation: The Basics." The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 10 May 2008. Web. 08 Oct 2009. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/> [2] "Mathematics Research Tutorial: In." University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries, Web. 9 Oct. 2009. <www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/math/citing/intext.htm/> [3] Higham, Nicholas J.. Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences. Philadelphia: SIAM: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 1998. [4] Daly, Patrick W., and Helmut Kopka. Guide to LaTeX (4th Edition) (Tools and Techniques for Computer Typesetting). New York: Addison-wesley Professional, 2003. [5] "Paragraphs, Lines, and Phrases." World Wide Web Consortium - Web Standards. 9 Oct. 2009. <http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/text.html#h-9.2.1>.
Received on Friday, 9 October 2009 10:23:21 UTC