Re: Library data is expressed primarily as text strings

On Tue, Sep 06, 2011 at 07:30:11PM +0200, Svensson, Lars wrote:
> Yes, I'd agree that "natural language" is a good choice here, and
> understandable for someone who is not a native speaker of English.

Using "natural language text" would avoid the ambiguity around
whether "text strings" are any different from other "alphanumeric
strings" (as in Carlo's reading).

Would it be too strong to say:

    Library data is expressed primarily in natural-language text

    Most information in library data is encoded as display-oriented, 
    natural-language text. ...

as in [1]??

Tom

[1] http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/wiki/index.php?title=Draft_issues_page_take2&diff=6247&oldid=6216




> > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > Von: public-xg-lld-request@w3.org [mailto:public-xg-lld-request@w3.org]
> > Im Auftrag von Peter Murray
> > Gesendet: Dienstag, 6. September 2011 19:12
> > An: public-xg-lld
> > Betreff: Re: Library data is expressed primarily as text strings
> > 
> > I think "natural language" is a good choice of term.  I struggled a bit
> > with a reply but kept getting tangled up in definitions.  "natural
> > language" cuts through the confusion and tangle for me.  Others?
> > 
> > 
> > Peter
> > 
> > 
> > On Sep 6, 2011, at 12:29 PM, Karen Coyle wrote:
> > > In other environments I have included the concept of "natural
> > > language" to distinguish between these concepts. For most non-IT
> > > people, "text" means "in a human language", and "text string" just
> > > means a bit of human language. We refer to a book or article as being
> > > "text." If I wish to refer to "strings" in the IT sense, I would say
> > > "alphanumeric strings" or something of that nature.
> > >
> > > When I look up definitions of text I don't see anything that would
> > > equate the term "text" with a URI. Even the definition of "formatted
> > > text" [1] doesn't equate it with non-language strings.
> > >
> > > So maybe the problem here is with the use of "text strings" rather
> > > than "text." Library data is primarily expressed as text -- that is,
> > > as human language. The few uses of formatted data are either numeric
> > > data (used mainly for cartographic materials) and codes (language
> > > codes, codes for locations, etc.)
> > >
> > > kc
> > >
> > >
> > > Quoting Carlo Meghini <carlo.meghini@isti.cnr.it>:
> > >
> > >> Corrected version of my previous message, apologies.
> > >>
> > >> Very interesting debate indeed.
> > >>
> > >> I am not sure I have followed all the developments, but here it
> > >> seems to me that the problem is NOT the "text string" per sé. A URI
> > >> (in its abstract syntax) is in fact a text string, and so is an
> > >> ISBN. The difference between a URI and any other type of string is
> > >> that a URI has a meaning associated to it, and this meaning allows
> > >> an agent (for instance a piece of software), who knows there is a
> > >> URI in a certain place, to do something with the URI (whether
> > >> display it nicely or dereference it and get back a representation).
> > >> So, a text string is fine, as long as the string conforms to a
> > >> syntax with an associated semantics.
> > >>
> > >> Carlo
> > >>
> > >> On Sep 5, 2011, at 11:46 PM, Tom Baker wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 11:41:51PM +0200, Antoine Isaac wrote:
> > >>>>>> OK, I've tried it in
> > >>>>>>
> > http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/wiki/index.php?title=Draft_issues_
> > page_take2&diff=6212&oldid=6141
> > >>>>>> (be careful, this diff includes quite some other changes,
> > >>>>>> including a couple by Tom...)
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> This pulls the two points together into one coherent point
> > >>>>> quite efficiently.  Nicely done!
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> One minor stylistic suggestion:
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>>  s/especially, changes/in particular, that changes/
> > >>>>
> > >>>> This reminds me too much of not elegant French constructions, I
> > >>>> could not have thought of that :-)
> > >>>> But if you think that's alright, feel free to implement it!
> > >>>
> > >>> DONE [1]...
> > >>>
> > >>> [1]
> > >>>
> > http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/wiki/index.php?title=Draft_issues_
> > page_take2&diff=6213&oldid=6212
> > 
> > --
> > Peter Murray         Peter.Murray@lyrasis.org        tel:+1-678-235-
> > 2955
> > Ass't Director, Technology Services Development
> > http://dltj.org/about/
> > LYRASIS   --    Great Libraries. Strong Communities. Innovative
> > Answers.
> > The Disruptive Library Technology Jester
> > http://dltj.org/
> > Attrib-Noncomm-Share   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
> > sa/2.5/
> > 
> > 
> 

-- 
Tom Baker <tom@tombaker.org>

Received on Tuesday, 6 September 2011 18:18:26 UTC