xml-dev - RE: Terminology Shift: Ban Semantic Web

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

Your customer or user.  The biggest mistake in 
schema or DTD design is to try to standardize.  

Sounds weird in this forum?  Let me explain. 
Note:  "you" is general, not specific to Richard herein.

The network effect happens by consensus.  There 
is no way to force enterprises to consent until 
they want to.  It's like begging a girl to love 
you; force is of no possible value.

Simple.  When you design a schema, 
do not try to solve the problems of every conceivable 
user of the vocabulary:  focus on the one who 
asked you to do it.  Scope it to their precise 
requirements as best as you and they can define 
them.  Spend a lot more time on defining 
these before you write a line of XML.  

If your customer includes a group organizing 
a value chain, scope accordingly.  They have 
already agreed to cooperate so your job is to 
facilitate that.  You don't want to be an 
evangelist; you want to be the facilitator.

That said, if there are preexisting DTDs and 
schemas whose components match yours, use 
them with great care.  Why?  Appropriation, 
or vampiric acquisition.  You suck the life 
out of languages by appropriating terms that 
are almost the same but not quite.  The domain 
bleeds to death.  If however, you can with 
great certainty determine that term is the 
one THEY mean, then use it consistently.

Use the terms the customer understands and if 
the customer shares the terms with others, that 
is the business of the customer.   If you want 
to create schemas the whole world will embrace, 
hail you as the new Andreesen, whatever, join 
OASIS or some other similarly large group whose 
business it is to negotiate worldViews with some 
other entity in that business, such as the United 
Nations.  But scope to the business.   This is 
not about standardizing terms.  That is the side 
effect of standardizing processes and it is 
not a semantic web, it is a web of standard, 
discoverable, services.

Know what's in your head.  Know what your head is in.

Len Bullard
Intergraph Public Safety
clbullar@ingr.com
http://www.mp3.com/LenBullard

Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h


-----Original Message-----
From: COLLINS,Richard [mailto:Richard_Collins@nsb.co.uk]


Where do I go to discuss issues relating to the "S" word ?

I want to use consistent vocabulary for my element names - where is the best
forum for discussing the standardization (oops!  another "S" word, sorry) of
data elements ?