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   Re: [xml-dev] Is an element's name metadata?

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<Quote>
"Anything you can do I can do meta!"....:)
</Quote>

Ouch!!!! :)

Allen Razdow wrote:
> 
> IMO, because field-names (column names) in a relational database are
> referred to as meta-data along with the rest of the database schema, XML
> element names, and the schema/DTD are likewise meta-data relative to the
> data in the element.  Clearly, "meta" is a recursive concept.  As they said
> on Broadway, "Anything you can do I can do meta!"....:)
> 
> -Allen Razdow
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) [mailto:clbullar@ingr.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 2:00 PM
> To: 'Chris Wilper'; Gustaf Liljegren; xml-dev@lists.xml.org
> 
> The question is as Chris shows, in the view
> set by the relationship.  In
> 
> <reporter>John Smith</reporter>
> 
> it is a fair assumption that John Smith
> IS-A reporter; therefore, the data in
> the tag (the element name) is about the
> content.  Some will agree that is metadata
> (data about data).  However given
> 
> <li number="1.">John Smith</li>
> <li number="3.">Georgiana Geyer</li>
> 
> some will agree that the data in the
> tag is not about the content, or if so,
> has to be gotten from documentation.
> The role depends on the relationship provided
> or enforced by the processor.
> 
> In other words, perhaps that is bad HTML. AN
> HTML processor ignores the attribute and enforces
> the rendering relationship (IS-A member of a list).
> On the other hand, in a different processor
> would imply that the relationship has a different
> meaning.  Given a context and different proceessor
> 
> <rankOfImportance>
>    <li number="1.">John Smith</li>
>    <li number="3.">Georgiana Geyer</li>
> </rankOfImportance>
> 
> could mean something different and the outer
> context setting tag (rankOfImportance) is
> redundant.
> 
> That would be context as you say, but it
> is the processor, automated or human, that
> understands and enforces the relationship.
> 
> XML is deliberately agnostic about such issues.
> That is why I say, "XML Doesn't Know; so XML
> Doesn't Care.  You do."
> 
> len
> 
> From: Chris Wilper [mailto:cwilper@cs.cornell.edu]
> 
> I usually avoid the distinction unless forced
> otherwise by a tool or framework, because it often
> limits people's imagined use of information.
> 
> XML itself says nothing about this, which is good IMO.
> What you describe in your second scenario looks a bit like
> RDF-XML... where the structure of the data has
> about-ness implications.
> 
> - Chris
> 
> From: Gustaf Liljegren [mailto:gustaf.liljegren@bredband.net]
> 
> I've heard some people say that the markup is by itself metadata, that an
> element's name is metadata, because it describes the element's content:
> 
> <reporter>    <-- This is metadata
> John Smith    <-- This is data
> </reporter>
> 
> Isn't this wrong? Comparing to what I learned from Dublin Core, metadata is
> data too. It's not just the name of a property. I'd say it's the element's
> context that decides whether <reporter> is a data or a metadata element.
> 
> <reporter>    <-- This is just the name of a property
> John Smith    <-- This may be metadata, depending on the element's context
> </reporter>
> 
> Is this the right way to think about metadata in XML?
> 
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