Re: [xml-dev] Data versioning strategy: address semantic, relationship,

["Fraser Goffin" <goffinf@googlemail.com>]

Tommie,

 

thanks for the pointer to this pre-conference symposium. Like many others on this list I recognise the issues raised initally by Roger and have direct experience of pretty much everything Greg is talking about. Integration in my organisation is moving into the crucial 2nd and 3rd iterations of business services and this of course is where it is discovered whether you have a sound change management/versioning strategy in place or not ( i.e.you find that those delivery pressures for getting verion 1.0 over the line have left this problem in the ' ... yeah we'll fix that later ..' pile).

 

This has been a subject that I have periodically brought up in this list and others and it is fair to say that there are a wide variety of views that range from 'strict contractual compiance' to 'completely open and self describing' vocabularies. More often than not (at least in my world) these have to some extent been about moving the problem around rather than necessarily dealing with it.

 

Anyway, I was wondering whether any papers or other materials from the conference and particularly the pre-conference symposium you mentioned will be made available to those of us who will not be able to make the trip ?? and whether those of us who would love to come to Canada at this time of the year, can nonetheless particpate in any on-line blog-fests or other ways of communicating and contributing to the debate ?

 

Thanks

 

Fraser.

 

 

 

On 09/12/2007, B Tommie Usdin <btusdin@mulberrytech.com> wrote:

Roger --

You may be interested in the one-day symposium on Versioning, to be
held the day the before Balisage: The Markup Conference.

For information on the Versioning preconference see:
   http://www.balisage.net/Versioning/index.html
For information on Balisage, see: http://www.balisage.net/

I expect participants to address the issues you have identified here,
among others.

-- Tommie


At 3:55 PM -0500 12/7/07, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>
>Oftentimes when discussing a "versioning strategy" I focus on how to
>design schemas in a fashion to lessen the impact of changes.  It occurs
>to me that this addresses only one aspect of the data versioning
>problem.  Below I have attempted to identify other issues to be
>addressed in a data versioning strategy.  I am interested in hearing
>your thoughts on this.
>
>EVOLVING DATA
>
>Suppose some data is regularly exchanged between machines:
>
>Machine 1 --> data --> Machine 2
>Machine 1 <-- data <-- Machine 2
>
>Periodically the data changes due to requirement changes, additional
>insights, or from innovation.
>
>A change results in a new "version" of the data.
>
>
>PROBLEM
>
>What are the categories of changes that may occur?  What categories of
>changes must be dealt with by a data versioning strategy?
>
>
>CATEGORIES OF CHANGE
>
>1. Semantic - the meaning of the data changes.
>
>Example:
>
>version 1 data: a "distance" value means the distance from the center
>of town.
>
>version 2 data: a distance value means the distance from the town line.
>
>2. Relationship - the relationship between the data changes.
>
>Example:
>
>version 1 data: there is a co-constraint between the start-time and the
>end-time.
>
>version 2 data: there is a three-way co-constraint between start-time,
>end-time, and mode-of-transportation.
>
>3. Syntax - the structure of the data changes.
>
>Example:
>
>version 1 data: the employee data is listed first and the person's name
>is given by his given-name and surname.
>
>version 2 data: the department data is listed first and in the employee
>data each person's name additionally contains a middle name.
>
>
>SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGIES
>
>Suppose the data being exchanged is formatted using the XML syntax.
>
>Machine 1 --> XML --> Machine 2
>Machine 1 <-- XML <-- Machine 2
>
>What technologies support the above categories of change?
>
>1. Semantic: A data dictionary may be used to define meaning.
>
>2. Relationship: Schematron may be used to express relationships
>between data.
>
>3. Syntax: XML Schema, Relax NG, or DTD may be used to express the
>structure of the data.
>
>
>REQUIREMENTS ON A VERSIONING STRATEGY
>
>A versioning strategy must take into consideration:
>
>- changes in the semantics of the data
>- changes in the relationships of the data
>- changes in the syntax of the data
>
>When data is in an XML format then a versioning strategy must
>implement:
>
>- versioning a data dictionary
>- versioning a Schematron schema
>- versioning an XML Schema, Relax NG schema, or DTD
>
>
>QUESTIONS
>
>a. Do you agree with the three categories of change?
>
>b. Do these categories represent all types of change?
>
>c. Do you agree that a versioning strategy must address semantic,
>relationship, and syntactic changes?
>
>/Roger
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________________
>
>XML-DEV is a publicly archived, unmoderated list hosted by OASIS
>to support XML implementation and development. To minimize
>spam in the archives, you must subscribe before posting.
>
>[Un]Subscribe/change address: http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/
>Or unsubscribe: xml-dev-unsubscribe@lists.xml.org
>subscribe: xml-dev-subscribe@lists.xml.org
>List archive: http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/
>List Guidelines: http://www.oasis-open.org/maillists/guidelines.php


--

======================================================================
B. Tommie Usdin                        mailto:btusdin@mulberrytech.com
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                           Phone: 301/315-9631
Suite 207                                    Direct Line: 301/315-9634
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in XML and SGML
======================================================================

_______________________________________________________________________

XML-DEV is a publicly archived, unmoderated list hosted by OASIS
to support XML implementation and development. To minimize
spam in the archives, you must subscribe before posting.

[Un]Subscribe/change address: http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/
Or unsubscribe: xml-dev-unsubscribe@lists.xml.org
subscribe: xml-dev-subscribe@lists.xml.org
List archive: http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/
List Guidelines: http://www.oasis-open.org/maillists/guidelines.php