Re: [xml-dev] Is data formats a scientific area of research? Arethere da

Roger, I find your wondering interesting, and I believe there is much to be gained by thinking about data formats deeply and in an abstracting, generalizing, integrating way, akin to a scientific mindset. But I find the very term "data format" somewhat distracting, if not downright misleading in this context, as would be the related term "media type". I think the gist of the challenge is understanding information more deeply, to gain insight about it which sets formats into perspective. We should strive for new levels of an Information Theory, layered above the basis created by Claude Shannon, where there are only symbols and not yet any structures, any values. So I would plead not for "data format science", but for "Information Shape Theory".

Take, for example, the powerful concept of a navigation axis. It has indeed nothing to do with XML, and everything with the shape information assumes, as implied by data formats. (It is a child of an itemization (of information) meeting certain constraints.) And yet, as far as I know, nobody uses the term except XPath, and its potential remains unnoticed. This eclipse is a consequence of the fact that what you are asking about probably does not exist, although it should.

Kind regards,

Hans

Am Montag, 5. August 2019, 00:21:47 MESZ hat Costello, Roger L. <costello@mitre.org> Folgendes geschrieben:

Hi Folks,

Do researchers study and devise new ways to format data? Is data formats a scientific area of research? Are there data format scientists? Can one get a degree at a university in data format science? Are there professors out there devising advanced ways to format text and binary data? Someone once told me that there are tens of thousands of data format standards or semi-standards; are there scientists out there who perform meta-analysis on those data formats? Are there professional journals on data format science where peer-reviewed articles are published?

If the answer to the above questions are no, would it be possible to start a new field of scientific endeavor – data format science? Would it be possible to create an academic curriculum that is focused on data format science?

Yes, I am aware of the XML conferences and the proceedings they publish. However, XML is just one of tens of thousands of data formats. My question is much broader than research into XML.

/Roger