[tei-council] date proposal

[David J Birnbaum]

Dear Lou (cc Council),

This sounds wholesome. My only immediate question has to do with whether 
we can make a datatype configurable. If so, we might absorb @normw3c 
into @norm. They have much in common, and since @norm would have to 
specify its calendar somewhere, might we also let it specify that it is 
a w3c date by specifying a data.temporal.w3c datatype?

Then again, this suggestion may just reveal my ignorance about how we 
are handling datatyping. Enlightenment welcome.

Best,

David

Lou Burnard wrote:
> INASMUCHAS
>
> - we currently have variously proposed attributes @notBefore @notAfter 
> @to @from and @value
> - these attributes all have a datatype of data.temporal which being 
> expanded turns out to match simple w3c-conformant dates, or various 
> ISO formats, or one we dreamed up all on our own, and thus provide 
> headaches for simple minded validation software
> - and moreover all normalized values are understood  (in a way they 
> were not previously) to represent values in a single calendar system 
> which is not necessarily that convenient
>
> NOW BE IT HEREBY PROPOSED:
>
> 1. all elements the content of which describes either a point or a 
> span in time should carry the same set of attributes, and constitute 
> members of the att.datable class
> 2, the members of the att.datable class shall be @notBefore, 
> @notAfter, @normw3c @norm, and @exact
> 3. @notBefore and @notAfter have the same significance as at present. 
> Their datatype is data.temporal.user (see below)
> 4. @normw3c contains a normalized representation of a nodern calendar 
> date in W3C format, like the current @value. Its datatype is 
> data.temporal.w3c
> 5. @norm contains a normalized representation of a date in any 
> user-chosen calendar according to a defined format. Its datatype is 
> data.temporal.user, and the calendar is specified somewhere (not sure 
> where) in the header.
> 6. @exact indicates which ends of the date range indicate by 
> @notBefore and @notAfter can be considered exact: it has three 
> possible values "from" "to" "both". So for example 'notbefore="x" 
> exact="from"' is equivalent to "from='x'"
>
> So far so good, but the devil is assuredly in the detail.
>
> Comments?
>
> My first thought was that actually I'd rather have ISOnorm than 
> normw3c but that may not be an option.
>
>
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