[tei-council] Conformance inconsistency
Christian Wittern
cwittern at gmail.com
Fri Oct 26 03:25:23 EDT 2007
Daniel O'Donnell wrote:
> This is a very important last minute query imo. Conal's view is what I
> meant--I'm the source of the algorithmically convertable--I think.
>
> Can we clarify this before the end of the weekend?
>
>
actually "algorithmically conformant". We did discuss this quite
extensively.
If memory serves right, we agreed that if we using namespaces, the only
way to do so would be, as Conal says. "to use namespaces correctly". I
do not see a need to reopen this discussion now, but we might need to
finetune the wording of 23.3.
To be more specific, as to the point originally raised by Syd:
<quote (from Syd's message)>
#CF, 23.3 "Conformance":
A document is also said to be TEI Conformant if it is a
well-formed XML document which can be transformed algorithmically
and automatically into a TEI Conformant document as defined above
without loss of information.
#CFNS, 23.3.4 "Use of the TEI Namespace":
A schema which introduces non-TEI elements or attributes within
the TEI namespace is also non-TEI Conformant;
</quote>
As you will see, one is talking about a schema, the other about a
document instance. Conformance is only relevant to document instances,
(see the beginning of 23.3, where it says <q>The notion of /TEI
Conformance/ is intended to assist in the description of the format and
contents of a particular XML document instance or set of documents.</q>)
The context of 23.3.4:
<q>A TEI Schema may be created which assigns TEI elements to some other
namespace, or to no namespace at all. A document using such a schema
must be regarded as a TEI extension and cannot be considered TEI
Conformant, though it may be TEI Conformable. A schema which introduces
non-TEI elements or attributes within the TEI namespace is also non-TEI
Conformant; such practices are strongly deprecated as they may lead to
serious difficulties for processing or interchange.</q>
makes it quite clear that the main focus is still on potential or actual
conformance. Only in passing is mentioned, that schemas, if they aspire
to be for conformable documents, should not assign elements or
attributes to the TEI namespace; it goes without saying that the
resulting documents would be non-conformant.
Algorithmical transformation of course has to work without looking at
the specifics of your document, so it can more or less only be a
transform that simply takes out everything which is not in the TEI
namespace. Putting something into the TEI namespace that does not
belong there is making exactly this transformation impossible.
Christian
--
Christian Wittern
Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
47 Higashiogura-cho, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8265, JAPAN
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