A Flexible XMLBased Glossary Approach for the Federal Government

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A Flexible XML-Based Glossary Approach for the
Federal Government

• By Ken Sall
• for the US Federal
• XML Community of Practice
• January 19, 2005

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Problem Statement

• After examining standard glossary terminology
  (ISO 1087 and others), define an XML Schema or
  DTD that models all useful aspects of a term
  and its definition.
• Should be applicable to any government agency.
• Consider flexibility and collaborative
  development as key design criteria. Many
  different agencies may use the model and many
  individuals may author specific term
  definitions.
• Create an XSLT stylesheet that knows about the
  model and displays an XML glossary instance
  document as HTML in any modern browser.
  
• Eventually consider XSL-FO for PDF rendering of
  the glossary.

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Design Goals

• Standards-Based - XML element names are loosely
  based on an international standard, ISO 1087.
  
• Flexible - The Glossary DTD, although initially a
  strawman to stimulate discussion, is fairly
  flexible with few required elements, many
  optional elements, and several repeatable
  elements.
• Provides a Framework - Since so few elements are
  required, terms can be added even before
  definitions are known. These terms act as
  placeholders that are fully supported by the DTD
  and XSLT. (For example, see the stub terms "DTD"
  and "XSLT" in the example instance.)

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Design Goals

• Specialized - Any term may have multiple
  definitions so that different agencies may use
  the same term with their own specialized meaning,
  where necessary.
• Collaborative - Since an XSLT stylesheet is used
  to sort the terms alphabetically, many
  individuals can work on their own glossary
  fragments (XML instances of the Glossary DTD). At
  any time, the various contributions can be easily
  merged without manual editing.
• Leverages Links - Search links are automatically
  generated for each term by means of the XSLT,
  both to help kick-start and to augment the
  definition.

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ISO 1087 Terminology (etc.)
Key ISO 1087 Used ISO 1087
Used Unused

• Characteristic Abstraction of a property of an
  object or of a set of objects. Note -
  Characteristics are used for describing concepts.
  ISO 1087-12000, 3.2.4
• Concept A unit of thought constituted through
  abstraction on the basis of properties common to
  a set of objects. Note - Concepts are not bound
  to particular languages. They are, however,
  influenced by the social or cultural background.
  (ISO 10871990) Unit of knowledge created by a
  unique combination of characteristics. ISO
  1087-12000, 3.2.1
• Definition Statement which describes a concept
  and permits its differentiation from other
  concepts within a system of concepts. (ISO
  10871990) Representation of a concept by a
  descriptive statement which serves to
  differentiate it from related concepts. ISO
  1087-12000, 3.3.1

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ISO 1087 Terminology (etc.)

• Designation Representation of a concept by a
  sign which denotes it. ISO 1087-12000, 3.4.1
  
• Dictionary see terminology and vocabulary
  Structured collection of lexical units with
  linguistic information about each of them. (ISO
  10871990)

Key ISO 1087 Used ISO 1087
Used Unused
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ISO 1087 Terminology (etc.)

• Entry, Headword The term headword appears in two
  different meanings. In lexicography, a headword
  is the word used as the heading in a dictionary
  entry or encyclopedia. In a descriptive
  terminology entry where no preference is given to
  any one term, there is no head term, but if
  preference is given to a term, head term is
  sometimes used in analogy to lexicography, as is
  main entry term. (Wright Budin, 1997)

Key ISO 1087 Used ISO 1087
Used Unused
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ISO 1087 Terminology (etc.)

• Glossary see dictionary, terminology,
  vocabulary Alphabetical list of terms or words
  found in or relating to a specific topic or text.
  It may or may not include explanations. Note -
  The distinguishing criterion is that glossaries
  are considered to reside in backmatter attached
  to books and other publications rather than being
  independent works in their own right. Glossaries
  are sometimes perceived as being less scientific
  in intent and methodology than terminologies,
  terminology standards, and even vocabularies,
  although a certain degree of synonymy exists.
  (Wright Budin, 1997)

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ISO 1087 Terminology (etc.)

• Nomenclature System of terms which is elaborated
  according to pre-established naming rules. (ISO
  10871990)
  
• Object Anything perceivable or conceivable. Note
  - Objects may also be material (e.g. an engine, a
  sheet of paper, a diamond), immaterial (e.g. a
  conversion ratio, a project plan) or imagined
  (e.g. a unicorn). Adapted from ISO 1087-12000,
  3.1.1

Key ISO 1087 Used ISO 1087
Used Unused
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ISO 1087 Terminology (etc.)

• Synonym A word with the same meaning or nearly
  the same meaning as another word in the same
  language. (Longman Dictionary of English Language
  and Culture Longman Group UK Limited 1992) Note
  Terminologists distinguish between real synonyms,
  i.e. terms which can be substituted with each
  other whatever the context, and the more common
  quasi-synonyms, which can differ from one another
  by context and sometimes by subject field (Sager,
  1990)
• Term Designation of a defined concept in a
  special language by a linguistic expression. Note
  - A term may consist of one or more words or even
  contain symbols. (ISO 10871990)

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ISO 1087 Terminology (etc.)

• Terminological Dictionary see dictionary and
  vocabulary Dictionary containing terminological
  data from one or more specific subject fields.
  Note - admitted term technical dictionary (ISO
  10871990)
• Terminological Record Structured collection of
  terminological data relevant to one concept. (ISO
  10871990)
  
• Terminological Database Structured sets of
  terminological records in an information
  processing system. (ISO 10871990)

Key ISO 1087 Used ISO 1087
Used Unused
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ISO 1087 Terminology (etc.)

• Terminology Work Any activity concerned with the
  systematization and representation of concepts or
  with the presentation of terminologies on the
  basis of established principles and methods. (ISO
  10871990)
• Vocabulary see terminology, dictionary,
  glossary Terminological dictionary containing
  the terminology of a specific subject field or of
  related subject fields and based on terminology
  work. (ISO 10871990)

Key ISO 1087 Used ISO 1087
Used Unused
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Summary ISO 1087 Terminology

• Unused ISO 1087 Terms
• Characteristic
• Designation
• Dictionary
• Nomenclature
• Object
• PreferredTerm TBD?
• Terminological Dictionary / technical dictionary
• Terminological Record
• Terminological Database
• Terminological Dictionary
• Terminology Work
• Vocabulary

• ISO 1087 Terms Used
• Concept
• Definition
• Term
• Used but not ISO 1087
• Glossary
• Synonym
• RelatedTerm
• Additional Terms by Sall (next slide)
• Name
• Acronym
• ExpandedAcronym
• DefinitionSection
• Source
• Usage

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Additional (Non-Standard) Terminology

• Glossary change to Dictionary, Vocabulary,
  Technical Dictionary or Terminology?
  
• Name added only to allow Term to be a
  container could change Term to Entry and Name to
  Term?
  
• Acronym necessary option for technical terms
• ExpandedAcronym ditto
• DefinitionSection - added simply as a repeatable
  container to encompass all aspects pertaining to
  a specific definition of a term
  
• Source - useful for traceability and credibility
• Usage useful to have an optional example
  sentence for a given definition (use in context)

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XML Glossary Model Strawman
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XML Example of One Term
ontology
semantic w
eb knowledge management/Concept Defines the common wo
rds and concepts used to describe and represent
an area of knowledge, and so standardizes the
meanings. An ontology includes classes in t
he domains of interest, instances, relationships,
properties and their values, functions of a
nd processes involving the objects, and relevant
constraints and rules.
Daconta, Obrst, Smith
An onotology can range from the
simple notion of a taxonomy to a thesaurus, to a
conceptual model, to a logical theory.
Daconta, Obrst, Smith
classification system
taxonomy
OWL

philosophy
sometimes "Ontology" the
metaphysical study of the nature of being and
existence WordNetrce Both the ontology and manner of
human existence are of concern to
Existentialism. metaphysic
s
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XML Ex Client-Side XSLT (Firefox)
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XML Ex Client-Side XSLT (IExplorer)
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XML Example XSLT Details
DefinitionSection based on Concept
CSS Styling
Optional and Repeatable Elements
New DefinitionSection based on 2nd Concept
Auto-generated Search Links
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Collaboration Merging Instances

• Since a Glossary consists of one or more Terms, a
  relatively simple XSLT can be created to merge
  the Term elements for two or more XML instances.
  
• This means different authors (from the same or
  different agencies) can work independently.
  
• Issue What if same Term is defined by different
  authors? Automatically add each definition, even
  though they may overlap/conflict, or manually
  edit collisions (could generate a conflict
  message)?
• Issue Should agency name be a Source or another
  element (e.g., AgencySource)? Advantage is that
  custom XSLT could extract or render terms on per
  agency basis, if desired. Should there be an
  optional, repeatable SourceLink element for a URL?

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Alternative GlossXML
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Alternative XML Acronym Desmystifier
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Next Steps

• Determine interested agencies.
• Establish funding.
• Resolve terminology issues for the Glossary
  model.
  
• Consider merge or replacement by GlossXML and/or
  XML Acronym Demystifier.
  
• Need to finalize DTD or XML Schema before
  agencies start authoring.
  
• Revise initial XSLT to match final Glossary
  model.
  
• Determine repository and submission mechanisms.
• Could be a good use for CORE.gov?
• Coordinate with Plans for Derived XML Registry
  Prototype?
  
• Write additional XSLT stylesheets for merging and
  pulling agency-specific terms, etc.
  
• Develop XSL-FO stylesheets for PDF rendering of
  Glossary.