[sc34wg3] ISO 13250 Note 24 - Request for Clarification

[Steve Pepper]

Dear Steve and Michel,

An issue has arisen regarding the interpretation of Note 24 in
ISO 13250 in connection with the discussion on mnemonics in HyTM.
Martin has given his opinion, which is different from my reading.
I would like to know the opinion of the other editors.

Steve Pepper:

> > 3. Mnemonics and the 'type' attribute
> > -------------------------------------
> >
> > Another thing that most mnemonics have in common is that they
> > convey essentially the same kind of information as the 'type'
> > attribute on the corresponding element. This is stated
> > explicitly in 13250 for every mnemonic except those on <topic>
> > and <fvalue> elements. (This is the significance of column (c).)
> > For <topic> elements, 13250 explicitly states (Note 24, page 11)
> > that
> >
> >    Neither the value of the linktype attribute nor the generic
> >    identifier of a topic link has any significance with respect
> >    to the topic mapping semantics defined by this International
> >    Standard.

Martin Bryan:

>The key word in Note 24 is the word "mapping". I have always taken it to
>mean "merging". What this informative note is saying is that the fact that
>element X is defined with GI ABC and element Y is defined using linktype ABC
>this will not affect the merging of the topics if they share the same
>basename in the same scope.

This interpretation seems wrong to me. I interpret "topic mapping"
to be almost synonymous with "Topic Maps". In other words, to me,
Note 24 is saying that the linktype attribute and the generic identifier
have no significance with respect to Topic Maps processing - in other
words, they can effectively be ignored by a topic map processor.

I can't for the life of me understand why this should be the case,
so I hope Martin is right and I am wrong, but I do think the wording
tends more towards my interpretation.

Please comment on this, Steve and Michel.

Thanks.

Steve
--
Steve Pepper <pepper@ontopia.net>
Chief Executive Officer, Ontopia
Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3
Editor, XTM (XML Topic Maps 1.0)