[sc34wg3] Topic Map View

[Jan Algermissen]

Steve--

Steve Pepper wrote:

> Patrick, I believe, is using "view" in the sense of an *abstract*
> view. When he talks about a "topic map view", he is essentially
> talking about how non-topic map data can be viewed as though it
> were a topic map.
> 
> As an example, think of the classic ER-model used in Database
> 101 courses, where you have entities such as "department",
> "student", "course" and "section", and relations such as
> "majors in", "offers", "enrolls for". Data conforming to such
> a model could be represented in a relational database. The
> contents of that database, however, could also be "viewed" as
> a topic map, with entities corresponding to topic types,
> relations corresponding to association types, rows in the
> "student" table corresponding to instances of the topic type
> "student", etc.

I'd like to take this a bit further:

IMHO, there is not 'topic map data' or 'relational data'. It is
solely a matter of which data model one applies to some data.
(arguably you need a "<put-your-data-model-of-choice-here> database
management system" for this)

Regarding my ongoing question what the benefits are that the Topic Maps
paradigm brings for its users, it is interesting to restate it as

"What is the benefit of applying the Topic Maps Data Model to all your
data? What is the benefit of viewing all your data as if it was a
topic map...?"

Anyhow, just meant as food for thought at the end of a day :o)

Jan


> Lutz, on the other hand, is talking about how data represented
> in a topic map may be "viewed" in a more literal, visual sense,
> through some transformation to a presentation (e.g. in HTML).
> 
> Since these two views (sic) on what constitutes a view have
> little or nothing to do with one another, you seem to be
> talking at cross purposes.
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> Steve
> 
> --
> Steve Pepper <pepper@ontopia.net>
> Chief Strategy Officer, Ontopia
> Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3
> Editor, XTM (XML Topic Maps 1.0)
> 
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> sc34wg3 mailing list
> sc34wg3@isotopicmaps.org
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-- 
Jan Algermissen                           http://www.topicmapping.com
Consultant & Programmer	                  http://www.gooseworks.org