Hi folks, the name's Phil - long time listener, first time caller.

Right as far as I can tell this is what we want.

We need a standard list of terms (possibly in a thesaurus structure) which
can be used to describe periods, that everybody is happy with, across many
databases both in the UK and (one would hope) further afield.

It would be nice if we could enter dates for these periods to clarify what
we mean by them as well as search by date.

What we have already

A list of periods  (Prehistoric, Roman, Medieval etc.) which we all roughly
understand but which need to be assigned a) Scope Notes and b) date ranges.

Problems

The dates for a period in England are not the same for the same period in
A.N.Other country, eg. Roman may be accepted to be 43AD to 410AD in England
but in France the Roman period goes back further ( forgive me if I don't
know the dates for all these old things but I'm a Pillbox Spotter!).

This means that we can't assign the date range of 43AD-410AD to Roman 

So what if, as Trevor Reynolds suggested, we -

"agree a standard list of terms with scope notes 
e.g. Roman  SN: The period when an area is part of the Roman Empire."
I'd also like to add my vote to Jeremy's option of having a earliest/latest
start/end date.
I think we do need a thesaurus, that somehow links to a timeline (that could
include historic events, wars etc. but where do you draw the line) but as
I'm the poor sap who'll probably end up building the thing I'd appreciate it
if we kept it simple!!

Cheers 
Phil Carlisle
English Heritage
Data Standards Unit

-----Original Message-----
From:	Pringle, Mike [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:	13 January 2000 11:17
To:	[log in to unmask]
Subject:	RE: Period Terminology/Comments Please

Greetings all.

I have been following this conference with some interest. Myself and Daphne
Charles are currently exploring new approaches to human-computer interface
(HCI)design for making monument data accessible across the internet. 

Our main aim is to increase the ease with which a 'non-expert' user can
navigate his/her way around complex data. This is achieved by placing the
data into a context that is applicable, and therefore understandable, to the
user. This necessitates a pre-determined definition of the user and their
needs or wants. To this end we have selected our 'target' user as an
intelligent twelve year old, and all decisions and actions are based on
applicability to this user. 

We are currently discussing terminology and classification issues with a
view to compiling our own list of monument types and temporal-divisions.
Based on our target user, our list will include the sort of terms that are
currently used in primary and secondary schools; for example, Anglo-Saxons
and Vikings, or Tudors and Stuarts. 

This conference has recently identified this 'user-centred' approach
(Matthew Stiff, John Palmer and Gillian Sheldrick). However, I find the
debate concerning a preference between dates or periods a little confusing.
I am not sure that either approach is any better than the other. Surely if
we are to, as Matthew Stiff quite rightly suggests, address the needs of the
public (or whichever user is identified) the optimum solution as to provide
as many clues as possible. Is it not possible to indicate a period with both
name and dates?

Mike Pringle










Mike Pringle
Senior Software Developer (Virtual Reality)
English Heritage

Telephone: 01793 414841

Software Services
National Monuments Record Centre
Great Western Village
Kemble Drive
Swindon 
SN2 2GZ


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