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Hi Pat,

The good news is that this is the way that the technology (and 
information standards in this sector) are going: centralised terminology 
servers that are always up-to-date, on-line, and illustrated.  These 
systems will also have web-based interfaces that allow any application 
or third-party system to query them for terms.  The idea is to 
centralise the information management process, and make it more 
accessible, without becoming overly prescriptive.

Tyler

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Dr Tyler Bell
Director
Oxford ArchDigital Ltd.


Pat Reynolds wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> If (big if) the Heritage Lottery Fund or some other generous soul funds
> the plans to make a single web access portal for Surrey's heritage, then
> HER-like resources and museum-like resources and archive-like resources
> will all be found and presented.  So while Surrey's HER doesn't have
> bird of paradise feathers, one of the museums does have a Kiwi-feather
> mantle.
> 
> A Really Useful Thesaurus (RUT - tm) would not only encompass all the
> materials in the world (well, Surrey) but also permit web linkages in to
> it (in a way that the EH thesauri at present do not).  With a RUT, a
> member of the public, coming across bird of paradise feathers (or Parian
> ware, or Code stone, or one of the other number of things which this
> happy world is so full of) will be able to click through to explanatory
> information.  Conversely, the RUT terms (including non-standard,
> dialect, etc. etc.) would be available through menus to facilitate
> searching.
> 
> Greater detail is normally no problem for the user-of-outputs: it's the
> imputters who get hung up on choosing an appropriate level of
> terminology for each thing - usually due to a lack of clarity in those
> who are managing the programme.
> 
> Just my cupro-nickel-alloy tuppence,
> 
> Pat
> (Surrey Museums Development Officer)
>