In message <[log in to unmask]>,
"Siddall, Jason" <[log in to unmask]> writes

>There are a number of key questions that need to be considered .....
>
>Do we use singular or plurals within terminology list?
>Do we use capitals on terms in a list, a combination or neither?

Either way, I think it is important to reproduce exactly the form of
term given in the authority.  I have recently been bitten by a thesaurus
which used initial upper case in one place, and initial lower case in
another.  As I was trying to merge data automatically on the basis of
these two sets of terms, this didn't help!

>Should we be including the codes we use when we are coding a lookup. For
>instance
>
>SM would be the code for the description of Scheduled Monuments

That's down to the design of the authority (thesaurus).  Typically, each
concept will have an approved "lead term", which could be a code or
could be a word/phrase.  If you're conforming to the authority, you
should use whatever form the "lead term" takes.

(If you're not, because you have one of these legacy systems, then the
issues are different - we haven't really started to discuss that yet.
In that case you need some sort of mapping between your own terminology
and the standard.)

>Now the idea of standardisation of the codes against the descriptions allows
>for SMR users to speak easily with one another and exchange information even
>if they store the code in the data rather than a full description.

I think a really important point is that each term used should be
accompanied by a definition ("scope note") in the authority, so that its
intent is clear.  This reduces the pressure on the term itself to be
"exactly right" semantically (noting the comments yesterday about e.g.
"protected places" vs. "protected military remains").

However, this will only work if these definitions are readily available
to both recorders and data users.  This is precisely why I am suggesting
making authorities available as XML: so that they can be easily and
cheaply integrated into web-based and intranet applications.  One
benefit of this approach is that you can get additional information from
the authority (like a definition, or a code) "on the fly", so you don't
have to record this additional information redundantly, each time you
record a term from the thesaurus.

Richard.
--
Richard Light
SGML/XML and Museum Information Consultancy
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