[MEI-L] feature request list (long)

Wed Mar 31 20:45:46 CEST 2010

Hi all, 

my comments are spread over Daniel's and Daniel's replies…

Am 31.03.2010 um 18:47 schrieb Daniel Pitti:

> In my view it is either too structured or insufficiently structure. It  
> depends on what you intend to do with the information: indexing,  
> rendering (just as a list; or perhaps as a timeline; or perhaps as a  
> timeline/map combination) or analysis.
> 
> Dates, for example, can be quite complex: single or range? Certain or  
> uncertain? And to make the data "operational," one would want it  
> constrained using some union of W3C datatypes. If you want a timeline/ 
> map combination, then you would probably want the date and geographic  
> name independent of the event. You probably also want to be able to  
> give dates in natural language as well as machine-readable form.
> 
> On the other hand, if all you want to do is display a list, then you  
> do not need <persname> and <geogname>.

I don't think that we should worry too much about application-specific implementations of this feature. It should cover everything necessary for more or less simple eventlists, but it is not intended to lay the foundations for a highly sophisticated eventlist encoding XML standard. If a project needs more than what MEI offers, it has to use a different approach (METS or whatever). But we should take care that this situation is only an edge case, not the standard way for every project. I think it's good to have a compromise like this (although I'm not married with this particular solution).  

> 
> For a very structured timeline, see <chronItem> (component of  
> <chronList>) in the EAC-CPF schema: http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/eac/cpf/tagLibrary/cpfTagLibrary.html#d1e1630
> 

Our reason not to use <chronList> / <chronItem> / <chron*> was that it implies a chronological order (surprise!), but we wanted a more unspecific kind of event list that could cover simultaneous events as well as events of unknown order or dating. 

> (The examples unfortunately do not have one with a <placeEntry>, but I  
> think you will get the idea).
> 
> Daniel
> 
> 
> On Mar 31, 2010, at 11:27 AM, Daniel Röwenstrunk wrote:
> 
>> Hi all,
>> to keep things simple and short what about a structure like that  
>> (concerning item 8):
>> 
>> <eventlist type="composition">
>> 
>> <event when="1812-03-25" type="composition">
>>   Completed sketch in <geogname>My Little Town</geogname>
>> </event>
>> 
>> <event when="1812-06-26" type="dedication">
>>   Dedicated to <persname>his wife</persname> on <date>June 26,  
>> 1812</date>
>> </event>
>> </eventlist>

I see what you're getting at. First: I wasn't sure if we really need a defined element to encode place information for events. (@Perry: I know, it was suggested by me ;-). I see arguments for having it as well as not having it, but as it is optional in our proposal, I guess it won't hurt too much. 
Regarding the dating mechanism: As Daniel P. pointed out, dates are complicated things. We already have an element dedicated to date encoding in MEI, and I prefer to use that one also on eventlists over the simplicity of copying it's functionality to the event itself. By using the separate element, we may encode the "natural language" version of the date mentioned by Daniel P. as the element's content. If we use only attributes, we don't have this opportunity. I don't know if we really need it, but I would prefer a separate date. 

Johannes

>> 
>> 
>> We would need the following elements and attributes:
>> 
>> eventlist (with @type, @n) contains event*
>> event (with @type, @n, @when, @notBefore, @notAfter, @from, @to)  
>> contains everything a p-element could contain
>> 
>> 
>> Daniel
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Am 30.03.2010 um 20:26 schrieb Roland, Perry (pdr4h):
>> 
>>> Finally, item 8.  Johannes and I propose adding eventlist, event,  
>>> and eventdesc elements.  From the attached .odt file:
>>> 
>>> "Eventlist contains historical information given as a sequence of  
>>> significant past events. <eventlist> contains <event> elements that  
>>> pair a date or date range with a brief description of the  
>>> associated event and locations where the event took place. An  
>>> <eventlist> describes events associated with a work when it appears  
>>> in the <profiledesc> element or events associated with the  
>>> custodial history of a given copy of a source for the encoding when  
>>> it appears within the <source> element.
>>> 
>>> Event groups a date, a description of the event related to the  
>>> date, and optionally, any number of places where the event took  
>>> place.
>>> 
>>> Eventdesc describes or names something that happened."
>>> 
>>> Usage examples:
>>> 
>>> <profiledesc>
>>> <eventlist type="composition">
>>>  <event>
>>>    <date reg="1812-03-25"/>
>>>    <geogname>My Little Town</geogname>
>>>    <eventdesc n="composition">
>>>      Completed sketch
>>>    </eventdesc>
>>>  </event>
>>>  <event>
>>>    <date reg="1812-06-26"/>
>>>    <eventdesc n="dedication">Dedicated to <persname>his wife</ 
>>> persname>.</eventdesc>
>>>  </event>
>>>  <event>
>>>    <date reg="1813"/>
>>>    <eventdesc>Published</eventdesc>
>>>  </event>
>>> </eventlist>
>>> <eventlist type="reception">
>>>  <event>
>>>    <date reg="1814-04-01"/>
>>>    <geogname>The State Theater</geogname>
>>>    <eventdesc>1st performance</eventdesc>
>>>  </event>
>>>  <event>
>>>    <date reg="1814-04-01"/>
>>>    <eventdesc>1st bad review</eventdesc>
>>>  </event>
>>> </eventlist>
>>> </profiledesc>
>>> 
>>> <provenance>
>>> <eventlist>
>>>  <event>
>>>    <date notafter="1985">until 1986</date>
>>>    <eventdesc>Weber family </eventdesc>
>>>  </event>
>>>  <event>
>>>    <date notbefore="1986">1986-</date>
>>>      <eventdesc>owned by the <repository>Berlin State Library</ 
>>> repository></eventdesc>
>>>  </event>
>>> </eventlist>
>>> </provenance>
>>> 
>>> <profiledesc> allows multiple lists, hence the need for @type to  
>>> distinguish them.  <provenance> on the other hand only allows a  
>>> single list.
>>> 
>>> Within profiledesc, creation permits a "text-y" description of the  
>>> creation of the work, while eventlist offers a more structured,  
>>> more easily machine-processed approach.  Either or both are  
>>> permitted.  In provenance, however, one method must be selected.
>>> 
>>> Notice that event permits only a single date element.  This can  
>>> contain a single date or a date range.  However, an event cannot  
>>> have multiple, discontinuous dates.  In our estimation, this  
>>> situation implies multiple events.
>> 
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