Ainsi parlait Leigh Dodds : [..]

I'll also interject 2p/euro/cents at this point:

I believe I'd tackle this problem firstly from a modelling perspective: can we agree upon, and define a model for the data that we're capturing. It seems like there is a conceptual model inherent in the data currently captured by DELTA and other formats, that is separate to the details of its syntax.

I wholefully agree there: let's define first a conceptual model, then we should discuss of its implementation.

However, we must agree on model extend: will it concerns only concept description (aka: characters) or also case description (aka: items) ? IMHO, only the first one can be generalized, or we'll have to validate the case description twice: against a generic model and against its concept.

For using an exemple, if i have a description of the characters of Pociloporidae familiy, and a description of the items of Pociloporidae family, i'll have to make sure characters are really characters (validating against generic character model), to make sure items are really items (validating against generic items model), and make sure Pociloporidae items are really Pociloporida (validating items against characters). I would prefer to have only to validate characters againt a generic character model, and validate items against characters, meaning using a character description as a suitable model for items description.

-- Guillaume Rousse rousse@ccr.jussieu.fr GPG key http://lis.snv.jussieu.fr/~rousse/gpgkey.html