Richard,
Nice to meet and hear from you. I can tell from your insightful comments that we will have much in common from a Kindred Spirit perspective, Alex too it seems. A few thoughts in reply. Through my work at FactMiners.org I am working two interrelated agendas: * #cidocCRMgraph - being a "full graph" version of the #cidocCRM to make it accessible for computational analytics, including its use in metamodel-driven software designs, and * #cidocCRMdev - being the use of the #cidocCRM in executable models, e.g. #cidocCRM-compliant microservice workflows (as within the FactMiners' platform where LAM-based social games will be the "gentle on-ramp" for Citizen Scholarship, etc.) To pursue #cidocCRMgraph, I wanted to get the #cidocCRM into a Neo4j graph database so I could express it within the Reference Models partition of a metamodel subgraph of the FactMiners Fact Cloud of Softalk magazine. To this end, I developed a one-off Python script to parse the 5.x edition of the Definition document as here on GitHub: https://goo.gl/5eJ2Kr (using Py2Neo to get the Definition into Neo4j). Just getting the Entities as nodes and (lightweight) Properties as Relationships into Neo4j based on Regex parsing of a text-only copy of the Definition was a burden. I need the convenient flexibility to, for example, "node-ify" Properties and other adjustments (de-hypergraphing - edge-to-edge linkage, etc.) to make the #cidocCRM tractable for my purposes. With the release of 6.0 and a growing wish list of things I want to explore, I felt there had to be a better solution. This was the genesis of my recommendation for the #TEI P5 as the "format of record" for the Definition as it would make new releases accessible to researchers and developers in a vendor- and technology-neutral way. To that end, I expanded my #cidoCRM Personal Learning Network to be my #cidocCRM/#TEI #PLN and began a learning-by-doing exercise which is this GitHub project: https://goo.gl/bRSviu. Basically, I took the 6.0 MS-Word document and ran it through OxGarage and renewed my non-commercial license to the AWESOME Oxygen XML IDE (which is a GREAT tool for TEI authoring). I haven't gotten much further than a preliminary "heads up" and quick advice from my PLN mentors, and my working through the also awesome: http://www.teibyexample.org/. So this is activity is very much in its infancy. What I know best is what I want, and not how to get there. :) But this is the Joy of Life-long Learning (especially if you are animated by the experience of sitting down with the Reaper during a cancer battle and get a chance to walk away for some Bonus Rounds!) But, Richard, what is most encouraging about your insightful comments - beside it being obvious that you will have ALL KINDS of good insight and experience to contribute to this potential "#cidocCRM Definition in #TEI P5" initiative - .the most encouraging thing is your mention of BPMN workflows. For those without a tech acronym cheatsheet at hand, that is the OMG's Business Process Model and Notation (http://www.bpmn.org/) methodology. While there are some good things to like in the BPMN standard, there are many points where my philosophical and software design interests differ from this well-meaning group. More than 10 years before the OMG decided to even think about business process modeling, I was an Executive Consultant in the Object Technology Practice of IBM Global Services. During that time in the early through mid-1990s, I was a lead in a "skunkworks" doing applied research inspired by David Gelernter's brilliant book, 'Mirror Worlds' (https://goo.gl/lnhnuW). At the time, our practice was 100% hardcore Smalltalk designer/developers. We created a pair of "Executable Business Model" frameworks based on explicit adherence to an actor-role metamodel. (The closest thing philosophically to what we were working on is http://www.SOCIAM.org, but in many ways they are "barking up the wrong tree" from my experience/beliefs.) The details of #cidocCRMdev go well beyond the scope of this discussion, but this post based on a Schema.org #cidocCRM-related modeling conversation will shed more light on this topic: http://goo.gl/x1DSAB. I have an additional substantive comment to contribute to this conversation which I hope to make within a couple days. There is a link in my post to the actual Schema.org conversation over at GitHub. You'll find additional thoughts on the Temporal Entities branch of the #cidocCRM Entity hierarchy in this post: http://goo.gl/bA1rzk. As is too often the case due to my isolation from others to talk to about these things, I have said far too much for a mailing list post. But I don't want to miss an opportunity to connect with Kindred Spirits simply because I hid on the sidelines. I will close by saying to Richard - in hope that we'll have an opportunity to collaborate within the CRM SIG community - is that what I am working on is an "agent-based software exoskeleton for the Empowered Individual" by exploring/evolving this #cognitivecomputing agenda via my #cidocCRMgraph and #cidocCRMdev initiatives in the museum informatics (Digital Humanities) domain. #cidocCRM-compliant microservice workflows are a big part of my agenda. I am combining this role-actor "#cidocCRM as executable metamodel" design with a #SmartData design pattern of a metamodel subgraph. If I had to explain my motivation for working on this to a prospective funder who is inclined to discount the direct contribution of "Ivory Tower" Digital Humanities research to the betterment of our daily lives, I would ask them to read my Medium article (https://goo.gl/3Vb0lO) that ends with this sentence: "We grind the Lens to see the Future by first turning it on the Past." Happy-Healthy Vibes, -: Jim :- Jim Salmons and Timlynn Babitsky Twitter: @Jim_Salmons, @TimlynnBabitsky, @FactMiners, @Softalk_Apple www.FactMiners.org (Open Source #Play2Learn game community) www.SoftalkApple.com (first FactMiners museum/archive project) From: Crm-sig [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Richard Light Sent: Friday, May 15, 2015 4:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Crm-sig] Why #TEI P5 as format-of-record for #cidocCRM Definition document As a point of information, it's interesting to note that this is exactly the way in which SPECTRUM is maintained and published. There is a single TEI source, within which we have conventions for encoding things like Information Units. The published PDF is generated directly from this source, and so is the XML Schema; a good example of Literate Programming at work. Left to our own devices, Alex Dawson and I would expect to enhance this TEI source with a structured breakdown of each Procedure and its associated information sources and sinks. This could include the mapping of SPECTRUM to the CRM which is currently being worked on. We could then additionally generate e.g. a BPMN expression of SPECTRUM procedures from this source. Richard On 15/05/2015 20:16, Jim Salmons wrote: #cidocCRM SIG Members, I have proposed that the #cidocCRM SIG adopt TEI P5 (or something equally capable/expressive) as the 'format of record' for the official #cidocCRM Definition document that is currently supplied in MS-Word and PDF formats. [Jim replies...] [[ snip original post to keep within posting limits ]] -- Richard Light
