Hi Steve On Thu, 2011-08-04 at 10:59 -0400, Stephen Woodbridge wrote: > Hi Ron, > > This all sounds very interesting and while I would like better support > for media, one of my concerns comes from the fact the GEDCOM describes a > format but not a semantic of how tags should be implemented regarding > content. As a result, it is very hard to merge GEDCOM data from > different products that output data to GEDCOM and stuff info in > different but potentially legitimate TAGs.
Did you mean "... stuff info into the same but potentially different tags"? If not, you're in luck: Tag aliases solve the problem, if I've understood it. As for semantic content, I can imagine a simple answer which probably won't satisfy: If 2 people combine data, then when A says such-and-such data is of type or meaning X, then B just has to accept A's judgment in the same way A has to accept B's judgment, when they combine data. Except of course when the pretence is that opera is music, or that country music is not somehow a contradiction in terms hahahahaha. Perhaps Better Gedcom, as mentioned by Mikkel, is dealing with these issues. But getting people to agree in their opinions is always fraught with despair... E.g. what if you wanted to include a person's output from a hobby or work of recording whale 'music' under the music tag? Or music for any culture on Earth? Who decides? I fear top-down imposition that tag X /must/ mean precisely Y to the exclusion of Z just won't be as controlling and exact as you might wish, when more and more people combine their opinions. Remember the farcical outcome 40 years ago when gays started to dangle coloured hankies out of the back pocket of their jeans, to signal something, and the confusion which resulted. People resent top-down control. Just ask any Arab these days... The problem's apparent simplicity does not guarantee the simplicity of any particular solution. > So, I see this project as creating kind of a "super" GEDCOM like > database, but if the result is that I have to look in more places to > find a given piece of information than I already have to look in, then > this does not solve one of the BIGGEST problems of GEDCOM files in my mind. Again, tag aliases will help, if individuals can define what is aliased to what, but yes, I do see the problem. > Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this develops. Let's hope it's not all too hard. -- Ron Savage http://savage.net.au/ Ph: 0421 920 622
