Featured Abstract: Jan. 30

Each Monday and Thursday, an abstract from one of the symposium participants will be posted to facilitate discussion.  We welcome your comments!

Featured Abstract: “Schema as architectural blueprint for a model supporting overlap”

Wendell Piez, Mulberry Technologies, Inc.

I believe that schemas will play an important role in a system providing an adequate data model for humanities (and generalized) text and document processing that provides for arbitrary overlap and multiple concurrent hierarchies (MCH). In particular, I believe schema languages describing permissible document structures including permissible overlap, such as Jeni Tennison’s CREOLE, will be a useful and possibly essential tool in bridging the gap between “flat” models such as range-only models (for example, models implemented using standoff annotation in order to assert the presence of ranges without the encumbrance of hierarchies), and models supporting multiple hierarchies such as GODDAG. Additionally, a special problem of models supporting MCH such as GODDAG is how to determine the “correct” GODDAG out of the many possible GODDAGs that can feasibly be projected onto a markup instance; and I believe schemas can provide most of a solution.

Framing Question:

Why do we (when do we) need a model that represents multiple concurrent hierarchies as such, as opposed to a simpler model supports a set of arbitrary range annotations, with hierarchies present only implicitly?