[sc34wg3] SAM-issue psi-generics (was: SAM-issue term-scope-def)

[Lars Marius Garshol]

* Marc de Graauw
| 
| If topics cannot be reified, and the characteristics of topics are
| assertions about a subject, not a topic, it follows that nothing can
| be asserted about a topic (at least not in a topic map), which is
| very strange indeed. 

Yes, I've been thinking about this, too. XTM was designed this way,
but it's beginning to seem like a mistake.

At the moment, <subjectIndicatorRef> and <topicRef> are considered
equal, which means that 

  <topic id="topic">
    <subjectIdentity>
      <subjectIndicatorRef xlink:href="#some-topic"/>
    </subjectIdentity>
  </topic>

causes topic and some-topic to merge.

You can use <resourceRef>, but this would only reifies the <topic>
element, and not the topic itself.

We could solve this by changing the behaviour of <subjectIndicatorRef>
when it points to <topic> elements, but that wouldn't be backwards
compatible.

I've given this issue the id 'xtm-prop-subject-indicator'.

| We can speak about everything in the world, except about topics! If
| however topic characteristic assigments are assertions about the
| topic, it is of course quite possible to say things about the topic
| (in fact, you always do).

Which again would mean that topic maps are meaningless, because you
always talk about topics, and never anything else. :)
 
-- 
Lars Marius Garshol, Ontopian         <URL: http://www.ontopia.net >
ISO SC34/WG3, OASIS GeoLang TC        <URL: http://www.garshol.priv.no >