[sc34wg3] XTM 2.0 topicRef - proposal for an erratum

[Lars Heuer]

Hi all,

I have a problem with the topicRef section [1] of XTM 2.0:

   """
   The href attribute contains the absolute or relative IRI reference
   that is the topic reference. This IRI reference shall have a fragment
   identifier which shall be what [W3C XPointer] calls a shorthand
   pointer (formerly barename).

   During deserialization a locator is produced from the topicRef
   element according to the rules in 4.3.3.
   [...]
   """

The section mandates that the IRI reference contains always a fragment
identifier. That means the following references are illegal:

* <topicRef href="http://psi.example.org/puck-die-stubenfliege"/>
* <topicRef href="puck-die-stubenfliege"/>

I don't see a good reason why every IRI reference must have a fragment
identifier. The fragment identifier is only needed if someone wants to
refer to a topic within the same topic map:

<association>
   <type><topicRef href="#member-of"/></type>
   <role>
     <type><topicRef href="#member"/></type>
     <topicRef href="#john-lennon"/>
   </role>
[...]
</association>

Here, the user wants to refer to the topics with the identifiers
'member-of', 'member', and 'john-lennon'.
   
The limitation to IRI references with fragment identifiers carries an
unnecessary burden, especially if someone wants to generate topic maps
automatically.

To cut the long story short: My proposal is an erratum of XTM 2.0
where the restriction to IRI references with a fragment identifier is
left out:

    """
    The href attribute contains the absolute or relative IRI reference
    that is the topic reference.

    During deserialization a locator is produced from the topicRef
    element according to the rules in 4.3.3.
    [...]
    """
    

[1] <http://www.isotopicmaps.org/sam/sam-xtm/2006-06-19/#sect-proc-topicRef>
   
Best regards,
Lars
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