ZedAI Terminology
From zedwiki
This page collects commonly used terms in the Z39.86 Authoring and Interchange Framework (ZedAI, for short) context.
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Terms defined in the specification
Profile
An integrated markup model (element set and grammar) and RDF ontologies designed to represent information resources of a particular type.
In the ZedAI context, a Profile is typically created to enable users to faithfully represent a specific type of input. Leisure print books, Text print books, and Periodicals are examples of common input types that can be defined in a Profile each. A more extensive discussion of ZedAI Profiles is provided in ZedAI Architecture Overview.
Markup model
The markup vocabulary (i.e., the gamut of element and attribute names, notations, etc.) and grammar (i.e., the prescribed use of that vocabulary) as defined by a schema. The markup model is the concrete representation in markup syntax of an abstract document model, and may be defined with varying levels of strict conformity.
Module
An abstract unit within a markup model expressed as a schema fragment, used to consolidate markup declarations to increase the flexibility, modifiability, reuse and understanding of specific logical or semantic structures.
Feature
A markup model and associated role vocabulary designed to represent a limited, highly-specialized set of content structures. Typically these will require specific behaviors in processing agents. Mathematical equations, chemistry formulas, and musical notations are examples of the kinds of content structures that might be addressed by a ZAI feature. Features share the same general structure as profiles, but are more specialized and of narrower scope and are intended to be used as discrete components within profiles.
Role vocabulary
An ontology that provides a mechanism to annotate elements with machine-extractable semantic information about their purpose. Role vocabularies are expressed in RDF.
Resource directory
A package of information regarding a profile, including normative schemas, informative schemas, RDF ontologies, documentation, stylesheets, or other associated resources. Resource directories are expressed in RDDL.
ZAI document
An XML document that conforms to a ZAI profile.
Other terms
Modularization
The decomposition of a grammar into a collection of abstract modules.
When modularization is properly implemented, each module is typically scoped and encapsulated so that it provides one specific type of functionality.
Namespace Compound Document
An XML grammar whose structure consists of elements from several namespaces.
Note: there is not a 1-1 relationship between a module and a namespace; these are separate axes. Note: a ZedAI Profile must not be Namespace Compound, but it likely will be.
Host Grammar
The base grammar of a ZedAI Profile.
This is typically the grammar that provides the root element, the default namespace, and possibly also some fundamental structural constraints (such as a set of minimally required XML elements) on the document. Further, the host grammar may also by inference dictate the principles by which other modules are to be injected into it, and the means by which instance documents declare which Profile they adhere to.
Schema
A document, separate from the instance document, used to test the conformance of the instance document (a.k.a. "validate").
There are several relevant schema technologies available, including RelaxNG, ISO Schematron, W3C XML Schema, and NVDL. These technologies can be used in combination or by themselves to formally declare the intended content model of a Profile, and perform conformance validation of instance documents.
Processing Agent
In the ZedAI context, a piece of software that processes a ZedAI instance document for some reason.
Examples include, but are not limited to, authoring tools (XML editors, XML-enabled Word processors), transformation pipelines, business transfer chains, end-user provisioning interfaces, and conformance validators.
