TWG meeting - Day 1

The first main agenda item covered was the Format Model document, which includes the concept of a four layer approach to the concepts: Abstract Information Model (AIM); Format Coded Set (FCS); Format Encoding Form (FEF); and Format Encoding Scheme (FES). Each layer represents different aspects of a format, and each layer encapsulates the previous layer.

There was detailed discussion about the relationships between formats, which are also described in the document; especially the extension versus the subtype relationship. The distinction here is that the extension adds information that would not be recognised by the tools for the extended format, whereas the subtype only represents a derived format for which a there is no change to the information the format stores – hence the same tools can be used. Discussion about the value of storing these relationships followed. There seemed to be a lot of confusion about the relationships in terms of the conceptual layer model. The meeting decided that the document required more work and that further examples of the various relationships would add clarity.

Then we moved on to the data model. There was a lot of in depth discussion on this. We only got through looking at the various aspects of the Format object (and sub-objects). Some of the fields were eliminated in favour of further relationships between Format objects, where the values could be represented as a Format object. This was particularly true of some enumerations that had been proposed. I think we went too far with this. For example, I think perhaps the character encodings are not actually formats themselves, and should be recognised as a different entity altogether. I’m also starting to wonder if different objects such as this are representative of the four different layers described in the Format Model document. Anyway, I’ll do some more thinking on this & feed back into the TWG discussions.

The group then headed out to dinner at Sandrine’s Bistro, a very nice French restaurant right down the street from the HUL offices. The food was excellent, and it was good to talk socially for a while. I spent most of the evening talking with Adrian Brown (The National Archives, UK) and Andy Boyko (Library of Congress), who were sitting down my end of the table. Andy & I headed back to our respective hotels on the T (the Boston subway system).