14.0469 XML & WWW; XML references; a broader question

From: by way of Willard McCarty (willard@lists.village.Virginia.EDU)
Date: 11/05/00

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                   Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 469.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
                  <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
    
       [1]   From:    Wendell Piez <wapiez@mulberrytech.com>              (18)
             Subject: Re: 14.0464 XML & the WWW
    
       [2]   From:    Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>         (29)
             Subject: for the XML-unaware
    
       [3]   From:    Randall Pierce <rpierce@jsucc.jsu.edu>              (22)
             Subject: technology
    
    
    --[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000 14:41:16 +0000
             From: Wendell Piez <wapiez@mulberrytech.com>
             Subject: Re: 14.0464 XML & the WWW
    
    Fotis--
    
    At 08:45 AM 11/2/00 +0000, you wrote:
     >btw, I don't think that xml aware clients will be the solution for this
     >problem, because of the size of the editions.
    
    How large do you expect these editions to be? Why would server-side
    processing be better for large editions?
    
    Or possibly I mistake you. If you mean to say XML-aware clients will not be
    the *entire* solution to the problem, I agree.
    
    Cheers,
    Wendell
    
    ======================================================================
    Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@mulberrytech.com
    Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
    17 West Jefferson Street                    Direct Phone: 301/315-9635
    Suite 207                                          Phone: 301/315-9631
    Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
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    --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000 14:51:06 +0000
             From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
             Subject: for the XML-unaware
    
    In case anyone who is ignorant of XML is nevertheless intrigued by that
    aspect of the ongoing discussion about hypertext, you might see the following:
    
    DeRose, Steven J. 1999. XML Linking.
    <http://www.cs.brown.edu/memex/ACM_HypertextTestbed/papers/47.html>.
    Specifications to enable more advanced hypertext functionality on the Web:
    in particular fine-grained anchors, external annotation, and bi-directional
    links; HTML linking limitations.
    
    ----- et al. 2000. XML Linking Language (XLink) Version 1.0.
    <http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/CR-xlink-20000703/>. World Wide Web Consortium
    specification; defines the XML Linking Language (XLink), which allows
    elements to be inserted into XML documents in order to create and describe
    links between resources. It uses XML syntax to create structures that can
    describe links similar to the simple unidirectional hyperlinks of today's
    HTML, as well as more sophisticated links
    
    Gronbaek, K. et al. 2000. Open Hypermedia as User Controlled Meta Data for
    the Web. WWW 2000. <http://www9.org/w9cdrom/>.
    Application of the Open Hypermedia idea to the Web via metadata
    specifications for XML.
    
    Verbyla, Janet. 1999. Unlinking the Link.
    <http://www.cs.brown.edu/memex/ACM_HypertextTestbed/papers/61.html>.
    An overview of hypermedia linking: the essence of the idea; the limitations
    of conception in HTML; potential alternatives; the promise of XML.
    
    More references useful to the uninitiated would be very welcome.
    
    Yours,
    WM
    
    -----
    Dr Willard McCarty / Senior Lecturer /
    Centre for Computing in the Humanities / King's College London /
    Strand / London WC2R 2LS / U.K. /
    +44 (0)20 7848-2784 / ilex.cc.kcl.ac.uk/wlm/
    
    --[3]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000 14:53:28 +0000
             From: Randall Pierce <rpierce@jsucc.jsu.edu>
             Subject: technology
    
    I have noticed some "tension" between those in what may be considered
    "hard" sciences as opposed to what some call "soft" science. Hard
    sciences are technology-based and those which have strong quantitive
    characteristics, such as mathematics, medicine, physics, etc. "Soft"
    sciences are usually thought of as including history, sociology,
    psychology and philosophy. Admittedly, many of these have their
    quantitive properties , such as cliometrics in history. I am mentioning
    this in relation to the post of Stephen Miller on "Technological
    Determinism".  Technology is very important. Certain inventions have
    revolutionized human society. Gutenberg's printing press comes to mind.
    But technology, although it is very often what lets the genie out of the
    bottle, is not usually what creates the need for the genie. Why was the
    printing press invented?  It met the need created by the Scholasticism
    of the late Medieval and early Renaissance periods. I once quoted a
    principle in History of Science: "When it is time to railroad, you
    railroad." I feel that technology answers needs. Or it is still-born.
    Think of all the technological "revolutions" in your fields which were
    "stillborn" because the need was not apparent. I do not mean this
    "diatribe" to be anti-technological, but as Stephen Miller put it, to
    make human progress fully three -dimensional by putting technology in
    the context of its historical setting. Why is hyper-text so important
    now? What need does it fill in our society? Thank you for your
    consideration. Randall
    



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