[Standards] unification and update of the standards documentation

[Odijk, J.E.J.M. (Jan)]

Dear Piotr,
Thanks for this. I already announced to Andreas at LREC that I was writing something that is in part related to these topics. I think that it is highly relevant to you for the work you  announce below as well.

I finished writing a first draft, so I include it here. I hope it is of any use to you, and all comments are welcome. Note, in particular,  that the general scheme for interoperability and the specific instantiations for text and audio are highly tentative, and more intended as an illustration of how it could be than already a full proposal. So, any comments are welcome as well. Note that the paper contains several hyperlinks, marked by the blue color of the text. The actual URLs are hidden, but in the digital version you can click on the hyperlinks. Different PDF-viewers may have different behaviors in whether and how they show this. In a printed black-and white version the blue will probably appear as grey text, so one will be able to identify the text that is associated to a URL. 


I am not sure what I will do with the paper. I distribute it now within the CLARIN standards community, which is needed in any  case, and I am looking forward to feedback by you all. I am considering to submit it for the CLARIN conference, though I am not sure it is really suited for this. I also announced the paper to Franciska, and she suggested discussing it first in the NCF and the Board of Directors, especially for the policy recommendations that it contains.

Jan

-----Original Message-----
From: standards-bounces at lists.clarin.eu [mailto:standards-bounces at lists.clarin.eu] On Behalf Of Piotr Banski
Sent: maandag 27 juni 2016 12:37
To: standards at lists.clarin.eu
Subject: [Standards] unification and update of the standards documentation

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of the recent exchange, I would like to mention an initiative meant as the IDS's contribution to the work of the Standards Committee. Over the summer (with a vacation break), I intend to put together a proposal for unified documentation on the use of standards within CLARIN. I try not to think of this task as formidable and to split it into several stages, hoping to be able to ask for advice here when I get stuck (or panicky...).

The intention is not to revolutionize but merely to organize/update: see which standards the CLARIN centres can be safely assumed to rely on across the board, which of them can be thought of as enjoying "partial support" or are supported by some centres only, and which can be thought of as obsolete/obsoleted. This is because there currently exist several sources of standards recommendations within CLARIN, and it has been stated more than once that even if someone / some centre has the will to follow the CLARIN-recommended standards, they don't know where to begin (the Short Guides might be a good starting point in many cases, but then a sea of options suddenly opens, and if a newcomer reads a random paper on yet-another-standard, they might get an impression that a niche proposal is *the* CLARIN-recommended way, without being able to consult a unified resource and see what the alternatives are). Let me stress that I am undertaking this task not because I feel I am the best man for the job, but because it simply needs to be done and seems overdue. And I offer to start on my own only for the sake of efficiency -- even when my proposal is not judged as optimal, it might at least constitute a basis for improvement, a starting point for others to continue from, so it will hopefully be a step forward anyway.

The eventual shape of the proposal is intended to be elaborated also with the knowledge and participation of the Centres Committee, so that it could eventually be accepted by the individual CLARIN centres according to several criteria/parameters. I intend to be ready to present and discuss a draft of this in Aix.

I would like to begin in July (this is not going to be a full-time task for me), and I trust that I can ping this list with questions whenever I feel (close to) lost.

With best regards and counting on your support,

  Piotr

--
Piotr Bański, Ph.D.
Senior Researcher,
Institut für Deutsche Sprache,
R5 6-13
68-161 Mannheim, Germany

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