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<p>OSGeo Board, OSGeo Discuss,</p>
<p>I'd like to introduce you to this proposal that Ron and Reese
have been developing on the OSGeo Standards email list, which I
think should fit under the legal structure of an OSGeo Committee.</p>
<p>I have vague recollections that setting up a committee requires
board approval? I've found some old tips on running a committee
here: <a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Committee_Guidelines">https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Committee_Guidelines</a></p>
<p>Comments welcomed.<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 15/10/19 4:47 pm, Ronald Tse wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:B5761941-BB04-4899-9B5A-5B9F00A6D26F@ribose.com">
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Hi Cameron,
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Thank you for the suggestions! I have updated the
proposal to reflect your comments below.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">I would be honored to help with terminology
management at OSGeo. Can’t speak for Reese but with his
leadership in already doing terminology cleanup on Felicity’s
sheet, he seems pretty committed already :-)</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Ron</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">———</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Recommendations for OSGeo terminology management</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">1. Establish a terminology management group in
OSGeo.<br class="">
<br class="">
ISO/TC 211, IEC Electropedia and OGC all have one for
terminology management. The existence of this group is crucial
to the success of the OSGeo terminology database. It will play
two essential roles:<br class="">
<br class="">
a) As the gatekeeper of terms to ensure quality checks of
contributions<br class="">
b) As the seat of central terminology knowledge for alignment of
terms and concepts. To facilitate the flow of terminology
knowledge to terminology authors and users. <br class="">
<br class="">
It would be helpful to involve representation from ISO/TC 211
and OGC in this group, in order to leverage their experience in
terminology. Such experience will be useful in situations such
as alerting on cross-organization alignment of concepts or term
duplication.<br class="">
<br class="">
An email list shall be setup for this group for internal
communication.<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
2. Establish a terms of reference for terminology management.<br
class="">
<br class="">
For the terminology management group, a terms of reference
should be produced so that the steps for approval and data
quality requirements are clear. This should be openly shared
with contributors so they are clear on acceptance criteria.<br
class="">
<br class="">
Contributors may propose changes to the terminology database at
any time. The terminology management group shall discuss
and approve or disapprove of the proposal within a reasonable
timeframe. This practice is in-line with the open source,
change-based, rapid iteration mantra, similar to OpenSSL.<br
class="">
<br class="">
For releases, the group shall convene periodically, such as
every 4-6 months, to discuss previously decided proposals,
governance or technical issues related to terminology
management.<br class="">
<br class="">
The method of submitting change requests shall also be
determined and announced so that contributors understand the
necessary processes and timeline.<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
3. Establish an online terminology database presence.<br
class="">
<br class="">
Terminology isn’t useful until people use them, which means
people need to first know they exist and what they mean.
Geolexica is an initiative that currently serves ISO/TC 211’s
terminology management group in making its multi-lingual
geographic information terminology available on the internet (<a
href="https://www.geolexica.org" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.geolexica.org</a>). We
propose to use <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://osgeo.geolexica.org/">https://osgeo.geolexica.org/</a> to serve OSGeo in
managing its terminology database. Geolexica not only serves
human-readable concepts and terms, but also serves in
machine-readable JSON, allowing APIs to directly consume the
content.<br class="">
<br class="">
The structure of Geolexica is designed for efficiency with
streamlined management and operations. Terms are stored in
structured data (YAML) files, and are directly deployable to the
website. The website operates according to best practices, and
is served as a static website with dynamic search functionality.
Security and performance have always been key considerations. <br
class="">
<br class="">
For terms that originate from other authoritative terminology
databases, such as those from ISO or OGC, a linkage shall be
established from the OSGeo terminology database back to the
source.<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
4. Use an issue tracker with source code management
functionality as an open communication platform (e.g. GitHub).<br
class="">
<br class="">
The issue tracker is used to perform two-way communication
between OSGeo members and the contributors. This requires
every contributor to at least have an account, which helps
minimize spam. The source code management functionality is used
to manage terminology data in a machine-useable way.<br class="">
<br class="">
There are generally two types of contributors:<br class="">
<br class="">
a) those who suggest changes via textual description, and<br
class="">
b) those who suggest changes but can also format the desired
content in the data format used by the terminology database.<br
class="">
<br class="">
People can easily help out with the former in formatting the
changes into a proper data structure change. This allows the
terminology management group to directly approve, merge and
deploy the proposed term modifications (and creations,
deletions), all made effective with a single click.<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
5. Allow easy feedback from terminology users.<br class="">
<br class="">
To minimize friction in the feedback process, for every term
offered in the OSGeo terminology pages we can offer a “propose
new term” and “propose changes to this term" buttons. This
allows user to directly go to the issue platform (e.g. GitHub)
to make the suggested changes.<br class="">
<br class="">
A “contributors guide” document will greatly help these people
make the proper suggestions and have them formatted correctly.<br
class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
6. Initial load and data cleanup.<br class="">
<br class="">
The initial load of the terms will involve a bulk load from the
cleaned terms and definitions that Felicity has
compiled. Geolexica could easily handle the initial conversion
from table format into the desired structured data format.<br
class="">
<br class="">
The cleanup process has already been started by Reese Plews,
convenor of the TMG at ISO/TC 211.<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
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_____________________________________<br class="">
<br class="">
Ronald Tse<br class="">
Ribose Inc.<br class="">
<br class="">
</div>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On Oct 10, 2019, at 3:34 PM, Cameron Shorter
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com"><cameron.shorter@gmail.com></a> wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class="">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" class="">
<p class="">Hi Ron,</p>
<p class="">I really like your proposal. It looks very
practical, should address quality requirements, and
should be relatively light weight to manage. Some
comments/suggestions:</p>
<p class="">* You might want to mention the approach
to your first load of terms, which probably should
involve a bulk load from a derivative of the terms
that Felicity has compiled.</p>
<p class="">* I suggest we set up an email list to
discuss terms. OSGeo can provide that for us, and I
can coordinate that, once we have agreed on our
approach.<br class="">
</p>
<p class="">* I suggest that an updating the glossary
be tied to a periodic event, at least annually. I
think we should tie in with the OSGeoLive annual
build cycle for this.</p>
<p class="">* You haven't mentioned <a
href="https://osgeo.geolexica.org/" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">
https://osgeo.geolexica.org/</a> in your
description. I assume that would be part of the
solution? If so, I suggest mentioning it.</p>
<p class="">* Another project I'm helping start up is
<a href="https://thegooddocsproject.dev/" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">
https://thegooddocsproject.dev/</a> (Writing
templates to make good docs for open source
projects). I expect that the solution you are
proposing would be valuable for a wide variety of
domains, and should be captured as best practices in
TheGoodDocsProject. At some point in the future, I'm
hoping that you might provide a generic version of
your suggestions for others to follow too.</p>
<p class="">Feel free to add your ideas below into the
wiki at: <a
href="https://trac.osgeo.org/osgeolive/wiki/Glossary%20terms"
class="" moz-do-not-send="true">
https://trac.osgeo.org/osgeolive/wiki/Glossary%20terms</a></p>
<p class="">(Maybe add "DRAFT" at the top, until we
have the process set up.)</p>
<p class="">* Ron and Reese, I'm hoping that you both
will continue to provide the leadership and
stewardship of the community as it grows? Your
advice has been great to date.</p>
<p class="">Warm regards, Cameron<br class="">
</p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
</div>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
Standards mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Standards@lists.osgeo.org">Standards@lists.osgeo.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/standards">https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/standards</a></pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Technology Demystifier
Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant
M +61 (0) 419 142 254</pre>
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