[Lexicon] Buzz in writing community about GeoLexicon

[Reese Plews (ISO/TC211 - TMG)]

hello Cameron,

thank you for the message to the list...

regarding this statement from your message...

On 2020-07-31 09:48, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> I think part of what we need to solve is a process for updating terms 
> which we can pass
> to projects and foundations to follow.

based on how we manage term entries (terms & defs) in tc211 i dont 
really believe that it is the task of the lexicon group or the lexicon 
group manager to actually update the content of the terms. the manager 
of the term entries probably does not have expertise knowledge about how 
those terms were developed or how they should be updated -- that is the 
task of the project groups (project leaders, developers, etc) who have 
that expertise. the term manager would assist those project leaders and 
developers in structuring the term entries correctly and clearly to 
maintain uniformity with the current registry of terms, and in some 
cases, where needed assist with any initial grammar/english issues.

we all agree that developing a suitable management process for dealing 
with the term entries in osgeo is important. however, such a process is 
not yet clear to me because, as i discussed earlier, i just dont 
understand the mechanism in osgeo of how the terms will be submitted to 
the lexicon group. in iso the terms are required to be submitted with 
the draft document because basically the document is the project. in 
osgeo, if i understand correctly, the software is the project and the 
documentation, how much/little there may be, is part of that. within 
that documentation one would hope there is a list of terms. if not, who 
picks up the term entries from the documentation?  it would not be an 
easy task, in my opinion. is it possible to make requirements that the 
project teams must follow to support the work of the lexicon group? i 
dont know enough about osgeo's operations to know if that can happen.

i guess it is possible that if the technical writers were assisting the 
project teams in preparing the documentation then such a case would 
enable a flow where the writers together with the project 
leaders/developers identify these term entries and could submit them to 
the lexicon group. at that time, a management process in the lexicon 
group would be needed/should be in place.

the management process used in tc211 works quite well and has been 
refined over 18+ years of use. however i would have some reservations in 
recommending all of the practices/solutions that tc211 uses to osgeo, 
mainly because the groups are different and technology has changed. in 
tc211 our group has been working with Ron and his team at Ribose to 
update the tools (one of which is available to osgeo when the terms are 
ready) we are using for term entry management and we have made a number 
of significant changes and are now discussing updates to the core 
registry... it just takes time and resources...

maybe i am just not understanding the current processes that exist in 
osgeo, or not understanding the osgeolive positioning within osgeo. 
maybe the technical writers are making user tutorials, and not project 
documentation? i just dont quite understand yet.

i look forward to more discussions on this and i hope they will help me 
understand these things better.

reese