Article

Towards a semantics for XML markup

Authors:

C. M. Sperberg-McQueenAuthors Info & Claims

DocEng '02: Proceedings of the 2002 ACM symposium on Document engineering

Pages 119 - 126

https://doi.org/10.1145/585058.585081

Published: 08 November 2002 Publication History

Abstract

Although XML Document Type Definitions provide a mechanism for specifying, in machine-readable form, the syntax of an XML markup language, there is no comparable mechanism for specifying the semantics of an XML vocabulary. That is, there is no way to characterize the meaning of XML markup so that the facts and relationships represented by the occurrence of XML constructs can be explicitly, comprehensively, and mechanically identified. This has serious practical and theoretical consequences. On the positive side, XML constructs can be assigned arbitrary semantics and used in application areas not foreseen by the original designers. On the less positive side, both content developers and application engineers must rely upon prose documentation, or, worse, conjectures about the intention of the markup language designer --- a process that is time-consuming, error-prone, incomplete, and unverifiable, even when the language designer properly documents the language. In addition, the lack of a substantial body of research in markup semantics means that digital document processing is undertheorized as an engineering application area. Although there are some related projects underway (XML Schema, RDF, the Semantic Web) which provide relevant results, none of these projects directly and comprehensively address the core problems of XML markup semantics. This paper (i) summarizes the history of the concept of markup meaning, (ii) characterizes the specific problems that motivate the need for a formal semantics for XML and (iii) describes an ongoing research project --- the BECHAMEL Markup Semantics Project --- that is attempting to develop such a semantics.

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Jett JCole TDubin DRenear A(2016)Discerning the Intellectual Focus of AnnotationsProceedings of Balisage: The Markup Conference 201610.4242/BalisageVol17.Jett01Online publication date: 2016
https://doi.org/10.4242/BalisageVol17.Jett01
Ciotti FTomasi F(2016)Formal Ontologies, Linked Data, and TEI SemanticsJournal of the Text Encoding Initiative10.4000/jtei.1480Online publication date: 8-Sep-2016
https://doi.org/10.4000/jtei.1480
Ciotti FDaquino MTomasi F(2016)Text Encoding Initiative Semantic Modeling. A Conceptual Workflow ProposalDigital Libraries on the Move10.1007/978-3-319-41938-1_5(48-60)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2016
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41938-1_5
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Index Terms

Towards a semantics for XML markup
1. Applied computing
  1. Document management and text processing
    1. Document preparation
      1. Markup languages
2. Information systems
  1. World Wide Web
    1. Web data description languages
      1. Markup languages

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

DocEng '02: Proceedings of the 2002 ACM symposium on Document engineering

November 2002

168 pages

ISBN:1581135947

DOI:10.1145/585058

General Chair:
Ethan Munson
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Richard Furuta
Texas A&M University, USA
,
Jonathan I. Maletic
Kent State University, USA

Copyright © 2002 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 08 November 2002

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DocEng '02 Paper Acceptance Rate 21 of 46 submissions, 46%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 194 of 564 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

Jett JCole TDubin DRenear A(2016)Discerning the Intellectual Focus of AnnotationsProceedings of Balisage: The Markup Conference 201610.4242/BalisageVol17.Jett01Online publication date: 2016
https://doi.org/10.4242/BalisageVol17.Jett01
Ciotti FTomasi F(2016)Formal Ontologies, Linked Data, and TEI SemanticsJournal of the Text Encoding Initiative10.4000/jtei.1480Online publication date: 8-Sep-2016
https://doi.org/10.4000/jtei.1480
Ciotti FDaquino MTomasi F(2016)Text Encoding Initiative Semantic Modeling. A Conceptual Workflow ProposalDigital Libraries on the Move10.1007/978-3-319-41938-1_5(48-60)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2016
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41938-1_5
Berti MAlmas BDubin DFranzini GStoyanova SCrane G(2014)The Linked Fragment: TEI and the Encoding of Text Reuses of Lost AuthorsJournal of the Text Encoding Initiative10.4000/jtei.1218Online publication date: 28-Dec-2014
https://doi.org/10.4000/jtei.1218
Peroni SPeroni S(2014)The Digital Publishing RevolutionSemantic Web Technologies and Legal Scholarly Publishing10.1007/978-3-319-04777-5_2(7-43)Online publication date: 21-Jun-2014
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04777-5_2
Iorio APeroni SVitali F(2011)Using semantic web technologies for analysis and validation of structural markupInternational Journal of Web Engineering and Technology10.5555/2071294.20712996:4(375-398)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2071294.2071299
Kamthan P(2011)Implications of Markup on the Description of Software PatternsKnowledge Engineering for Software Development Life Cycles10.4018/978-1-60960-509-4.ch008(136-160)Online publication date: 2011
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60960-509-4.ch008
Peroni SGangemi AVitali F(2011)Dealing with markup semanticsProceedings of the 7th International Conference on Semantic Systems10.1145/2063518.2063533(111-118)Online publication date: 7-Sep-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2063518.2063533
Dombrowski ADombrowski Q(2010)A formal approach to XML semantics: implications for archive standardsProceedings of the International Symposium on XML for the Long Haul: Issues in the Long-term Preservation of XML10.4242/BalisageVol6.Dombrowski01Online publication date: 2010
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Wickett K(2010)Discourse situations and markup interoperabilityProceedings of Balisage: The Markup Conference 201010.4242/BalisageVol5.Wickett01Online publication date: 2010
https://doi.org/10.4242/BalisageVol5.Wickett01
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