Bruce D'Arcus wrote:
I think Ulf's conclusions are right. MODS is expressive, which is why I was originally attracted to it, but it's also more complex than it needs to be for this sort of use case.
since we're talking databases here, i think the focus should be on what kind of (intermediate) format suits typesetting best (could be different from the databse structure)
The big question becomes, if not MODS, then what? As Ulf pointed out, my solution -- and the one I will be advocating for OpenDoucment (I am on the TC) -- is to use a particular RDF serialization. Indeed, I have a draft RELAX NG schema for it, and my formatting system (citeproc) now works with it quite well.
but that's still the database part of it, isn't it ( i never really used rdf - only looked at it)
Microsoft, incidentally, is implementing pretty good bib support (that looks suspiciously like what I've been advocating for OpenOffice!), which I've blogged about extensively. Their XML format is not bad, though it is totally flat, which means it won't be as flexible as MODS or RDF. More here:
http://netapps.muohio.edu/blogs/darcusb/darcusb/archives/2006/06/16/flat-vs-...
- provide converters from marcs and bibtex to mods - layer the bib module on top of that
Curious question: would you be writing it in Lua (closer to the pdftex level), or go more high-level (as now)?
i dunno, some manipulations now done in tex can better be done in lua, so i can imagine something - interpret xml (tex) - manipulate data (lua and tex) - typeset results (tex) a practical approach would be to start with a copy of m-bib (maybe a pet project of taco and me) and see where we end up
If so, who'd like to join/volunteer for subtasks
I can certainly help with advice and design, particularly if you want to use CSL to configure the output. I've made some changes to it (again) recently, but think I'm zeroing in on freezing it. The more feedback I get, the easier it'll be to do that.
so csl is the formatting spec thing (the oo site is not that informative; i always like to *see* code -) Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------