works-with-format for bioinformatics

Benjamin Mesing bensmail at gmx.net
Tue Nov 18 19:56:00 UTC 2008


> > I noticed biology::format:fasta only after I suggested
> > works-with-format::fasta. I'm now asking what the difference between
> > the two would be. The two categories biology::format and
> > works-with-format seem redundant.
> 
> Hi Shaun,
> 
> the biology:: facet was the product of a disucussion during which I had some
> misunderstandings about debtags. I wouldn't mind to see it removed.

Well, actually I do not think this to be a misunderstanding. IMO the
point of field specific facets (like biology) is to avoid cluttering of
the global facets with information relevant only to a very special
audience. So biology is not really a facet itself - more like a grouping
concept.
However, this was often an controversly discussed before. Conceptually
the distinction between biology::works-with and works-with is definitly
not there - its more like a view concept then. Perhaps adding view
information to each tag (like general, biology, physics) would be a more
appropriate way to go.
But I believe right now field specific facets are a pragmatic approach
for dealing with the complexity.

Best regards 

Benjamin





More information about the Debtags-devel mailing list