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I'm wondering if there needs to be some kind of formal progression of
metadata standards being adopted by the CellML project. While I concede
that it was rather arbitrary to add the simulation and graphing
specifications under the CellML metadata umbrella, I can see how those
two are going to play very important roles in the future of CellML. I am
less certain of the value of the Custom Subset specification.

I guess the question is whether we are happy to continue simply adding
any and all metadata specifications that people come up with under the
CellML metadata umbrella? or whether we want to implement a system
whereby draft specifications are first circulated on this mailing list
and require a certain level of support (or maybe a lack of objections?)
before the CellML project formally accepts the draft for further
development under the CellML metadata umbrella?

Andrew Miller wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> A new draft specification, the Custom Subset Metadata Specification, has
> been added to the CellML site, at
> http://www.cellml.org/specifications/metadata/custom_subset/.
>
> The abstract of the specification is as follows:
> "
> CellML provides a mechanism to describe mathematical models. CellML
> allows models of arbitrary complexity to be created, and models can be
> combined using the import functionality in CellML 1.1 to create even
> more complex models. One consequence of this is that CellML models can
> potentially have massive numbers of variables and even components. While
> backend tools can process such large numbers of variables on modern
> computers, this creates a significant problem when designing user
> interfaces. One principle of good user interface design is that you
> should present the user with the minimum number of choices possible.
> This makes it faster for the user to locate the functionality they
> desire, and so improves user productivity. In order to cut down on the
> choices of variables, components, or other parts of the model available,
> however, it is necessary to determine which parts of the model the user
> is likely to edit, in advance. As CellML has been designed to be domain
> independent, there is no generic way to do this automatically. Moreover,
> even if we could do this, different users may put the model to different
> uses, and so have different preferences as to what they will edit.
>
> It is clear that there needs to be some way to specify which parts of
> the model users will change the most often, so restricted views of the
> models can be shown to the user (with an option to show the full model
> if desired). CellML provides a grouping facility, through the use of the
> cellml:group element. However, this element is inappropriate for this
> particular application, because:
>
> 1. Grouping only works for components. However, it would be useful to
> define sets of variables, mathematical equations, and other
> elements in the model, in addition to components. This could be
> overcome by making a revised version of the specification, but
> this would likely introduce many incompatibilities with existing
> models.
> 2. CellML has been designed to separate data, which is essential to
> the evaluation of the model, from metadata. Because the
> information being conveyed here relates to how the model should be
> displayed, rather than the mathematical interpretation of the
> model, it is clearly metadata. Therefore, it fits better into the
> existing CellML metadata (cmeta) framework, as RDF, than it does
> as a part of the core CellML specification.
>
> "
>
> Comments on this specification are solicited, please send them to
> cellml-discussion at cellml.org
>
> Best regards,
> Andrew Miller
>
> _______________________________________________
> cellml-discussion mailing list
> cellml-discussion at cellml.org
> http://www.cellml.org/mailman/listinfo/cellml-discussion

--
David Nickerson, PhD
Research Fellow
Division of Bioengineering
Faculty of Engineering
National University of Singapore
Email: david.nickerson at nus.edu.sg

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• [cellml-discussion] New Draft: Custom Subset Metadata specification, Andrew Miller, 11/06/2006
  • [cellml-discussion] New Draft: Custom Subset Metadata specification, David Nickerson, 11/07/2006
    • [cellml-discussion] New Draft: Custom Subset Metadata specification, Andrew Miller, 11/08/2006
      • [cellml-discussion] New Draft: Custom Subset Metadataspecification, David Nickerson, 11/08/2006
        • [cellml-discussion] New Draft: Custom Subset Metadataspecification, Andrew Miller, 11/08/2006
          • [cellml-discussion] New Draft: CustomSubset Metadataspecification, David Nickerson, 11/08/2006

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