Now that DMLex 1.0 is an OASIS standard, let me say many thanks to all current and former members of LEXIDMA. This is the finish line we had been dashing for for the last... how many years has it been?
Maybe we can remind ourselves what it is we have done. We have created a data model which finally solves a whole bunch of age-old problems in e-lexicography such as: how to represent cross-entry relations, how (and whether) to represent complex hierarchies of subentries and subsenses, how to handle the placement of multiword items. We have solved these problems in a way which is not hacky but elegant and internally consistent, simple enough to satisfy the IT people and expressive enough to not disappoint experienced lexicographers.
I don't know about you but I look at DMLex as more than just a glorified file format. To me, DMLex is a catalog of design patterns which lexicographic software engineers can now take inspiration from, regardless of whether they choose to formally comply with it or not. In that sense, DMLex cannot be anything but a success in the future.
But before we start talking about the future (are we keeping LEXIDMA going etc.) let's take this moment to congratulate ourselves. We're co-authors of an OASIS standard now, how cool is that?
Michal
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Michal Mechura
Faculty of Informatics Masaryk University
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