On the tech breakout call: Greg, Chris, Karthik, John

"Metadictionary" Prototype

Goal: to build a proof-of-concept  web-based software service that acts as a public registry of metadata  terms from all domains and from all parts of "metadata speech".

 * Anyone can search and read term definitions (without registration).
 * After authentication (after one-time account registration), anyone can add new terms.
 * New terms may be similar to or propose alternate definitions for existing terms.
   * Every term has a unique concept identifier in addition to a (not nec. unique) natural language string.
 * Anyone can refine their own terms at will when part of the "vernacular".
 * No one can change a term once it is "canonical" or "archival".
 *  New terms enter the vernacular (similar to Internet Draft) and auto-expire in 6 months unless renewed.
   * It is risky to use terms in the vernacular
   * Auto-expire terms are inactive but still visible in the archive.

 * Platform : python, NLP tools
 * Github: open source, Modified 3-clause BSD license
 * Flask: browserable demo on local server (localhost)
 * Heroku: playground for developers hosted free on the internet (limited resources)

 * Starter vocabulary:  dublincore.org (15 terms and definitions)
 * Term structure:  term (natural language string), unique concept id (string), definition (string)
   * important: expect term structure/schema to change often
   * optional later: up/down votes, example section, synonyms, antonyms, see also
   * concept ids from EZID?  
     * http://n2t.net/ezid/doc/apidoc.html
   * semantically significant subparts: ??? eg, "temperature" of X in units Y is number N
   * special category for interoperability: elements for time and place (lat,lon,elevation)
   * special connector terms: ??? "per" "by" ("squared" "cubed") "of" "in"

 * Managing term evolution:
   * identifiers, versions, version numbers, stable reference, "replaces", "obsoletes"
 * Term classes ???
   * Vernacular (unstable rapidly evolving)
   * Canonical (stable)
   * Archival (stable, obsoleted canonical and expired vernacular)
 * Reputation-based voting -- support now or later?
 * For Chris to read up on between today and June 3
   * Heroku, Flask, EZID API, Python NLP tools
 * ??? = suggested topic for Chicago

Useful libraries: nltk, simplenlp, nl and langtools.
Good book for Chris to read through: http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Language-Processing-Python-ebook/dp/B0043D2E22/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369759546&sr=8-1&keywords=natural+language+python

Github usernames:
Karthik: karthikram
John: jkunze
Jim:
Greg:
Nassib:
Chris: cjpatton 

e.g. Flask app. Can be spun up locally or quickly deployed on heroku for easy sharing.
http://markx.herokuapp.com/