friendly reminders

[Pankaj Jaiswal]

Hi Richard,

There is an international effort going on with the help from FAO, AGVOC
and UMLS if I am not wrong, on doing the translations as well as
integrating the various vocabularies. These are called agricultural
ontologies. http://www.fao.org/agrovoc/

A couple of years ago I met the project coordinator from FAO and he was
very much interested in the PO and GO work. He even offerred that if we
can provide the ontologies in some exchangeable format like OWL/RDF
formats, it will help them in integrating our ontologies in their
database. Not to mention an added advantage is getting the translations in
5-6 major languages other than English. The only problem Michael cited was
on synchronizing translations with the GO & PO releases.

If this works out then I think we don't have to worry about semantics of
doing translations on our own. This will be an excellent example of
working with a major international organization. Since it is FAO, I am
pretty sure CGIAR will be more than willing to chip in with their help in
coordinating the exchange.


Pankaj


Bruskiewich, Richard (IRRI) said:
> One of Pankaj's points raises a issue here: translation of the POC/GO into
> international languages...
>
> In principle, I don't see why we shouldn't be considering
> "internationalization" of the POC (and GO) to accommodate ESL researchers
> in
> other countries. I'm already considering such generality in designing our
> next generation International Crop Information System, that is, trying to
> split off the term "string" (in unicode, of course) from the concept
> (indexed by accession identifier) and the term definition (which could
> also
> be internationalized).
>
> I think that the CGIAR plant crop centers (and the ICIS project, and the
> Generation CP) can probably help out in this regard given our broad
> multi-national constituency, and extensive network of ESL national
> research
> partners. If we collectively design the schemata to accommodate such
> flexibility, then perhaps national partners from major non-English
> speaking
> research constituencies will offer to do the translation into their own
> languages(?). Big task, I know, but doable...
>
> BTW, though English is one of the world's most widely spoken languages, I
> wouldn't automatically assume that American English is the dominant
> form...
> Considering the size of some major ESL countries in the British Empire,
> like
> India ;-)))
>
> Richard
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pankaj Jaiswal [mailto:pj37 at cornell.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 8:56 AM
> To: POC-dev
> Subject: friendly reminders
>
> Here are a few friendly reminders.
>
> -please do not use characters like ! # $ in the definitions.
> -The main term should always have an American english spelling if
> required.
> -the synonyms can have British spellings.
> -Same goes with definitions. Try using the American English spellings.
> -do not use short forms of words like "str." for "structure" in the
> definition. Always use full form.
> -Always prefix /suffix the desired term mane if its a combination of noun
> and an adjective. e.g. "indehiscent fruits". Having only "indehiscent" as
> term name is insufficient.
>
> There are some more things, which I will post later on. I did some of the
> changes but asombody has to go through them again.
>
> Cheers
>
> Pankaj
>
> ************************
> Pankaj Jaiswal, PhD
> G15-Bradfiled Hall
> Dept. of Plant Breeding
> Cornell University
> Ithaca, NY-14853, USA
>
> Tel: +1-607-255-3103
>       +1-607-255-4109
> Fax: +1-607-255-6683
> http://www.gramene.org
> ************************
>
>


-- 
Pankaj Jaiswal
Gramene Database
www.gramene.org