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MCLS 70003, Fall Semester 2007:
Terminology Studies, Discussion Guide SW2

Version: 2007-08-30

SW 2,  Terminology WorkPrinciples and Methods
Instructor PowerPoint: The General Principles of Terminology Management (See MCLS-IAL1/Public/70003/70003_SW1_GeneralPrinciples)
The readings are two versions of the primary terminology standard, ISO 704, Terminology Work – Principles and Methods. The revised version is the subject of considerabld debate and disagreement. ISO 1087-1/2 documents terminology used in the standards of ISO Technical Committee 37, Terminology and other language and content resources. These standards are outdated and are undergoing serious reconsideration.
Readings

See 70003_SW2_DataModelling_DataCategories Folder on MCLS-IAL1/Public/70003 Server for articles.

ISO 704: 2000. Terminology work – Principles and Methods. Geneva: International Organization for Standardization.

ISO DISrev 704: 2007. Terminology work – Principles and Methods. Geneva: International Organization for Standardization. 

ISO 1087: 2000. Terminology work – Vocabulary – Theory and Application 

ISO 1087: 2000. Terminology work – Vocabulary – Computer Applications

Read and compare both versions of  ISO 704. Come to the next class prepared to discuss the two 704 documents in particular.

The purpose of ISO 704 is to introduce terminology management practices to a variety of non-terminologists, primarily subject-field specialists working in a variety of disciplines. Although these people are usually highly intelligent and literate, they frequently have little experience as linguists or lexicographers. Many will also read the documents as non-native speakers of English, and many will also not have a Western European native tongue or cultural background. The two 1087 documents were designed to document terminological usage in these documents and throughout ISO Technical Committee 37, Terminology and Other Language and Content Resources

How accessable are the articles to the target audience? How accurate and useful are the examples? Can you think of better ones? Are all the assertions in the documents accurate? Are the documents well structured for the presentation of information?

Task Description:  Prototypical  Concept  for ISO 704
One of the long-term tasks for this class is to come up with a better core example for ISO 704. The old example (pencil) has been rejected for reasons that remain unclear at this point, and serious criticism has been voiced against the mouse example. Can you see what the problems are with mouse in this context and in the way the material is presented? The US delegation to ISO TC 37 has been asked to come up with a new example that can be used throughout the standard. SEW is going to try to work on tree as an example, although one of the colleagues is skeptical about tree as well. Think about a common, everyday object, animate or inanimate, that you might model, mimicking the approach of the standard.
Try to model your idea roughly (on paper, in ppt, whatever at this point) for the various points cited in the standard. For now collect ideas and work out models in rough draft form. We will settle on a representation form for our models later. (There are several options at this point.)
We will share our rough models in SW9 and plan to have completed suggestions by SW15. See deliverables for SW9 and SW15.
Student PowerPoint Presentations
There will be no student PPT for this class.
Deliverables 
There are no deliverables for this class.