[uf-new] title vs. summary (was: Third attempt at hAudio)

[Manu Sporny]

Brian Suda wrote:
> On 6/7/07, Manu Sporny <msporny at digitalbazaar.com> wrote:
>> Ideally, we would be using 'title' - why can't we do that, again?
>> Because hcard uses it?
> 
> --- because the semantics of TITLE have already been defined as
> something else. It is irrelevant that hCard uses it, the semantics are
> not what you intend.
> 
> TITLE: Job title or functional position of the object.
> 
> http://microformats.org/wiki/classes
> 
> Point 4 in the process[1] says you should be aware of microformats
> naming principles when choosing names.
> 
> Please make yourself aware of the process.

I am aware of the process and I am aware that the semantics of TITLE
have already been defined. I was asking a different set of questions,
more specifically:

1. How did TITLE come about?
2. Who created it and how many people signed off on it?
3. Did it originate in hCard?
4. How many Microformats existed when TITLE was created?
5. Is there anybody else on the list that thinks that TITLE has a bad
   semantic definition?

I realize that this is a can of worms that most on here don't want to
open up - but what do we do when semantics are hijacked by previous
Microformats?

It seems to me that the proper semantic name for "Job title or
functional position" should be something like 'position', or
'job-title', or 'function'.

I'm assuming that 'title' came about because it was defined in the VCARD
format (Section 3.5.1):

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2426.txt

The definition in VCARD Section 3.5.1 is:

3.5.1 TITLE Type Definition
   Subject: Registration of text/directory MIME type TITLE
   Type name: TITLE
   Type purpose: To specify the job title, functional position or
   function of the object the vCard represents.

So, because VCARD defined what TITLE was a long time ago, all
Microformats must follow that definition from now on because of a simple
copy-paste? The first Microformat to use a term gets to define what it
means in all other Microformats... forever?

I realize that what I am proposing is revising hCard and re-naming
'title' to 'function'... in return, we can use 'title' to mean what it
is defined as in most dictionaries:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/title

Dictionary.com
ti·tle
1.	the distinguishing name of a book, poem, picture, piece of music, or
the like.

American Heritage Dictionary
ti·tle
   1. An identifying name given to a book, play, film, musical
      composition, or other work.
   2. A general or descriptive heading, as of a book chapter.

WordNet
title
1. 	a heading that names a statute or legislative bill; may give a
        brief summary of the matters it deals with; "Title 8 provided
        federal help for schools"
2. 	the name of a work of art or literary composition etc.; "he
        looked for books with the word 'jazz' in the title"; "he refused
        to give titles to his paintings"; "I can never remember movie
        titles"
3. 	a general or descriptive heading for a section of a written
        work; "the novel had chapter titles"

etc.

Do you see the point I am trying to make?

-- manu