Machine Readable Glossary (MRG)

An MRG or Machine Readable Glossary is a glossary¹ for a particular (version of a) terminology that is formatted in YAML, according to the TEv2 MRG specifications, to enable automated processing and integration with software systems. Unlike dictionaries, the terms in an MRG are not ambiguous and have clear and well-defined meanings.

An MRG is meant to be used by the tools from the toolbox, e.g. for creating a HRG, or to help resolve TermRefs.

A scope may have multiple MRGs, each of which represents a specific version of its terminology.

File naming conventions

The file naming conventions apply to one particular scope, which implies that there is a single SAF, a single glossarydir, and a single scopedir. Within this scope, the meaning of scopetags, i.e. the scopes to which they refer, are defined in/by the SAF.

Within this glossarydir we can generate (or import), and hence also find all MRG-files that are needed within its scope. We use the following file naming convention for such files:

• mrg.<scopetag>.<vsntag>.yaml is the name of a file that contains an actual MRG, or it is a file that links (references) such a file, where:

  • <scopetag> is the scopetag that identifies the scope in which the MRG is curated, as specified in the SAF of the scope we are in. Thus, its value must either be that of the scopetag-field in the scope-section of the SAF, or it must be one of the values in the scopetags-field in the scopes (plural) section of that SAF.
  • <vsntag> is the versiontag that identifies the version of the terminology for which the MRG contains entries. Its value must be either one of the vsntag-fields, or appear in one of the altvsntag-fields in the versions section of the SAF.

• mrg.<scopetag>.yaml is a copy of the file mrg.<scopetag>.<vsntag>.yaml, where <vsntag> is the value of defaultvsn-field in the scope-section of the SAF.

This naming convention enables tools (as well as curators and others) that operate within a particular scope, to quickly find a particular MRG that is relevant for that scope.

MRG structure

A Machine Readable Glossary (MRG) is a YAML (or JSON) file that has three main parts, which we refer to as 'sections':

• terminology specifies the characteristics of the terminology of the scope. This includes the scopetag and scopedir of the scope, as well as the license under which the contents of the MRG can be used.
• scopes specifies which (other) scopes are relevant to this terminology. This includes the scopetag and scopedir of any such scope.
• entries contains an (unsorted) list of MRG entries.

Example of sections `terminology` and `scopes`

terminology: # the fields below must match the corresponding data in the SAF
  scopetag: tev2 # scope, the terminology of which is contained in this MRG
  scopedir: https://github.com/tno-terminology-design/tev2-specifications/tree/master/docs
  curatedir: terms
  vsntag: v0.9.4
  altvsntags: [ latest ]
  license: LICENSE.md
scopes: # mappings of scopetags that are used, and their scopedirs
  - scopetag: essif-lab
    scopedir: https://github.com/essif-lab/framework/tree/master/docs
  - scopetag: ctwg
    scopedir: https://github.com/trustoverip/ctwg
entries: # here follows an (unsorted) list of MRG entries

MRG Terminology section

The following fields are defined for the sections terminology:

Legend

1. Name contains the field name;
2. Req'd specifies whether (Y) or not (n, or F) the field is required to be present as a header field. The F means that we reserve this field for Future Use.
3. Description specifies the meaning of the field, and other things you may need to know, e.g. why it is needed, a required syntax, etc.

Name	Req'd	Description
scopetag	Y	Scopetag of the scope in which the MRG is defined.
scopedir	Y	URL that locates the scope directory associated with that scope.
curatedir	Y	Path to the directory where all curated files are located. This directory may contain subdirectories to allow curators to organize the files in any way they see fit. Full URL is <scopedir>/<curatedir>.
vsntag	Y	versiontag by which the terminology of this MRG can be distinguished from the other versions of the terminology (in other MRGs). Its value MUST match the vsntag field of the corresponding versions section in the SAF
altvsntags	n	List of alternative versiontags that can be used to identify this version. Each of the values MUST be in the list of versiontags in the altvsntags field of the the corresponding versions section in the SAF.
license	n	File that contains the (default) licensing conditions. Full URL is scopedir/license. Its value MUST match the license field of the corresponding versions section in the SAF, or if that isn't specified, the license field of the scope section in the SAF.

MRG scopes section

The following fields are defined for the section scopes:

Legend

1. Name contains the field name;
2. Req'd specifies whether (Y) or not (n, or F) the field is required to be present as a header field. The F means that we reserve this field for Future Use.
3. Description specifies the meaning of the field, and other things you may need to know, e.g. why it is needed, a required syntax, etc.

Name	Req'd	Description
scopetag	Y	Scopetag of a third-party scope, the MRG of which contains MRG entries that have been imported into the MRG. This scopetag has been chosen by the curators of the scope of which the MRG is part, to refer to that particular third-party scope. This scopetag may differ from the scopetag that the curators of that third-party scope have chosen for this scope
scopedir	Y	URL that locates the scope directory associated with that third-party scope.

MRG Entries (the entries section)

The entries section of an MRG is a list of MRG entries, the purpose of which is that the various tools can find all data that is relevant for the purpose that such a tool serves.

This entries section documents the terminology that is identified by each of the versiontags in either the vsntag field or the altvsntag field in the terminology section of the MRG.

An MRG entry has a few fields that are always present, because they are either required as a part of the header of curated texts, or generated by the MRGT, as follows:

Field	Value(s) that are assigned to the fields
scopetag	Scopetag that identifies the scope from within which the contents of the MRG entry is obtained.2 This is either scope from within which the MRG has been generated, or the scope from which the MRG entry was imported. In the latter case, the scopes section in the MRG MUST contain a mapping between the scopetag and its associated scope directory.
vsntag	Versiontag that identifies the version of the terminology from which the contents of the MRG entry is obtained. If the contents of the MRG entry was constructed from a curated text, its value equals the value of the vsntag field in the terminology-section of the MRG that this MRG entry is a part of. As a result, scopetag:versiontag identifies the terminology from which this MRG entry has originated.
locator	Path, relative to scopedir/curatedir/, where the curated text lives from which the contents of the MRG entry was constructed. The value of scopedir can be obtained from the scopes section of the MRG, and that of curatedir can be obtained from the SAF that lives in this scopedir.
navurl	Path, relative to the URL as specified in the website field in the scope section of the SAF (that lives in the scopedir as specified in the scopes section of the MRG), where the rendered version of the curated text is located. Its value will be empty if it cannot be constructed, e.g., because the [navpath](@) field in the SAF is empty or otherwise incorrect.
termid	Text that unambiguously identifies the semantic unit within this scope that is documented by this MRG entry. Its value is "<termType>:<term>", where <termType> and <term> are the values of the corresponding fields in this MRG entry. There MUST NOT be another MRG entry within the MRG that has a termid field with the same value.
termType	(Regularized) Text that identifies the kind of semantic unit that this curated text describes. Typical values would be concept, relation, pattern (or mental-model), or usecase.
term	(Regularized) Text that identifies a semantic unit within this scope, and hence also the curated text that describes it, which includes its definition. Its value is typically the value of the glossaryTerm field, where all characters are made lower-case, any text between parentheses is discarded, and any (sequences of) spaces (or other special characters) are replaced with a -character.
formPhrases	Array of regularized form phrases, of which one element has the same value as the term field.
headingids	List of the markdown headings and/or heading ids that exist in the file that contains the body of the curated text, and can serve as trait in a TermRef.

An MRG entry has additional fields that come from the front matter of the curated text that the MRG entry represents. Some fields are

• mandatory for all curated texts, and hence will always appear in an MRG entry; these appear in the table below.
• optional for curated texts - typically, e.g. to accommodate for differences in the types semantic units that curated texts document; these also appear in the table below.
• optional in the sense that they are intended to be processed by TEv2 tool plugins - these are not documented here.
• optional in the sense that they are intended to be used by third party rendering tools, such as Docusaurus or Jekyll - these are also not documented here.

Editor's note

We need to think about how to refer readers to sections of plugins and rendering tool documentation that they might want/need to use.

The following table documents the fields that are used within the context of TEv2. Note that authors or curators are free to add other fields in the headers of curated texts, e.g., to enable such texts to be processed by tools other than those of TEv2.

Legend

1. Name contains the field name;
2. Req'd specifies whether (Y) or not (n, or F) the field is required to be present as a header field. The F means that we reserve this field for Future Use.
3. Description specifies the meaning of the field, and other things you may need to know, e.g. why it is needed, a required syntax, etc.

Name	Req'd	Description
scopetag	Y	Scopetag that identifies the scope from within which the contents of the MRG entry is curated, and obtained. The scopes section in the MRG SHOULD contain a mapping between the scopetag and its associated scope directory.
vsntag	Y	Versiontag that identifies the version of the terminology from which the contents of the MRG entry is obtained. If the contents of the MRG entry was constructed from a curated text, its value equals the value of the vsntag field in the terminology-section of the MRG that this MRG entry is a part of. As a result, scopetag:versiontag identifies the terminology from which this MRG entry has originated.
locator	Y	Path, relative to scopedir/curatedir/, where the curated text lives from which the contents of the MRG entry was constructed. The value of scopedir can be obtained from the scopes section of the MRG, and that of curatedir can be obtained from the SAF that lives in this scopedir.
navurl	Y	Path, relative to the URL as specified in the website field in the scope section of the SAF (that lives in the scopedir as specified in the scopes section of the MRG), where the rendered version of the curated text is located. Its value will be empty if it cannot be constructed, e.g., because the [navpath](@) field in the SAF is empty or otherwise incorrect.
termid	Y	Text that unambiguously identifies the semantic unit within this scope that is documented by this MRG entry. Its value is "<termType>:<term>", where <termType> and <term> are the values of the corresponding fields in this MRG entry. There MUST NOT be another MRG entry within the MRG that has a termid field with the same value.
termType	Y	(Regularized) Text that identifies the kind of semantic unit that this curated text describes. Typical values would be concept, relation, pattern (or mental-model), or usecase.
term	Y	(Regularized) Text that identifies a semantic unit within this scope, and hence also the curated text that describes it, which includes its definition. Its value is typically the value of the glossaryTerm field, where all characters are made lower-case, any text between parentheses is discarded, and any (sequences of) spaces (or other special characters) are replaced with a -character.
formPhrases	Y	Array of regularized form phrases, of which one element has the same value as the term field.
headingids	Y	List of the markdown headings and/or heading ids that exist in the file that contains the body of the curated text, and can serve as trait in a TermRef. Details are provided in the MRGT specifications
bodyFile	n	Path, relative to the scopedir, that contains the body of this curated text. If not specified, the body in this file serves as the body of the curated text.
glossaryTerm	n	Text that is used for the term in a human readable glossary. For example, for a term called member, you may want to specify a glossaryTerm member (of a <a href="https://essif-lab.github.io/framework/docs/terms/community" title="Community: a Party, consisting of at least two different Parties (the members of the Community) that seek to collaborate with each other so that each of them can achieve its individual Objectives more efficiently and/or effectively.">community</a>).
glossaryAbbr	n	Text that serves as an abbreviated for of the term. It can be used, e.g., to create a HRG that effectively is a Table of Abbreviations.
glossaryText	n	Text that is used as the (raw) contents for the entry of this term in a human readable glossary. This text MUST be expected to contain TermRefs.
glossaryNotes	n	Array of texts that can serve as notes in a HRG entry that corresponds with this MRG entry.
synonymOf	n	Term identifier that identifies the defined term of the semantic unit for which this is a synonym.
grouptags	n	List of grouptags, each of which signifies that the (scoped) term that this curated text documents, is part of the group of terms that it represents. Example: [tev2, management].

Footnotes

---

1. Actually, the MRG is more of an inventory than a glossary, because it contains all semantic units that are curated within the scope. Apart from terms, it may also include e.g., mental models and use cases. We choose to maintain the term "Machine Readable Glossary" (MRG), because most of us would view it - initially, at least - as a list of terms and their definitions.↩
2. One purpose of having the scopetag field is for determining which MRG entries in a provisional MRG require further processing. See [processing synonyms] for an example.↩