Slashdot Mirror


Human Markup Language

emc3 writes: "This article at InternetNews says that OASIS, the XML interoperability consortium, has announced the formation of a committee to develop Human Markup Language, 'to promote a specification for conveying human characteristics through XML.' The idea is to codify psychological, emotive, cultural, and physical characteristics in a standardized way. They say that the most obvious application would be for describing phsyical characteristics and actions in virtual reality environments. Other real-world uses could include describing a patient's psychological state for medical records. The OASIS press release is here. No more :-/ for me. From now on, it's <smirk>!"

41 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. I think you meant by hey! · · Score: 4, Informative
    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    1. Re:I think you meant by Streiff · · Score: 2, Funny

      That is the comment I was going to use. Oh well, I suppose I'll have the come up with another funny comment. hmmm....

      <idea>I know I'll just say this:<inspired>I've always liked <smirk /> better myself.</inspired></idea>
      </comment>

    2. Re:I think you meant by geomcbay · · Score: 2

      Its really not all that funny, but I'm guessing the guy who asked why it was funny actually didn't realize the XML tag had to be specifically closed if it wasn't a tag that encloses something else. Otherwise he wouldn't have asked "Why is this funny?" he would have just said "That's a dumb geek joke that was moderated way too high. Get lives people." or something similiar.

    3. Re:I think you meant by Bagpuss101 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Perhaps we should develop InvalidML for use in medical files!

    4. Re:I think you meant by angelo · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, it's not
      . It's
      .
      xHTML is case sensitive and all elements are lowercase. Of course, you technically need to use <br /> if you want it to render correctly in most browsers.

  2. Fluff by Swaffs · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This seems like a whole lot of fluff, a romantic idea that will just end up being emotes in tags, and pretty lame.

    --

    --
    "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." - Homer Simpson [1F10]

    1. Re:Fluff by zpengo · · Score: 2
      This seems like a whole lot of fluff, a romantic idea that will just end up being emotes in tags, and pretty lame.

      You forgot to cite your quotation:

      "This seems like a whole lot of fluff, a romantic idea that will just end up being emotes in tags, and pretty lame."

      -- Tim Berners-Lee's mother.
      --


      Got Rhinos?
  3. Uhh... by Bryce · · Score: 2

    Shouldn't that be ?

    1. Re:Uhh... by Bryce · · Score: 2
      Shouldn't that be

      Damn slashdot's tag filtering...

  4. Does this mean by Tachys · · Score: 2

    We will have a tag for :)

  5. Now I don't mean to go off on a... by DeltaStorm · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe now we'll finally get that long sought after tag...

    --
    .sdrawkcab si gis siht
  6. Wayne's VR world. by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 2

    Check out that hot babe

    1. Re:Wayne's VR world. by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 3, Funny

      whoops. I meant to say

      SCHWING Check out that hot babe /SCHWING

  7. Oasis by smallpaul · · Score: 3, Informative

    It is important to understand that OASIS is more of a standards body framework than an ordinary standards body. In other words, any OASIS member can decide to start an OASIS group on any idea, no matter how strange it may seem and no other OASIS member may prevent that. Few OASIS resources are used per group so the only real cost is in keeping tabs on all of the groups that are created.

  8. Ummm... by bendude · · Score: 4, Funny


    <EMOTIONAL>
    <A LITTLE DRUNK>
    <PRETTY STONED>
    <DANGEROUSLYCRANKY>
    <SARCASM>
    <SNEER>
    This isajoke,isn'tit?
    </SNEER>
    </SARCASM>
    </DANGEROUSLYCRANKY>
    <SUDDENLYCURIOUS>
    Whydon'tLiam & Noel Gallagherlookaftertheirown emotionsbeforeworryingabout anyoneelse?
    </SUDDENLYCURIOUS>
    </PRETTYSTONED>
    </A LITTLEDRUNK>
    </EMOTIONAL>
    <TIRED>

    --


    Get the Hell off my planet, you slimy mobster Bush!
    1. Re:Ummm... by DJerman · · Score: 2
      Really? It looks like that would create an entirely different DOM.

      What I want to know is if you perk up when you close the <tired/> tag.

      Hey, it works!

      --
    2. Re:Ummm... by harmonica · · Score: 2

      Still, the ampersand must be escaped.

  9. neat! by OnyxRaven · · Score: 2

    me and my friend were actually just having a conversation over icq in psuedo-xml. we need to make sure that the tags are quite flexible (ie or )

    Oh well. now people will be able to display their emotion icons how ever they want, no more of this silly :-] vers :-) crap hehe.

    --
    --onyx--
  10. Re:SlashCode... by Dutchie · · Score: 2

    You know, modding down the above raises an interesting question. If you don't get any
    replies on emails asking why you never get
    moderation points, even when you have indicated
    to be willing to moderate, and questions about
    it on this board get modded down... How
    ARE you supposed to find out what's wrong?

    --
    • Imagination is more important than knowledge.

      • -- Albert Einstein
  11. HumanML abuse by Morbid+Curiosity · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great, I can just imagine the guys now:

    "Cor, 'ave a look at the HumanML on that one! I bet she validates as well-formed, eh? Eh? *nudgenudge* I wouldn't mind parsing 'er markup, nah wot I mean?"

  12. A thousand times NO! by BierGuzzl · · Score: 2
    This sort of thing only comes about as a result of our ever deteriorating ability to use written words to effectively communicate. Instead of adding to the language we currently use, we should learn to use what we have more effectively.

    Think of Shakespeare! He had way less words to work with than we do now, yet no amount of human markup language can hold a candle to the richness of content presented in his tragedies.

    I shudder to think of how the graduating class of every subsequent year is more illiterate than the one before it.

    1. Re:A thousand times NO! by Compuser · · Score: 2

      Actually, AFAIK, Shakespeare had a tremendous
      vocabulary, far greater than an average speaker
      at any time. We have more words today because of
      techno-speak but that has no relation to describing
      states of human existence. For that, most nobody
      can even come close to Shakespeare in richness of
      expression.

      Your last line (sig?) is so true. It also happens
      to reinforce my point.

  13. oh no, that's going to be HARD by cygnus · · Score: 2
    They say that the most obvious application would be for describing phsyical characteristics and actions in virtual reality environments.

    this sounds like it's going to run into some problems. as far as politically correct langauage is concerned, it's going to be hard to come up with a DTD that doesn't offend a particular minority... are we going to have short or fat tags? do we skirt the issue by leaving those out (and making the standard less descriptive)?

    --
    Just raise the taxes on crack.
    1. Re:oh no, that's going to be HARD by jesterzog · · Score: 2


      I haven't thought it through properly, but "short" and "fat" don't seem to describe physical characteristics much to me anyway. They're relative terms, because you can't know what short is without having a baseline average height to measure it against.



      Maybe you'd have objective attributes or elements like height and waist diameter.



      Otherwise it beats me, though.

  14. There's been a notation for this for years. by Animats · · Score: 2
    There's always RPG character notation:
    • Level: 57
    • Race: Erudite
    • Reputation: Great. No enemies, and he has not been played in over 4 months.
    • Guild: Disbanded so you can build your own alliances.
    • Gear: Manna Robe (Same effect as mana stone 60 hp for 20 mana 3 sec cast time) Great for a wizard, Venril Sathir Staff, Eye of Innurrok, Solist Icy Wand, J-boots, Staff of Temperate Flux, Sorcerer's Head, sleeves, pants, and bracer -- and all the extras including resist gear, fishbone earring, and a 10 slot 0% eight bag -- 200 int + 300+ mana gear.
    • Skills: Defense is maxed, Swimming is high, Spell skills are all very high except divination which is almost 200
    Hurry, only one at this price.
  15. And what about the Geek Code ? :o) by Thomas+Miconi · · Score: 2

    The second I read this, I had "Geek Code" blinking in big, red, flashy letters in my head.

    This thing will be to the Geek Code what XML is to DB file format !

    Thomas Miconi

  16. Re:HML error by James+Foster · · Score: 2

    Upgrade your interpreter, the tag should nullify the previous instance of .

  17. Re:HML error by James+Foster · · Score: 2

    Uh, that should have been:
    Upgrade your interpreter, the <GOODLOOKING/> tag should nullify the previous instance of <GEEK/>.

  18. Alrighty then by HongPong · · Score: 2
    ...codify psychological, emotive, cultural, and physical characteristics in a standardized way.

    How can you standardize the conveyance of culture? Huh? For that matter, what's wrong with using regular language to describe someone? I don't see how a computer could usefully apply this info, except for... mmm... blood type and height and stuff.

    1. Re:Alrighty then by anticypher · · Score: 2

      I can't get around /.'s tag filters, and they get lost in my browser, so you get square brackets instead.

      For cultural tags, it would be handy to delimit which nationality you are stereotyping
      [/politically correct]
      [french]I weeel beee wiz yoo in a meeenoot, monsieur[/french]
      [british]Bloody frogs, ignorant of the fact that The Queen's English is the international standard language[/british]
      [scots]Dae ye unnèrstaun, spake, or scrieve tha quains inglais?[/scots]
      [german]This is NOT funny[/german]
      [politically correct]

      the AC

      --
      Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
  19. Re:Just another tool for Big Brother by The+Dodger · · Score: 2

    You think you already aren't?

    I've worked on systems used by police and other organisations to catalogue people. They've already got all the classification methods they need for describing people - height, build, hair colour and length...

    You get mugged, you walk into a police station to report it. They can sit you down in front of a computer, ask you a bunch of questions about your assailant and bring up mugshots of the people on their database who match that description.

    Sounds terrible, doesn't it? Well, one day, I got a call because the system had gone tits-up just as a witness positively identified a man who had carried out a racially-motivated murder. I had no qualms whatsoever about delving in and pulling out the guy's details so they could send a car around to arrest him.

    It's not the technology that's at fault when it comes to invasion of privacy - it's the manner in which the technology is used.

    Jack

  20. Pointless by scott1853 · · Score: 2

    Have we all lost our creativity. Do we really need to encode everything in XML just for the sake of using a buzzword. This may be useful in text-to-speech translators for the blind, but is anybody going to fill their webpage with this stuff. Is anybody going to type in Ha ha ha into an IM program. No.

    XML is a great FILE FORMAT that can be used to exchange hierchical information. Yes, I'm sorry to all the disallusioned out there, XML is ONLY A FILE FORMAT. It's not a programming language. And don't give me the argument that it's "eXtensible Markup LANGUAGE". There's still no "PROGRAMMING" keyword in there.

    So unless you're a congressman gunning for re-election and the major issue is accessibility for the disabled, the standard acronyms and emoticons that have been used for about a decade are fine. Hell, even my parents use LOL and :)

  21. Can you imagine porn sites ? by chrysalis · · Score: 5, Funny

    What if porn sites were moving to this ?

    <sylvia>
    <brain></brain>
    <hole>*</hole>
    <hole>*</hole>
    <hole>*</hole>
    </sylvia>

    It'd be so boring !

    --
    {{.sig}}
  22. An open note to Cagle and other spec groupies. by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 2
    I think the general problem Kurt is that the W3 and OASIS are spending huge amounts of time and energy on mental masturbation projects that meet no real need and have no other target audience outside of technical publishers. Without a doubt this project has got to be one of the greatest feats of mental masturbation the standards folks have pushed yet. I would have sworn it was an April Fool's joke you were cooking up.

    Its like some bizarre movie plot where you'll all die if you stop passing standards and specs.

    Look at almost every TR on the W3 site other than XML that starts with X, and you'll find technologies that no one asked for and no one cares about, including your own favorite XSL, which maybe takes the cake as most retarded technology ever devised.

    Congrats! you committee-crazy folks are killing XML that same way you killed SGML, with ridiculous over-specification and needless standards. You should all work for the government.

    Please respond to this here, I would like to know if you understand how ridiculous people think the XML standards groupies have become.

  23. Needs To Tie In With HAnim and X3d by istartedi · · Score: 2

    This ought to be tied in with H-Anim and X3d.

    Otherwise, the will be re-inventing the wheel and conflicting with existing standards.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  24. br tags by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 2

    Web browsers nonsensically treat
    exactly like a
    . So

    gives one 2 newlines. /> works right, but Slashdot won't let you use it, it removes the whole thing. So much for XHTML compliant comments.

    Perhaps I should post a rant to Source Forge? ;)

    P.S. Why doesn't Slashdot do HTML unescaping on the Subject when you select Extrans mode? < and > get eaten up, and so do their contents.

    --
    Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
  25. Re:Just another tool for Big Brother by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 2

    Blame the abuse of the tools, not the tools themselves. That's what we say regarding DeCSS, and that is what we should say here.

    --
    Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
  26. Good luck to them. by megaduck · · Score: 2

    I think the most interesting use of this would be in research psychology. There's been a movement to come up with a good descriptive model for personality for some time now. There's some giant obstacles to overcome, though.

    First of all, the study of personality and human behavior is incredibly young. Freud got the ball rolling little more than a century ago, and he set us off on the wrong foot. Like any new science, we're still at the "darts at a dartboard" exploratory stage. It's really hard to come up with a universal descriptive model when we're still drowning in the data.

    Secondly, what (human) language are they going to base this on? Language is culture, and different languages describe the world (and people) in very different ways. We might come up with a descriptive markup that works very well when applied to Americans in American society but totally breaks down in Japan. How are they going to make sure that it's broad enough to be global without being so vague that it's useless?

    I wish them well, though. Psychology has been badly in need of something like this for a long time, and even if version 1.0 sucks it gives us something to build off of.

    --
    This .sig for rent.
  27. How about text-to-speech? by Toddarooski · · Score: 2
    My first impression was that this is kind of a waste of time. But I suppose this could be useful if you were feeding text into that nifty next-generation text-to-speech tool that was posted on Slashdot a while back.

    After all, there's a difference between...
    <sincere>That's a great idea</sincere>
    ...and...
    <sarcastic>That's a great idea</sarcastic>
    ...that no text-to-speech program would be able to figure out without some hints.

    Not to mention all the different ways to say "Dude".

    --

    "Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!"

  28. Psychological Markup Language? =8^P by Randym · · Score: 2
    For instance, Ranjeeth Kumar Thunga, chair of the HumanMarkup TC and the motivating force behind HumanML, told InternetNews.com that in psychology, HumanML could be used to:

    Sort, index, and file patient psychological records based on cultural background, personality, type of pyschological disorder

    Provide containers to embed culturally, contextually specific information that may be relevant in psychological diagnoses

    Provide recommended specifications to express both culturally specific, neurolgically specific, belief specific, DSM-IV specific breakdowns.

    • I don't know what [paranoid]you[/paranoid] think about this but
    • [multiplepersonalitydisorder]I[/multiplepersonal it ydisorder] don't think it's a good idea.
    • No, wait, [multiplepersonalitydisorder]I[/multiplepersonalit ydisorder] do think it's a good idea.
    • [dependentpersonalitydisorder]What do you all think about this[/dependentpersonalitydisorder]?
    • [antisocialpersonalitydisorder]I[/antisocialpers on alitydisorder] really don't care what you think! 8^D

    --
    DNA is a Turing machine. You, however, being dynamic and emergent, are not.
  29. The Ghost of Artificial Intelligence by sv0f · · Score: 2

    I must say that I'm little impressed with these XML folks. Markup -- bid deal. It's been around for decades in various forms. The question is: Which tags, exactly? HumanML? Give me a friggin' break. The AI guys have been making such ontologies for decades. It works, but only to a degree. You can't pre-tag everything because the tags you have now aren't quite right and the tags you don't have...well, you don't have them yet! That's why this article deserves a big YAWN.

    And if this is just a bunch of programmers with no input from psychologists, anthropologists, etc., it's simply doomed to be obvious, groundless, and thus useless.