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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=148423716-11102005>Kate -
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=148423716-11102005></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=148423716-11102005>Thanks
for your comments. Please see responses below. In general, I didn't
think any change was significant enough to warrant further discussion. If
anyone is still uncomfortable with these changes after this discussion, then we
can schedule another meeting, but time is very very short for me, and the write
ups for this aggregate piece are far more complicated and time consuming than I
anticipated (there are a lot of details that need to be cleary
explained).</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=148423716-11102005></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=148423716-11102005>J</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Katherine
McNeill-Harman [mailto:mcneillh@MIT.EDU] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, October 11,
2005 12:03 PM<BR><B>To:</B> jgager@umich.edu; DDI-ADG<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[DDI-ADG] Latest Spreadsheet<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>J and others,<BR><BR>Have a couple of questions/concerns about this new
sheet; would be interested in others' opinions:<BR><BR>1) Can you explain a
bit the reasons for changing the descriptions at the top of each module
sheet? I don't care that we use exactly the words I drafted, but yours
seem to have different meaning and I want to make sure we're all on the same
page. Namely,<BR>- For modules 2 and 3, you seem to be emphasizing that
it's for a "single nCube structure"--can you expand upon what you mean by
that?<BR><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>What
is meant by this for module 2 is that the file cannot contain multiple
cubes. For instance if there were 2 cubes, say population by
region, gender, and age (cube 1) and population by region and gender
(cube 2), the combination of these 2 cubes in the data file would look
something like this.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>MN M 50-
5300</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>MN M
50+ 6700</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>MN M 12000</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>MN F 50- 6800</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>MN F 50+ 5000</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>MN F 11800</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Module 2 does not support this. Its intention is describe a file
where all rows describe the <U>same</U> cube
data.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
same thing applies for module 3, since it is grouped by nCube.
You would used module 3 to describe a single nCube at a time, and
not a mix of nCubes and non cubed data.</FONT> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005> </SPAN>- Also, I'd like to ask you
to consider putting back some of the wording I'd written for module 3 that
makes it clear that the metadata and data are in one single DDI file; I don't
think that comes across in your phrasing.<SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT
face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I
think it is too constricting. It does allow for all to be in one file,
but don't we want to allow the data to also be used this way in a seperate
file?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005> </SPAN><BR>- Lastly, for module 1, I
believe it'd be helpful to include some explicit reference to the fact that
the external file contains no metadata (to distinguish it from module
2).<BR><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>That
may be misleading, since we are saying that attributes can exist in there,
which are technically metadata. The distinction lies in the fact that
module 1 data files do not state any of the cube coordinate values in
them.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005> </SPAN><BR>2) I'm not sure about
including only the additions in the first sheet, as I think the other fields
provide helpful context. Might there be a way to distinguish the new
fields (as you had done, e.g., w/color) while still keeping all of
them?<BR><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>It
was really a time, and an issue of focusing attention. The model was
incomplete to start with, and the effort of flushing out all existing things
from the tag library, and putting in definitions for them is more work than it
would be worth (in my opinion).</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005> </SPAN><BR>3) Your change to module
1, while I have no objections, seems to be significant enough that we should
discuss it as a group. I don't quite understand the purpose of
this. Is this something you think you could explain/we could discuss in
more detail over email (or maybe phone)?<BR><SPAN
class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>The
purpose of the change is to basically not change what is already in
place. In speaking with Wendy, she pointed out how important it is to
many people marking up data files to do so in the order in which the data
occurs in the file. So there may be a mix of cubed and non cubed
data. Further more, module 1 did not allow for any non cubed data
(everything was grouped into a nCube container). The change simply
replaced the inclusion of a data item into an nCube by containership, with
inclusion by reference. The concept we initially had is still there,
just represented differently.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005> </SPAN><BR>4) Plus a couple of other
questions about the elements:<BR>-- in describing the attribute location
choice, you refer separately to a data file vs. a spreadsheet. I
understand what you're trying to do, but am a little concerned about the
mutually-exclusive manner in which they're described (b/other places we use
the term "data file" to include all sorts of formats, including spreadsheets,
and think it should still keep that broad meaning). So I'd suggest
changing the terms to say something like "fixed-format/delimited data file"
and "spreadsheet data file" to distinguish the types to clarify that we
consider them both data files.<BR>- In module 2 F18, what do you mean by " the
structure describes all data and meta data for the cube"--that sounds to me
more like module 3.<BR>- Module 3 F19; the notes contains a question; can that
be deleted or should it be moved to G19?<BR><SPAN
class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I
will make these corrections.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005> </SPAN><BR>When I agreed to
cancelling today's meeting, I didn't realize that you'd have such significant
changes, so if it's best to discuss these over the phone, maybe we can arrange
another call.<BR><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Time
is VERY critical. We are presenting this to the SRG in one week, and
need to send this out ASAP. I think the important thing is that we have
something for the group to work with. I just don't have the time to
finish the proposals AND meet.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005> </SPAN><BR>Kate<BR><BR>P.S.
Plus a couple of typos<BR>- Module 1, F25, should be "measurement"--also
applies to M2 F31<BR>- Module 1, F20, ID should be capitalized<BR>- Module 2,
F20, should be "coordinates"<BR><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT
face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Will
fix.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=148423716-11102005> </SPAN><BR>At 09:29 AM 10/11/2005
-0400, J Gager wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite"><FONT face=arial size=2>All -
</FONT><BR> <BR><FONT face=arial size=2>Here is the latest
spreadsheet. Note there are few significant changes that stemmed from
a long discussion Wendy and I had.</FONT><BR> <BR><FONT face=arial
size=2>The first is the Logical sheet. I have gone back to just
including the new fields. I felt it best to do this, since we weren't
changing any existing fields, and I want the focus to only be on these
additions.</FONT><BR> <BR><FONT face=arial size=2>The second is the
Physical Sheets - I have changed the name of these to Record Layout, since
that is what we a truly representing.</FONT><BR> <BR><FONT face=arial
size=2>Finally, I have changed module 1, to allow for data items to exist
outside of nCubes. Basically what I have done is create a way to
reference an nCube and its attached attributes. The basic concept that
we had originally is still there, it is just less deviant from the original,
and oft used structure.</FONT><BR> <BR><FONT face=arial size=2>Please
let me know of any structural issues ASAP as the samples and write up is
based on this.</FONT><BR> <BR><FONT face=arial
size=2>J</FONT><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>DDI-ADG
mailing list<BR>DDI-ADG@icpsr.umich.edu<BR><A
href="http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/mailman/listinfo/ddi-adg"
eudora="autourl">http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/mailman/listinfo/ddi-adg</A></BLOCKQUOTE><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP>___________________________________________<BR>Katherine
McNeill-Harman<BR>Data Services Librarian<BR>Dewey Library for Management and
Social Sciences<BR>Massachusetts Institute of Technology<BR>77 Massachusetts
Avenue, E53-100<BR>Cambridge, MA 02139<BR>mcneillh@mit.edu<BR>617-253-0787
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