Lauri Watts wrote: > > On Jan 27, 2008 11:05 PM, Leiv Hellebo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ... >> >> Jim DeLaHunt wrote: >> >>> My big obstacle in discussing ReleaseLanguage is that I don't have a >> clue >> >>> why we're recording that data, what problem it's trying to solve. >> >> I guess you would have problems with distinguishing between Danish and >> >> Norwegian, or between various Slavic languages... But with the help of >> the >> >> attribute ReleaseLanguage, for the purposes of MB, you don't have to. >> >> >> > >> > Yes, I would have problems distinguishing between Danish and Norwegian. >> > Absolutely. The attribute ReleaseLanguage would tell me which language >> the >> > release text was in. But why would I care? If I can't read either >> language, >> > it doesn't seem to matter much if I know which language it is. I still >> can't >> > read it properly. I still get the text, whatever language it is, in my >> > track titles (for pop/rock/everything else outside the CSG), where I >> stare >> > at it and try to make sense of it. > > MB the database is an evolving thing. Just because we don't have > alternate titles _now_ doesn't mean we never will. ... [other good > examples of future language-related possibilities omitted]... There's a > whole pile of uses, current and only dreamed of for knowing what language > the track titles are written in. .... > In any case, it's a relatively painless (in fact, nearly automated) piece > of data to collect for the majority of releases, and it's a lot easier to > come up with uses for data we have, than retroactively collect it when at > some future point we discover we need it. >
Excellent point. I think the StyleGuide, or the Philosophy of MusicBrainz, should say this somewhere. Lauri Watts wrote: > > But here's one immediate and common usage: I know for certain that several > people regularly review open edits for a particular language, because they > are more likely than the average user to spot a silly typo, bad > capitalisation, unlikely collaborations., incorrect artist attributions > and the like. > Excellent! Putting this usage into the ReleaseLanguage documentation would improve that doc, I think. Lauri Watts wrote: > > I have to agree with what was already said though: It is to describe the > language of the track listing, as it's listed in MB (assuming that the > track listing has already been normalised to whatever other rules > apply.)... > You just clarified for me what my difficulty is. http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/ReleaseLanguage says, "The language attribute (e.g. French) records the language of the release title and track titles, (not the lyrics and not the extra information on the disc sleeve)...". Note the lower case on "release title" and "track title". I was interpreting this to mean "the text on the physical release packaging giving the title of that physical release and its tracks, as written by the publisher". Thus I thought this was recording an isolated shred of data about the release packaging. It sounds like what it really means is "the text in the ReleaseTitle and TrackTitle fields for this Release in the MusicBrainz database". Given this, and Lauri's arguments above, I completely see the point of the field. Adding clarifying text to the ReleaseLanguage page would be an improvement. I won't take the time to do a Request for Comment and Request for Veto now, but might do later when the CSG review is past me. ----- -- http://jdlh.com/ Jim DeLaHunt , Vancouver, Canada • http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/JimDeLaHunt -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/-Clean-up-CSG--Classical-and-Release-Language-tp15083579s2885p15224402.html Sent from the Musicbrainz - Style mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ Musicbrainz-style mailing list Musicbrainz-style@lists.musicbrainz.org http://lists.musicbrainz.org/mailman/listinfo/musicbrainz-style
