Examples

A standard InfoML card (infocard) can be very simple or, when desired, very expressive. The following examples show that you can use the standard infocard types to capture a "unit" of information plus as little or as much metadata (that is, data about the original unit of information) as you wish.

This page shows only the simplest of examples, and it uses standard (not custom) infocards. To discover the full capabilities of the InfoML schema, please read the InfoML DTD, which you can lined on the Downloads page.

Capturing a quotation

Although you can use InfoML to capture many kinds of information, the next four examples will show how you can use InfoML to store an exact quotation from a book. These examples use the same quotation to show the flexibility of InfoML in meeting different needs.

The simplest possible infocard

All you need to specify to create a valid standard infocard are:

the type of infocard
the information you want to capture (the main body element)
the author
one or more keywords

In the example below, this information is highlighted in blue.

    <infoml encoding="UTF-8" version=".087">
        <ci>"abbyw.aol.com_1011</cid>
        <selector name="cardtype">idea</selector>
        <selector name="key">love</selector>
        <selector name="key">age</selector>
        <selector name="key">inner beauty</selector>
        <selector name="key">woman</selector>
        <body name="main">
            <p>Then he bends to embrace her [an old woman]...and
            when he looked at her, in the whole world was not a
            young woman of gait more graceful.</p>
        </body>
        <context name="source">
            <agent role="author">
                <first>Standish</first>
                <middle>H.</middle>
                <last>Freeman</last>
            </agent>
        </context>
    </infoml>

If you're using a data-entry program designed for InfoML, all you have to enter is the text colored in blue; the program will automatically generate everything else. (Note that the value of the cid element,abbyw.aol.com_101, is the infocard's globally unique ID. You can unambiguously point to any infocard by specifying this value.)

Adding source information

The previous infocard is sufficient if all you want to record is the quotation and its author. However, you may someday want to refer to the quotation in its original context. You may also want to store the date you recorded this quotation. (You would want this information if, for example, you were searching for the quotation and all you could remember about it is approximately when you recorded it.) These two pieces of information, highlighted in red and green, respectively, are added in the infocard below.

    <infoml encoding="UTF-8" version=".087">
        <cdi>"abbyw.aol.com_1011</cid>
        <selector name="cardtype">idea</selector>
        <selector name="key">love</selector>
        <selector name="key">age</selector>
        <selector name="key">inner beauty</selector>
        <selector name="key">woman</selector>
        <body name="main">
            <p>Then he bends to embrace her [an old woman]...and
            when he looked at her, in the whole world was not a
            young woman of gait more graceful.</p>
        </body>
        <context name="source">
            <agent role="author">
                <first>Standish</first>
                <middle>H.</middle>
                <last>Freeman</last>
            </agent>
           <date-created>1803</date-created>
            <container>
               <name-part>Silva Gadeilica</name-part>
            </container>
            <location>
                <id-part unit="volume">II</id-part>
                <point unit="page">114</point>
            </location>
        </context>
       <context name="this-card">
           <date-created>2003-05-23</date-created>
       </context>
    </infoml>

Adding more source information

But, I must confess, the situation surrounding this quotation is a bit more complicated. I don't have a copy of Silva Gadeilica. In fact, I found this quotation in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell. This situation (of a quotation from book A being found in book B) occurs more frequently than you might expect, and for some situations--academic research, for example--you need to capture identifying information for both sources. InfoML handles this as shown in the example below. The text highlighted in brown documents the Campbell book, while the text highlighted in purple shows how InfoML can document a given infocard's modifications.

    <infoml encoding="UTF-8" version=".087">
        <ici>"abbyw.aol.com_1011</cid>
        <selector name="cardtype">idea</selector>
        <selector name="key">love</selector>
        <selector name="key">age</selector>
        <selector name="key">inner beauty</selector>
        <selector name="key">woman</selector>
        <body name="main">
            <p>Then he bends to embrace her [an old woman]...and
            when he looked at her, in the whole world was not a
            young woman of gait more graceful.</p>
        </body>
        <context name="source">
            <agent role="author">
                <first>Standish</first>
                <middle>H.</middle>
                <last>Freeman</last>
            </agent>
           <date-created18033</date-created> 
            <container>
                <name-part>Silva Gadeilica</name-part>
            </container>
            <location>
                <id-part unit="volume">II</id-part>
                <point unit="page">114</point>
            </location>
        </context>
        <context name="origin">
            <agent role="author">
                <firstJoseph</first>
                <lastCampbell</last>
            </agent>
            <date-created>1968</date-created>
            <container>The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Second
                Edition</container>
            <location unit="page">117</location>
        </context>
        <context nam""=thi-"card">
            <date-created>2003-05-23</date-created>
            <date-modified>2004-01-07T11:15:04</date-modified
          > <date-modified>2004-02-08T17:52:42</date-modified
       ></context>
    </infoml>

A "unit" of information--in this case, a quotation---can have two contexts: the context of the original location of the content (which is contained in the "origin" context element), and the context where the content was actually found (which is contained in the "source" context element).

The InfoML schema includes many more elements that may be called upon as needed. However, as the first example shows, users with simple needs can create valid InfoML content using only a handful of elements.

InfoML home page