What is ISO 30042 - Management of terminology resources TermBase eXchange (TBX) about?
ISO 30042 explains fundamental concepts and describes the metamodel, data categories, and XML styles: DCA and DCT.
ISO 30042 specifies the methodology for defining TBX dialects.
The audience for this document is anyone wishing to create a new dialect compliant with TBX.
ISO 30042 can also be used to analyze and to understand a terminological data collection or to design a new terminology database that complies with international standards and best practices. Typical users are programmers, software developers, terminologists, analysts, and other language professionals.
Intended application areas include translation and authoring. The TBX-Core dialect is described in detail in ISO 30042.
NOTE : TBX dialects are defined by industry stakeholders. Any materials needed to implement currently shared dialects are publicly available as self-contained industry specifications (see for instance the TBX Info website.
Who is ISO 30042 - Management of terminology resources TermBase eXchange (TBX) for?
ISO 30042 on management of terminology resources TermBase eXchange (TBX) is useful for:
- Terminologists
- Analysts
- Programmers & software developers
- Language professionals
Why should you use ISO 30042 - Management of terminology resources TermBase eXchange (TBX)?
ISO 30042 defines a framework for users representing structured terminological data, referred to as TermBase eXchange (TBX). Within this framework, a variety of industry standards, known as dialects, for specific types of terminology interchange scenarios and terminological data collections can be defined.
TBX is designed for beneficial support to various types of processes involving terminological data, including analysis, descriptive representation, dissemination, and exchange in various computing environments.
The primary purpose of TBX is the exchange of terminological data. For example, it facilitates:
- Integrating or converting terminological data from multiple sources;
- Comparing the contents of various terminological data collections;
- Querying multiple terminological data collections by passing data through a common intermediate format on a batch or dynamic basis;
- Placing data on an online site for download or public feedback;
- Making terminology available dynamically in networked applications through a web service.
A TBX-compliant dialect can facilitate the exchange of terminological data between users, which include people such as translators and writers, as well as applications and systems, such as computer assisted translation tools and controlled authoring software.
TBX document instances of the same defined TBX dialect are interoperable and exchangeable with minimal loss or minimal need for negotiation, because they:
- Adhere to the core structure
- Use, or have access to, the same data categories
- Comply with the same dialect-specific constraints as other instances of the same dialect
TBX document instances developed according to ISO 30042:2008 can be converted to comply with the current version of TBX by identifying a dialect with which the document instance complies and implementing the other changes in accordance with ISO 30042. A converter is available on the TBX Info website for such purposes.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS ISO 30042:2019 supersedes BS ISO 30042:2008. BS ISO 30042:2019 includes some technical changes with respect to BS ISO 30042:2008. These include:
- Industry-defined dialects consisting of data category selections corresponding to the needs of specific communities have been introduced
- The XCS formalism has been removed and replaced with the requirement that the dialect be described and its name be declared on the root element of every TBX document instance
- The DTD for the core structure has been replaced with a schema language-neutral definition
- This document, containing the essential core and normative content, has been separated from ancillary content produced and distributed publicly by stakeholders
- A simplified DCT (Data Category as Tag) style has been added alongside the traditional TBX style of DCA (Data Category as Attribute)
