Modeling Flexible Document Structures with XML Schema: Rhetorical Objects and Rhetorical Metadata   

With the adoption of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) on the rise, researchers in academia and industry are seeking to leverage the descriptive power of metadata to better understand the semantic structure of information (e.g., see Berners-Lee, 1998). But most interaction on the World Wide Web is what Geisler (2001) calls “document-centered,” involving the exchange of discourse a great deal larger and more complex than the basic units of meaning that semantics deals effectively with. As a result, the tools of semantics fall short of providing adequate metadata schemes which capture the most compelling features of effective discourse in any medium: emotional and ethical appeals which work in conjunction with appropriate logical and semantic structures.

Hart-Davidson, William, Victoria Moore and Joshua Porter. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2003). Design>Information Design>XML>Metadata