OK - sticking my head into the lion's jaw (and / or lioness's?
)
Here's my attempt at a definition of
Citation. There is a deliberate attempt to foreshadow Method 1 & 2 within the words, else some phrases
might not be necessary. I also tried to pick up on some words in the FH Help Glossary.
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In Genealogy, external to FH:
A
citation is linked to an
item of data. It records the identity of a
source that provides
evidence for that item of data, and therefore links the item of data and the source. It can also provide
additional qualifying information about the source, and also about how the source relates to the item of data. Externally to FH, it often appears as a footnote, endnote, or other form of reference.
Within FH:
A
citation (aka
source citation) is linked to a "
fact". It records the identity of, and links to, a
source-record that provides
evidence for that "fact". Information from the (real world) source can be held either on the source-record or within the
citation-data itself. Information about how the (real world) source relates to the "fact" can be held with the citation-data itself.
The citation is unique to that combination of "fact" and source-record. Other citations may have the same source-record and additional information but there is no means of linking them in FH.
In FH, the output Citation = Data from the Source-record plus optional, additional data held within the citation-data. The output Citation can appear as a footnote, endnote, or other form of reference.
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The Glossary puts the definition under Source Citation - I prefer to put it under Citation as that's more likely to be the term searched for but so long as there's a link, I'm not that fussed - except that the word used throughout my definition
is "citation".
I use the word "fact" in quotes to cover events, attributes, names, witnesses, etc, etc - whatever can have sources cited against them. The word "fact" should
not be thought to imply any absolute certainty or finality.
"Citation-data" is my attempt at a name to cover not just templated items held at the citation level but also things like "where within" for generic sources and assessments for both. I believe it important to explicitly separate it from the link elements of "citation".