Article:		The TAG's Town Hall
Subject:		Language Evolution and TAG
Date:		2004-01-15 08:15:03
From:		Francis Hsu
There are at least 2 interrelated issues here. 1) A top-down, unified conception of some 'final design or product.' 2) A bottom-up, evolutionary process whereby the most useful things survive to become the current 'architecture.' Luckily, history has provided examples of both. Specifically, the development of human languages has seen both processes. Recently a book described the 'writing' of the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). This was definitely a bottom-up process: words in the dictionary were submitted by volunteers from all over the world. Their meaning and usage were annotated, clarified and reviewed before being approved for inclusion. The 1st edition of OED took over 50 years to complete. Contrast that with French, which is definitely a top-down language. There is a committee of 40 which approves of all words that is considered 'French.' Their meaning and usage is defined by 'experts,' not via usage. French is thus an 'architected' language, much more so than English. Now, coming back to Web Architecture, is it conceivable that 'any' group of people can architect the Web in a manner which is evolutionary robust? that can survive well into the millennium? I don't know. I can see why we may need it. This whole area of 'social engineering' public therefore sharable resources is fraught with complexities and dangers.

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