Lists & queries

This is the initial attempt at defining "tags," which we're taking to mean binary pieces of data attached to people. Whether a particular piece of information about someone is best represented by membership in a list or a tag on that person's profile is going to vary from provider to provider, so it's best to look at this in conjunction with the definitions of lists. The names and scope of tags are also going to vary from provider to provider, so we're striving here to create something that will accommodate all of these.

Each tag is an attribute that may be either true or false about a person; we assume generally that the true position here means that individual agrees with the mainline "progressive" stance on an issue or subject (an assumption whose problems we are well aware of). A false value would indicate opposition.

The schema also allows for tags to have associated parents and children; not every provider is going to make use of this, but the goal is to get to a point where what is a single issue to a broad-scope organization may be comprised of a multiple of smaller issues to one that's more narrowly focused. As an example, an international labor union may consider "immigration reform" to be one issue that an individual has a favorable/unfavorable stance on, but an immigration reform organization, that tag is too broad to be useful; rather, they may designate tags with the immigration tag as a parent. When organizations collaborate, this will help share data about their supporters on different levels of focus.

There are a few open questions we have right now (I'm sure the rest of the group will have some to add):

Should tags apply to individuals or to other resources? (my inclination is yes, but the schema right now assumes only individuals)

Should tags allow for more than just a boolean value?

Also, should they *not* allow for a boolean value and convey meaning by their presence or lack of presence? Example, should "labor supporter" and "labor opponent" be two different tags, or should "labor supporter" be a tag that can be either true or false?