Glossary · Selectors

iiRDS RangeSelector

Also known as: range selector

In iiRDS (intelligent information Request and Delivery Standard), a RangeSelector selects a continuous part of a file between a start point and an end point. Both points are FragmentSelectors, linked with iirds:has-start-selector and iirds:has-end-selector.

iiRDS term
Ontology
Information architecture

In one sentence

An iiRDS RangeSelector selects a section of a file from a start to an end point, such as a page range in a PDF, using two FragmentSelectors.

Example

The maintenance chapter on pages 10 to 17 of a PDF manual, typed as its own Topic with the lifecycle phase “maintenance” — without splitting the PDF.

How it applies

Migration: Range selectors turn chapters of an existing PDF into separate information units with metadata, while the PDF stays exactly as it was.
MedTech: A single section of approved instructions for use — for example the contraindications — can be addressed and delivered on its own. The approved file itself is not changed, which matters when the PDF is the regulated artifact.
AI and retrieval: A range defined by the author is a better chunk boundary than an arbitrary number of tokens: the chunk starts and ends where the content does.

RangeSelector vs. FragmentSelector

A FragmentSelector marks one location. A RangeSelector marks everything between two locations and is built from two fragment selectors.

In RDF

Adapted from the page-range example in the iiRDS specification. Shown in Turtle for readability — inside a package, metadata.rdf is written in RDF/XML.

@prefix iirds: <http://iirds.tekom.de/iirds#> .
@prefix rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .

<https://example.com/iirds/maintenance-chapter> a iirds:Topic ;
    iirds:has-rendition [
        a iirds:Rendition ;
        iirds:format "application/pdf" ;
        iirds:source "content/operating-manual.pdf" ;
        iirds:has-selector [
            a iirds:RangeSelector ;
            iirds:has-start-selector [
                a iirds:FragmentSelector ;
                dcterms:conformsTo <http://tools.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3778> ;
                rdf:value "page=10"
            ] ;
            iirds:has-end-selector [
                a iirds:FragmentSelector ;
                dcterms:conformsTo <http://tools.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3778> ;
                rdf:value "page=17"
            ]
        ]
    ] .