Date:         Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:37:03 -0400
Reply-To:     Metadata Object Description Schema List <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       Metadata Object Description Schema List <[log in to unmask]>
From:         Andrew E Switala <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: info:xv proposal
Comments: To: [log in to unmask]
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>>> [log in to unmask] 2004-10-20 21:24:16 >>>
> it's easier for a human to key
> <typeOfResource>cartographic</typeOfResource>
>
> than
>
>
<typeOfResource>info:xv/1/mods/resourceType/1/cartographic</typeOfResource>
>
> and at some point, regardless of the magic of UIs, humans will have
to
> key these things.

    Copy and paste.  I generate all my XML with a text editor (or
XSLT), and even in the absence of long URIs it greatly reduces tedium
and errors to make templates of frequently used structures and have them
open in a separate editor window to copy from.

> In other words, there may be some advantages for machine processing
but
> I want to know how this eliminates the human-readable list that will
be
> needed for input. And as we know, keeping two versions of the same
list
> is fraught with perils.

    Maintain only the machine-readable list, from which the
human-readable list can be algorithmically generated.

> I'm also not sure that having the info URI makes
> adding to the list any easier. What we do seem to be doing is trading
a
> URI for a list for a URI for each element of the list.

    It makes the RDF folks happy.  And URIs beyond the info variety can
make "type" and "authority" attributes more than just wishful thinking,
e.g.
    <subject authority="http://example.org/authfile.xml">
        <topic>widgets</topic>
    </subject>
A validation process could check that "widgets" really is an
authoritative subject in the linked authority file (presuming greater
MODS-MADS interaction once MADS is out of its draft stage, anyway).
In some cases they might even do away with type attributes altogether,
e.g.
    <identifier>urn:ISSN:0000-0000</identifier>
rather than
    <identifier type="issn">0000-0000</identifier>
They help make documents more self-describing, e.g. the Dublin core
URIs that point to RDF descriptions of their usage.  The "widgets"
example above could make the topic a hyperlink, on display, to the
authority record.

--Andy