[OAI-implementers] default metadataPrefix

[Young,Jeff]

Thanks for the pointer to the previous discussion, Michael. It's helpful to
see the history behind this. Since I missed the discussion the first time
around, though, I'd like to add some comments to the record.

I agree that OAI protocol shouldn't be tied too closely to oai_dc. For
example, I'm thinking about using the OAI protocol for distributing name
authority data. Since Dublin Core is a bibliographic element set, oai_dc is
almost completely inappropriate for that purpose. I'm not saying we couldn't
support oai_dc requests, only that the result would be more or less
meaningless. Given that, I suppose I was arguing that communities should be
free to specify their own arbitrary default format to be used when the
metadataPrefix isn't specified.

Your suggestion that I could treat metadataPrefix as optional in our
implementation was tempting, but I want anyone with an OAI server to be able
to participate in our distributed network.

In my hypothetical scenario, I dismissed doing string substitutions because
they don't work well for my real world problem. I don't want to drag this
discussion down with details, except to note that it has to do with
duplicate resolution of records and the persistence of obsolete OAI
GetRecord URLs. As it happens, though, I had an epiphany last night and
realized another solution to my problem. The bottom line is, I can withdraw
my request for making metadataPrefix optional. Thanks to the group, though,
for watching over my shoulder while I figured this out. :-)

Jeff

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael L. Nelson [mailto:mln@ils.unc.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 6:31 PM
> To: Young,Jeff
> Cc: 'OAI-implementers'
> Subject: Re: [OAI-implementers] default metadataPrefix
> 
> 
> 
> >Any comments?
> 
> Oh!  I get to establish myself as an "old-time" OAI person by 
> saying we've
> already had that discussion ;-)
> 
> http://www.nsdl.cornell.edu:81/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?visit=oai-alph
> a&id=142403532
> 
> uses lots of hidden fields to make pointing to individual message
> difficult, so I've attached the original email exchange.
> 
> I think the eventual consensus reflected an uneasiness of having the
> protocol spec *require* DC.  nobody said this exactly, but I 
> think there
> is a safety hatch left for us to move away from DC should the OAI
> community as a whole decide to.
> 
> you could just have your process do:
> 
> s/oai_dc/oai_marc/;
> 
> on the outbound URL.
> 
> or, you could do like I've done, and have your implementation treat
> metadataPrefix as optional anyway ;-)
> 
> regards,
> 
> Michael
> 
> 
> On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, Young,Jeff wrote:
> 
> > I'd like to propose that the metadataPrefix element be made 
> an optional
> > parameter. After all, oai_dc is a required format for OAI 
> repositories, and
> > one could naturally assume this is the default 
> metadataPrefix if it wasn't
> > explicitly stated in the request.
> > 
> > My reason for making this request is a little complicated. Here's a
> > hypothetical scenario, though, that I hope is easier to 
> follow. I'd like to
> > store an OAI GetRecord URL in a web document so that anyone 
> can come along,
> > click on the link, and get something useful in response. Since the
> > metadataPrefix is a required field, I must imbed it in the 
> URL that I store
> > in my document. Unfortunately, I'd also like to process 
> this same document
> > with automated tools, but this time I'm interested in 
> getting my response in
> > oai_marc format. Now, I'm forced to parse the URL and 
> change oai_dc to
> > oai_marc before I can use the link. If, on the other hand, 
> oai_dc was
> > implied, I wouldn't have to specify it in my link. Casual 
> users would see
> > the default oai_dc response, whereas my automated process 
> would merely
> > append "&metadataPrefix=oai_marc" to the URL to override 
> the default.
> > 
> > Any comments?
> > 
> > ---
> > Jeffrey A. Young
> > Senior Consulting Systems Analyst
> > Office of Research, Mail Code 710
> > OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
> > 6565 Frantz Road
> > Dublin, OH   43017-3395
> > www.oclc.org
> > 
> > Voice:	614-764-4342
> > Fax:		614-764-2344
> > Email:	jyoung@oclc.org
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> > 
> 
> ---
> Michael L. Nelson			
> 207 Manning Hall, School of Information and Library Science
> University of North Carolina 		mln@ils.unc.edu
> Chapel Hill, NC 27599			http://ils.unc.edu/~mln/
> +1 919 966 5042				+1 919 962 8071 (f)
>