Groupware URIs

We are working on a groupware application. In this
application, a groupware user always uses the groupware
server, in which this user is registered. But the user can
see groupware objects in other groupware servers. Since the
user interface is web-based, the users use URIs to get to
groupware objects (=forums, contributions, users).

These URIs are constructed by combining the URL of the
user's local groupware server, with the URL of the object.

Example:
On server cmc.dsv.su.se there is a forum named free-speech.
On server web4groups.at, a user is participating in this forum.
This user will then use the following URL to get to this forum:
http://web4groups.at/cmc.dsv.su.se/free-speech

If a user at cmc.dsv.su.se access the same groupware object,
they use the URL
http://cmc.dsv.su.se/cmc.dsv.su.se/free-speech

Thus, there are different URLs for the same groupware object,
depending om where a user's local groupware is. But it would
be nice to have some kind of designation of an object which
does not change this way. We have done this by specifying
a new URN or URL scheme named "gw" (for groupware).

Thus, in the above case, the gw URL for this groupware object
would be gw://cmc.dsv.su.se/free-speech.

Ordinary web browser will not understand gw: URIs, unless
they are helped by a directory which tells them which is
the local groupware server for that user. Knowing that,
they can construct the right URL for this user, i.e.
convert gw://cmc.dsv.su.se/free-speech to, for example,
http://web4groups.at/cmc.dsv.su.se/free-speech

Question 1: Is this the right way to go?

Question 2: The "gw:" URI scheme, is it a new URL
scheme or a new URN scheme?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacob Palme <jpalme@dsv.su.se> (Stockholm University and KTH)
for more info see URL: http://www.dsv.su.se/~jpalme

Received on Saturday, 1 May 1999 19:23:16 UTC