Re: [BP - MET] - Best Practices - Guidance on the Provision of Metadata

Hey Makx,

personally, I think it should be (b).

The case I commented on, ie, the CSVW version, shows the issue. I think many on the WG feel and understand that the most elegant solution would be to rely on HTTP return header: while returning the real payload of the CSV data, the return header would have some extra link through some agreed header to a metadata. (The details, ie, which HTTP header to use is a detail.) However there is a recognition that data publishers may not have the possibility to do that easily; controlling return headers require knowledge of the local server's settings, those are not standard, not easy to manage, etc. Bottom line: people will not do it. Hence the necessity (probably; as I said, this is still under discussion) of the well-known URI as an alternative.

So yes, (b) is probably what I would favour, with the additional feature of, possibly, setting a priority (if you can do this then do it; if not then do that; etc).

My 2 cents...

Ivan



On 16 May 2014, at 11:39 , Makx Dekkers <mail@makxdekkers.com> wrote:

> 
> Ivan writes:
> 
>> 
>> Just a minor correction: though this is not yet decided, my
>> expectation is that the group will not define one mechanism but open
>> the door to several. This may also include the well-known location
>> approach.
>> 
> 
> This opinion triggers a question in my mind. I wonder whether the goal
> of DWBP is 
> 
> Either:
> 
> a. Give advice to publishers to do things in a certain way so that
> re-users know what to expect if a publisher follows the best practice.
> 
> Or:
> 
> b. Outline a number of principles that publishers should apply and that
> may be implemented in various ways and that allow several existing
> approaches to co-exist.
> 
> 
> I am happy either way, but I think it is important to have consensus
> about the principle.
> 
> Makx.
> 
> 


----
Ivan Herman, W3C 
Digital Publishing Activity Lead
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