Re: Identifying vs Describing media URI fragments

Would it be a good idea if we separate two issues: the functionality  
we want from media fragments and the external representation of that  
functionality?

This way, we could first decide on a list of the things we would like  
our eventual solution to be able to do without worrying about whether  
this can be done through HTTP headers already or needs URL adornment  
or so. We could then also investigate what existing technology already  
handles that functionality, and how.

The functionality wanted already poses a number of questions:
- Do we want to select only continuous sections or allow discontinuous  
selection too?
- Do we want only temporal selection or also spatial?
   - If we want spatial too, only rectangular or do we want free shapes?
   - If we want spatial, are the coordinates static over time?
   - How about discontinuous spatial selections?
- Do we want selection of substreams?
- Do we want only out-of-context selection (crop) or also in-context  
(in-point/out-point)?
   - If we also want in-context selection, does this mean we want  
optional client-side selection too?

These are just a couple of design choices I can think of while typing  
this message, there's probably heaps more if we really think about the  
issues.
--
Jack Jansen, <Jack.Jansen@cwi.nl>, http://www.cwi.nl/~jack
If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution -- Emma  
Goldman

Received on Tuesday, 30 September 2008 11:34:47 UTC