Re: URI Revised charter proposal

Hi Erik:

>> 
>> Hmmm. I really think that we should have a standard for URCs,
>
>A useful, limited, and measurable task for the WG to charter may be to 
>identify and list existing standards for recording or encoding metadata, 
>their respective standards bodies, the audiences they serve, the systems 
>that support them, and other data as deemed useful and appropriate. 
>
>Producing such a cogent document will lay a needed, solid foundation.
>
>I propose this as a task for the URI WG to be expressed in the charter.
>
>I would think this could be substantially accomplished within four months.
>
>--Erik

I agree completely that this is an urgently necessary task. Cecilia
Preston and others working on the CNI White Paper on Metadata have already
done a lot of this work; perhaps they could be persuaded to help out on 
this project.

With the massive efforts going into making previously autonomous
electronic information systems available through the Internet,
and the rapid digitization of resources in other media, there is
an impending collision between a fairly large number of 'metadata'
systems. This project would at the very least help us understand
the systems which are currently being deployed, and may very
well help us understand how to start getting these systems to 
interoperate. 

Even if the Internet evolves into a loosely-connected set of 
information systems based on communities of interest, there is still
much to be gained by pushing for interoperability within the communities.
Less than 1% of the global population is connected; it's not unreasonable 
to expect that many virtual communities of the future will be larger
than the current Internet.

Chris

Received on Friday, 7 July 1995 10:19:28 UTC