Re: Don't put descriptive info in a URI, only identifying info

>I understand your concern and it is perfectly valid in HTTP/Internet
>systems with on-demand servers/proxies, or when the resource is a document
>object.
>
>However, referencing other data objects and streaming video/audio content
>in a broadcast carousel introduces some unusual circumstances not really
>contemplated in traditional HTTP-like document schemes.

No, it doesn't.  Figure out what the resource is and then define a
naming scheme for that resource.  If the resource is a time segment on
a particular broadcast, then it should have an identifier that indicates
the broadcast channel and time segment.  If, however, the resource is
something less broadcast dependent, such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
episode 24", then it shouldn't have a channel and time segment.
Whatever you do, never mix these two paradigms -- there is no reason
why a streaming video/audio content cannot have more than one URI,
so it is always better to use multiple references rather than try to
over-identify something within a single URI.

There is no difference here between HTTP and broadcast, other than the
fact that the 'http' URL contains a hostname.  The philosophical properties
of naming are the same.

....Roy

Received on Tuesday, 22 December 1998 02:25:41 UTC