Forwarded to the list on behalf of Thomas Fischer mailto:[log in to unmask]
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Dear all,
only now I found the time to look closer at the suggestions and the discussions around it.
Overall I found the DC-XML paper very clear and useful, I think I could implement this syntax fairly easily. I still have some questions and remarks, though:
1. Like Ann, I find the introduction of "vocabEncSchemeURI" and "vocabEncSchemeQName" not convincing. Even considering Pete's remarks from June 12, I think one could get away with something like "use the full URI if any ambiguity could arise". Otherwise I find it pretty odd to introduce two elements which differ only in the encoding used.
2. I am wondering about the difference between attributes and values. In my understanding, an attribute serves to interpret or understand the meaning of the value, like an encoding scheme or a language tag. I am unhappy if the actual property is put into the attribute - but admittedly don't know any rules against it.
This refers in particular to the use of "dcx:valueURI" as opposed to "dcx:valueString": both conveying the same meaning, one in an attribute, the other in a tag. The attribute approach has some additional disadvantages if multiple values occur: do you repeat the attribute or the element?
For example:
<dc:publisher dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/agents/DCMI">
<dcx:valueString>Dublin Core Metadata Initiative</dcx:valueString>
</dc:publisher>
If I want to give
dcx:valueURI="http://dublincore.org/"
as an additional value, where do I put it? Or mustn't I?
Furthermore, if I want to express that some valueURI is to be interpreted according to a particular encoding scheme, like
dcx:valueURI="http://example.org/standards/DDC/500"
dcx:vocabEncSchemeURI="http://purl.org/dc/terms/DDC"
I end up with two attributes, one referring to the other. This can become quite ambiguous. Or is this ruled out and supposed to be encoded (somehow?) in the valueURI?
Similar problems arise when I want to give additional information for a binaryRepresentation <dcx:binaryRepresentation dcx:representationURI="http://example.org/imgs/img.png" /> , like a MIME type. Where to put it?
The paper states "vocabulary encoding scheme URI ... is represented as the value of an XML attribute of the Statement Element", but this again would lead to attributes referring to one another.
I would like something like
<dcx:binaryRepresentation>
<dcx:representationURI dcx:vocabEncSchemeQName="MIME:image/png">
http://example.org/imgs/img.png"
</dcx:representationURI>
</dcx:binaryRepresentation>
(Actually, the simple juxtaposition in DC-Text may also become ambiguous. I would prefer something like
Statement (
PropertyURI ( dc:subject )
ValueString ( "Information technology"
VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( dcterms:LCSH )
)
)
over
Statement (
PropertyURI ( dc:subject )
VocabularyEncodingSchemeURI ( dcterms:LCSH )
ValueString ( "Information technology")
)
Sorry for the overload of parentheses!)
Anyway, thanks for the good work!
All the best
Thomas
--
Dr. Thomas Fischer
Metadata and Databases
Göttingen State and University Library
37070 Göttingen
Tel.: +49 551 39-3883
and +43 662 621498
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