I've taken the liberty of changing the Subject line to what _I_ think
Simon Cox meant by "element order". Simon, correct me if I misunderstand,
but I believe you are _not_ suggesting we require a certain ordering of
elements in a set of metadata (eg, embedded in an HTML doc).
Instead, I believe you're suggesting that the draft RFC _explain_ the
elements in a different sequence than that listed on the T-shirt.
(I agree that the T-shirt sequence makes little pedagogical sense.)
-John
=========================
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 10:40:49 -0500
From: Simon Cox <[log in to unmask]>
To: DC-list <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: RE: new draft of DC basic elements
The draft RFC on DC basic elements quite understandably
presents the elements in the now "classic" order which
developed from the original proposals for the Dublin Core.
However, there does not appear to be a clear consistent
logic to the sequence
(Title, Creator, Subject, Description, Publisher,
Contributor, Date, Type, Format, Identifier, Source,
Language, Relation, Coverage, Rights).
I wonder if this very public roll-out would be
an opportune time to improve on this?
There are many ways to do this, of course.
A simple way would be alphabetical.
Better, perhaps, would be something reflecting functional
behaviour, which might assist newcomers in coming to grips
with the set. The latter is the main motivation in fiddling
with the T-shirt rule in this way.
I've commented elsewhere (to the datamodel working group)
that there is some ambiguity in the element semantics
under some circumstances, which effectively makes a
unique functional grouping impossible.
However, I suggest that something like the following
sequence (and sub-headings?) makes some sense:
Elements related mainly to the CONTENT of the resource
Title
Subject
Description
Language
Coverage
Elements related mainly to INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY of the resource
Creator
Contributors
Publisher
Rights
Source
Relation
Elements related mainly to the INSTANTIATION of the resource
Identifier
Format
Type
Date
--
__________________________________________________
Dr Simon Cox - Australian Geodynamics Cooperative Research Centre
CSIRO Exploration & Mining, PO Box 437, Nedlands, WA 6009 Australia
T: +61 8 9389 8421 F: +61 8 9389 1906 [log in to unmask]
http://www.ned.dem.csiro.au/SimonCox/
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