>-----Original Message-----
>From: Gisle Hannemyr [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>
>Debating this question with four imaginary opponents (named "A", "B",
>"C" and "D"), I got back the following four responses :-) :
>
>A) You've got it backwards. The DCI is trying to create metadata
> records for human readers. Your feeble attempts to appropriate
> this great technology for your beastly Internet search engine
> is misguided and without hope of succeeding. Go away.
>
>B) Stay faithful to your original vision: Yes, the metadata record is
> for the machine's eye only. Don't listen to those who try to
> lead you astray.
>
>C) How perceptive of you! These two usages are really incompatible
> and trying to accommodate both in the DC framework is just like
> trying to fit two feet into one shoe. And fitting two feet into
> one shoe will hamper your forwards movement -- even if the shoe
> is oversize.
>
>D) You are utterly confused. There is no conflict. The DC is
> equally well suited for both application if applied correctly.
> You just have to learn how to apply it correctly.
>
>Whereupon my imaginary opponents vanished in a puff of smoke,
>unavailable for further banter, leaving me utterly and thoroughly
>confused. So I turn to the mailing list for help:
>
>Who is the primary "user" of the metadata record?
>And if the answer is "both":
>Is there or isn't there a conflict in the requirements?
>
Hello Gisle,
I'm afraid that I'm not offering help, but I am very struck by the
similarity between your posting and a couple of chapters of Hofstadter's
Eternal Golden Braid - I don't know if anyone here has read this
excellent book (I did so quite a few years ago but have now been
inspired to revisit the chapters on metadata, meta descriptors and
metasearches !)
In my metaworld,
Entity A is correct when it says that the DC metadata is for humans, but
I would add that that should not exclude some manipulation by an engine,
perhaps to present it in a more easily accessible format to the
non-cataloguer. It seems to me that it will be essential anyway, given
that the aim must be to make information available to all, regardless of
socioeconomic/educational status (that IS true, isn't it ? - DCI can't
be an end in itself)
Entity B could also be correct if it assumes that the engine is a
'preprocessor/interpreter' and that the end result is USEFUL
human-readable information, ranked for relevance if possible but
otherwise in a recognisable sequence ?
Entities C and D should be led gently but firmly to the exit.
Hilary
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