I have a strong preference for (i) - change the datamodel
document to use dc:Creator.
I was part of the RDF WG and this topic was discussed. The
Dublin Core community has already decided on a case
convention - the initial Capital letter. RDF recommends
a different one for NEW work, but has no problem with other
conventions being used.
Ron
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Miller [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, May 27, 1999 6:56 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: The case of DC element names
>
> Hello all,
>
> John Kunze and I have been having an off-list chat arising from his
> latest
> (excellent) guide to embedding DC metadata in HTML [1].
>
> The issue that has been taxing our brains is that of the case used in
> element names, and a conflict between our approach in HTML and that
> emerging
> for an alternative solution via XML/RDF.
>
> We'd welcome the thoughts of this group on how best to proceed.
>
> As you all know, HTML doesn't particularly care about case, such that
> 'creator', 'CREATOR', 'Creator', and 'cREATOR' might very well be
> indistinguishable. Nevertheless, we tend to employ the convention that
> DC
> element names be expressed with an initial capital letter, followed by
> lower
> case letters; 'Creator', and there's a lot of metadata out there in
> this
> form. John's document [1] continues this tradition.
>
> XML, on the other hand, is far more choosy about this stuff, and is
> case
> sensitive; 'creator', 'CREATOR', 'Creator' and 'cREATOR' are four
> different
> strings. Common practice in the wider XML/RDF world is to name things
> like
> our Dublin Core elements in lower case only; 'creator'. The initial
> capital
> letter ('Creator') is generally reserved for class-type structures.
> The
> recent document from the Data Model group [2] respects this approach,
> presenting element names in lower case.
>
> And that's the "problem"; we have two shiny new documents, both
> talking
> about *doing* Dublin Core, one of which recommends a 'Creator' style,
> and
> the other of which recommends the 'creator' style.
>
> To some extent, it doesn't really matter that they're different,
> especially
> if we assume that the audiences are so discrete that no one will ever
> actually read both documents that closely. We might also assume that
> tools
> won't cross-search both XML/RDF and HTML-embedded Dublin Core.
>
> However, we possibly *are* creating a migration problem for people who
> follow the guidance in [1] and then try to migrate to XML/RDF at some
> point
> in the future.
>
> As we saw it, there are a number of things that might be done, none of
> which
> is perfect for various reasons. These are;
>
> (i) - change the recommendation in [2], such that XML/RDF
> implementations label elements with a leading capital letter.
>
> The obvious problem here is that this approach is directly at
> odds with
> emerging practice in the wider XML/RDF community.
>
> (ii) - change the recommendation in [1] - and retrospectively
> convert the
> existing installed base of HTML - so that elements are labelled
> solely
> in lower case.
>
> It's unlikely that all those implementors out there would be
> happy to go
> back and change all their existing metadata.
>
> (iii) - recognise that case doesn't matter in HTML, so leave the
> existing
> installed base alone. Change the recommendation in [1] so that
> new
> implementors use lower case element names.
>
> (iv) - recognise that the HTML installed base uses a leading
> capital
> letter.
> Recognise that XML/RDF uses all lower case letters. To allow
> conversion between the two, declare the Dublin Core element
> names
> to be case-insensitive, and leave it to HTML/XML tools to sort
> it out
> according to whether the element is being used in XML or HTML.
>
> (v) - Do nothing.
>
> What do you all think? (I *know* which one I prefer, but then I'm
> biased)
>
> Paul
>
> [1] - http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/dc-general/1999-05/0063.html
> [2] -
> http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/resources/dc/datamodel/WD-dc-rdf/
>
> -- dr. paul miller - interoperability focus - [log in to unmask]
> --
> u. k. office for library and information networking (ukoln)
> tel: +44 (0)1482 466890 mobile: +44 (0)410 481812
> ---------------------------- http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/
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