Andy Powell wrote:
> So, if someone chooses to do this, they will have metadata that doesn't
> mean what it says and that doesn't interoperate with anyone else (or that
> only interoperates with people who have a shared local agreement to
> mis-use the model). So what! There are umpteen ways in which people can
> create metadata that doesn't interoperate? If people want to interoperate
> then they will have to create metadata according to rules - and the rules
> will include syntax rules and cataloguing rules.
"So what!"
Those two words say many things. If a single catalog (or whatever we
wish to call it: search engine, listing, etc.) is to mean anything at
all, and somehow work better than Alta Vista, certain values must be
accepted. One of those values is: we can't have all of the different
types of records in the same database because they'll "get in each
others' way."
"So what!" actually means (to me) that making a single, interoperable
system will be impossible (not in technical terms, but in practical
terms). The result will be many different systems with many different
rules that have little or nothing whatsoever to do with each other.
But the point of Dublin Core, as I understand it, is to provide a lowest
common denominator for all of these records. Still, "lowest common
denominator" in its turn means different things to different people.
To developers, it means that the coding be interoperable in some way,
i.e. it will be synonymous in some way with any other coding of what is
essentially the same meaning (DC.Publisher=GILS Distributor).
For librarians/catalogers, we realize that this is only the tiniest
first step. We have experience with the richness of bibliographic
description and realize that if we want to make something interoperable,
the greatest challenge lies in the information, itself: what exactly
does "Publisher" mean? How and where do I find the information that can
help me decide upon this? Do I have to add the name of the typist to the
record? The graphic designer? How do I express the subject(s) of this
resource in a way that is interoperable with other items that are
similar?
I agree with you, Andy--I feel that untrained people cannot create
coherent metadata records, even if they are trying their very best. We
cannot allow them to make a hash out of our own work.
Jim Weinheimer
Princeton University
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