At 04:28 PM 8/23/2002 -0400, Clay wrote:
>My argument was and remains that METS does not map simply and
>unambiguously to the OAIS data model. I think there is one true
>OAIS data model, and that METS does not map to it as simply and
>unambiguously as it could.
Maybe I don't understand the point of a reference model, but I thought it
was for, well, reference. You are not supposed to implement a reference
model. You implement protocol specifications.
When different people implement things differently to meet local needs,
then the reference model gives them a common vocabulary, so that when they
sit around at lunch at conferences or write to each other comparing what
they have done, they can understand what each other are talking about.
In _Understanding OSI 7-Layer Model_, Neil Briscoe notes "that most
protocols in day-to-day use work on
a slightly modified layer system. TCP/ IP,
for example, uses a 6-rather than a 7-layer model. Nevertheless, in order
to ease the exchange of ideas, even those who only ever use TCP/ IP will
refer to the 7-layer model when discussing networking principles with peers
from a different networking background."
My feeling is, if network engineers don't worry that their systems don't
implement their ISO reference model, we should not worry if our
implantations of archives don't match up paragraph and sub paragraph to the
reference model.
-- Brian Tingle
Development Programmer, California Digital Library
(510)987-0443
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