>
> If the change was being made solely on the basis of METS
> compatibility, I'd
> probably agree with you. But there are other schema, particularly in
> the technical
> metadata realm, that people will want to use that also define
> elements similar to
> those in PREMIS, so this isn't a METS specific issue. And changing
> the PREMIS
> definition to a set of global element definitions is something I
> would characterize
> as just making mandatory PREMIS elements optional, but at a somewhat
> higher level,
> by allowing you to exclude ones you don't want to use. So, again,
> we're not really
> arguing over whether elements in PREMIS should be made optional, but
> only how
> to implement that.

Jerome, I disagree. global element definitions and optional elements are 2
different beasts. A global element is an element that can be reused in the
same and other XML Schemas. When doing so, you still have to provide the
min and max Occurs for the referring element. Meaning. You have to specify
whether the element is optional or mandatory.

jeroen