Resources = services!

[Tony Linde]

Hi Ray,

> ShortName was never meant to be 
> guaranteed unique (that's what the identifier is for); therefore, it
can 
> be handled exactly like Title.  However, it did come directly from a
real 
> application need (Tom's DIS), so I think it is worth retaining.  

<egg-suckingLesson>I think we need to be careful of putting things in
the metadata because of one application's needs.</egg-suckingLesson>

That said, I think ShortName is a valid inclusion if it is clear that it
is only for display purposes ('Ticker' is American-only I understand,
and does imply uniqueness).

> In the VOResource XML Schema, there are what I have called 
> Resource "classes" (as in, major type).  Currently defined are:
>    Resource
>    Organization
>    Project
>    DataCollection
>    Service

Just on that list (I am perfectly happy with the name 'class' instead of
supertype): 

- I think 'Resource' is redundant - everything is a resource.
- I would class 'Organization' and 'Project' as community-type
resources.
- 'Service' is as we've discussed.
- What is 'DataCollection' and why would one want to list it if it is
not the service which gives access to the data?

> Do you see "supertypes" as...
>   o  essentially the same thing as "classes" (that is, it captures
most 
>        of what you're going for),

Yep!

> While I'm not against multiple MFs, I'm still unclear on the 
> how you see this being used.  Are MFs and extensions 
> synonymous?  Do expect that subcommunities (or sub-VOs; e.g.  
> AstroGrid) wanting to use a specialized format that is only 
> supported within a realm of resources?  Is this a hedge 
> against new formats in the future?

All of the above!

Allowing a resource to contract to provide multiple sets of metadata
gives us more flexibility. A resource which provides a multi-faceted
service can contract to provide metadata on all the types of service it
offers. We can subdivide the sets of metadata more finely (if we want)
making it less likely that resources will have to put N/A in many of the
fields. A user/agent can select the MFs to be returned thus providing
only relevant information. And, yes, it provides more flexibility for
the future.

Cheers,
Tony. 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ray Plante [mailto:rplante at poplar.ncsa.uiuc.edu] 
> Sent: 05 June 2003 23:07
> To: Tony Linde
> Cc: registry at ivoa.net
> Subject: RE: Resources = services!
> ...