Re: [Discuss-DOI] Reference Linking: A Note on Syntax

[Eric Hellman <eric@hellman.net>]

At 8:02 PM +0000 3/22/99, Mark Bide wrote:
>The distinction between digital and physical manifestations of a work may
>be a difficult one and is certainly in need of clarification.
>
>Let us put that one on one side for a moment. The distinction between an
>abstract work and *any* manifestation of that work is a crucial one. If you
>doubt me, ask your lawyer.
>

It may be crucial, but it is still arbitrary. Lawyers are good at arguing
that gray is black or that gray is white, but they don't change the color.

Different applications will need to draw the arbitrary line in different
places.

A UPC code doesn't tell you whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. The
tomato metadata for international tariff applications may say it's a
vegetable, and the tomato metadata for botany may say it's a fruit.

Show me an application where zero abstraction is desired in identifying a
digital object, and I'll show you an application for hash code identifiers,
not DOI's.

Eric
Eric Hellman
Openly Informatics, Inc.
http://www.openly.com/           Tools for 21st Century Scholarly Publishing

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