Re: Central vs. Distributed Archives

From: Steve Hitchcock <sh94r_at_ECS.SOTON.AC.UK>
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 22:08:09 +0000

At 21:29 02/11/00 +0000, Stevan Harnad wrote:
> > Obviously I'm not a conservative offering rationales for inaction.
> > And my worry is not "a priori". NCSTRL and MPRESS are two long-standing
> > attempts at standards-based fragmented interoperability. Neither one
> > has as much readership as the younger, fully integrated math arXiv.
>
>They pre-dated OAI and Eprints. Have just a bit more patience; but be
>prepared to set aside prior prejudices or you will obstruct precisely
>what we both want to facilitate!

NCSTRL was effectively the model for OAi. Greg Kuperberg suggests that
NCSTRL has not been successful. It would be useful to have some meaningful
measure of whether NCSTRL has been successful or not, and to hear the views
of the NCSTRL developers (who are also involved in OAi). Maybe real
evidence will yield clues to the ultimate destiny of OAi - central or
distributed.

The Harnad-Kuperberg dialogue has been fascinating but, to my mind, hasn't
resolved the issue conclusively. It will be critical to understand what the
user wants.

Steve
Received on Mon Jan 24 2000 - 19:17:43 GMT