[DDI-users] A "home" for the DDI

[Mark R. Diggory]

Matthew Richardson wrote:

> I think one good thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the problems 
> Mark and I-Lin are discussing really stem from the fact that the DDI 
> really hasn't made the leap from DTD to XML Schema yet. Currently the 
> DTD *is* the specification, and the Schema version are treated something 
> as an afterthought. As such, version control of the schema just isn't 
> being given much attention.
> 
> Not that it really solves this discussion, but I do think the DDI needs 
> to begin serious consideration to moving to a schema-centered approach.
> 

Matt,

I agree, on the VDC project we have been moving toward the usage of the 
Schemas over the DTD's for some time now. The tools that can be applied 
to Schemas are more powerful and useful from a webapplication 
development standpoint. Providing services that can use DDI's requires 
them to also be capable of working with the "conformance" related issues 
such as validation, structural modification and the ability to mix in 
content that may not necessarily be conformant from a DTD standpoint.

The strongest example of this is the ability to embed DDI content within 
the OAI Metadata Harvesting protocol. Its important to have a 
technically useful implementation of the DDI spec in relation to the 
tools it is going to be used with in the community.

-Mark Diggory