Seems like your link abstraction layer should be baked into your system,
so the URL your users see in the location bar IS the one that your link
abstraction layer is handling and you are committing to persisting.
There's no reason a URL has to begin with 'purl.org' to be part of a
persisting abstraction layer, neccesarily. If your URL is
http://myapp.myuniversity.edu/record/12345, then you can change systems
all you want, the new system just still needs to be addressable at that
URI, and still needs to know what /record/12345 is.
But yeah, we've often got to deal with software written by other people
that doesn't do that.
On 1/26/2011 5:01 PM, Shearer, Timothy J wrote:
> Peter, are you opposed to an abstraction layer in principle? My reading
> of your response is that there's an assumption that there is one "system"
> and that it will work in perpetuity. We are in the unfortunate but I
> think fairly common position of having multiple systems, of aspiring to
> pare that down, and fully expectant that we'll need to migrate at some
> point even if we find perfection in the near to mid term. Having a link
> abstraction layer would make those transitions easier on our users, and on
> the world of linked data in general.
>
> Tim
>
>
> On 1/26/11 4:51 PM, "Peter Murray"<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> On Jan 26, 2011, at 3:24 PM, Erik Hetzner wrote:
>>> At Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:57:42 -0600,
>>> Pottinger, Hardy J. wrote:
>>>> Hi, this topic has come up for discussion with some of my
>>>> colleagues, and I was hoping to get a few other perspectives. For a
>>>> public interface to a repository and/or digital library, would you
>>>> make the handle/PURL an active hyperlink, or just provide the URL in
>>>> text form? And why?
>>>>
>>>> My feeling is, making the URL an active hyperlink implies confidence
>>>> in the PURL/Handle, and provides the user with functionality they
>>>> expect of a hyperlink (right or option-click to copy, or bookmark).
>>> A permanent URL should be displayed in the address bar of the useršs
>>> browser. Then, when users do what they are going to do anyway (select
>>> the link in the address bar& copy it), it will work.
>> ...which is why I intensely dislike Handles and PURLs. Man-up
>> (person-up? byte-up?) and make a long-term commitment to own the URLs you
>> mint with your digital asset management system.
>>
>>
>> Peter
>> --
>> Peter Murray [log in to unmask] tel:+1-678-235-2955
>>
>> Ass't Director, Technology Services Development http://dltj.org/about/
>> Lyrasis -- Great Libraries. Strong Communities. Innovative Answers.
>> The Disruptive Library Technology Jester http://dltj.org/
>> Attrib-Noncomm-Share http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
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