I was recently reading the wikipedia article for Archival Resource Keys
(ARKs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_Resource_Key), and there was a
bit of functionality that a resource is supposed to deliver that we don't
in our system, nor do any other systems that I've seen that implement ARK
URIs.

From the article:

"An ARK contains the label *ark:* after the URL's hostname, which sets the
expectation that, when submitted to a web browser, the URL terminated by
'?' returns a brief metadata record, and the URL terminated by '??' returns
metadata that includes a commitment statement from the current service
provider."

Looking at the official documentation (
https://confluence.ucop.edu/display/Curation/ARK), they provided an example
of http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf5p30086k? which is supposed to return
something called an Electronic Resource Citation, but it doesn't work.
Probably because, and correct me if I'm wrong, using question marks in a
URL in this way doesn't really work in HTTP.

So, has anyone successfully implemented this? Is it even worth it? I'm not
sure I can even implement this in my own architecture.

Maybe it would be better to recommend a standard set of request parameters
that actually work in REST?

Ethan