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Alexander Johannesen wrote: > > One question we haven't asked is if we really need a MIME type for MARCXML. :) > PPS: Yes, it has been asked, and it's pretty obvious to me that we do. Because I write lots of software that will be fetching MARCXML from the web, and needs to know what it's got. Much of this software is capable of fetching information in many formats, or even arbitrarily in any format, which doesn't mean it'll know what to _do_ with any arbitrary format. It needs to identify the content type and decide if it knows what to do with it. [One example is OpenURL rft_ref]. If you start to come up with reasons why you don't need an Internet Content Type (nee MIME Type) to identify what arbitrary content is, then please see the Appendix A to RFC 3023, where they provide easily readable and compelling arguments for why a Content Type makes this _much_ more convenient, reliable, and efficient. As someone contemplating writing such software, I agree with their arguments. Jonathan > > Alex > -- > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Project Wrangler, SOA, Information Alchemist, UX, RESTafarian, Topic Maps > ------------------------------------------ http://shelter.nu/blog/ -------- > >