[OAI] Re: Central vs. Distributed Archives

[Steve Hitchcock]

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