[uf-new] Currency Proposal (and Measurements)

[Manu Sporny]

Emil Thies wrote:
> Dear Andy Mabbett (and others who are interested in the Currency
> Proposal and/or Measurements),

Hi Emil,

You raised quite a number of good points on the list concerning a
measurement uF. Unfortunately, they were met with some pretty harsh
criticism and I think you deserve better than that.

Just in case some of the comments back from the list have been less than
helpful (or rude):

What they are getting at is that you haven't defined your "problem
statement". What particular problem are you trying to solve? It's
important to define this as it focuses everybody's energies on a
particular problem. Here's an example of what could become your problem
statement:

"Measurements of all kinds are used widely on the Web. They permeate
scientific papers, electronic commerce sites, hobbyist message boards,
and many information sites. A standard mechanism is needed to describe
measurements including values, units and scale such as: 5 m/s, 8,300 kg,
$5.30, and 7/8ths of an inch."

You were proposing (whether you knew it or not) a new microformat for
measurements (not a design pattern). It has been started:

http://microformats.org/wiki/measure

But somebody needs to do some serious work on it. You shouldn't be
afraid to take a shot at it - you've demonstrated that you can think
critically about the problem. If you're worried about messing something
up - just add to the page, don't delete anything.

I think your proposal is brilliant and it is unfortunate that some of
the others didn't take the time to understand what you were proposing
and help you along. Give them a problem statement and don't propose it
as a design pattern - that'll calm them down a bit.

-- manu