[uf-new] ISBN, ISSN and the case for moving forward now

[Brian Suda]

On 3/18/07, Scott Reynen <scott at makedatamakesense.com> wrote:
> On Mar 18, 2007, at 8:40 AM, Brian Suda wrote:
>
> > ISBNs are special cases of unique identifiers. We do NOT need to
> > invent a system specifically to ISBNs, ISSN, ISBN-10, ISBN-13, etc....
> > microformats solve a GENERAL problem, not a specific one.
>
> I disagree with this as stated.  The microformat principles clearly
> state "solve a specific problem."  We should, however, solve a
> *specific problem* with a *general solution*, to allow for
> "modularity / embeddability" (another principle), which I hope is
> what Brian was trying to communicate.

--- correct. With things like Reviews we choose to create hReview and
not hBookReview or hConcertReview. ISBN is a unique identifer, UIDs
solve this problem.

> This looks like it will solve this specific problem:
>
> <div class="uid"><span class="type">ISBN</span>: <span
> class="value">123456</span></div>

--- much akin to IM names, we can also explore using the protocol to
describe the TYPE.
<a href="isbn://123456">A book</a>

> I agree that the ISBN page should be edited to explore using a
> technique already established in the work on citations.  But I see no
> harm, and a lot of good, in exploring how this technique applies
> specifically to ISBNs on a separate page, just as we explored using
> hCalendar for marking up operating hours on a separate page:
>
> http://microformats.org/wiki/operating-hours

correct, UID is a subset of hCards just like Opening-hours is a subset
of hCalendar. I think we should NOT further fragment UID into
ISBN/ISSN/XYZ they are all Unique Identifers. We SHOULD make the UID
page more 'findable' and it should encompass things such as ISBNs, but
i don't think we need to duplicate efforts for each individual TYPE of
UID. We don't have individual pages for TEL TYPE FAX so why have pages
for UID TYPE ISBN? By keeping all the UID types together at the UID
page we can (hopefully) help the next person find information better
when they want to mark-up things like their Nintendo DS code for the
world to see, or other unique identifers. Things like MD5 and SHA-1
hashs for downloads also fall into the category of UID and NOT their
own formats.

This is certainly worth exploring, but re-use is best.

-brian


-- 
brian suda
http://suda.co.uk