W3C | Architecture Domain | Web Architecture
on the tension between reliability and scalability
taken from old research notebook
another source: reliabe links
see also: metadata architecture
The acceptable level of reliability will vary between applications, and even between users. A reliable system is one in which any party may achive arbitrarily high reliability by investing sufficient resources.
The defintion of "success" will vary as well. Successful link traversal generally means finding a resource with perfect precision and recall, and retrieving an authentic representation of the resource in a timely fashion.
Metadata has two main functions:
WAIS through the Web - About Metadata
- to provide a means to discover that the data set exists and how it might be obtained or accessed; and
- to document the content, quality, and features of a data set and so give an indication of its fitness for use.
The question arises: whence comes the list of attributes? What's the expressive capability, structure, and meaning of attribute values?
We can look to directory systems like DCE CDS, Prospero and X.500, or to frame-based knowledge bases like Algernon and Lincks.