A small demo example for what "open development" could do:
http://www.biblio.tu-bs.de/db/wtr/content.htm Using modest, no-frills tools and designs, this offers browsing by rule number, rule title, core elements, and keyword (all words from all rules). Appendices are not included. If you want to jump in directly to, say, rule 1.6.3, just say http://www.biblio.tu-bs.de/db/wtr/page.php?urG=PAR&urS=1.6.3 This is _just_ for _demonstration_ purposes. It will be of little use after the full software becomes available, and will then be withdrawn. Presentation of rule texts is suboptimal, and it is not possible to download any of it in a format usable by other software. There are inaccuracies and some chapters are omitted. The important parts are the browsable indexes. OTOH, it would be possible to link from this presentation into the finalized online version, provided it comes with an open linking interface. Of course, lots more and a lot of very different and much better things might be brought about by open development! There's a big chance here to really open up to the metasphere at large. If, however, open development should be excluded due to a reluctance to make rule texts available for at least non-commercial re-use, as it is with AACR2, success of RDA will be impeded and even a split of the catalog sphere may very likely become unavoidable. This may well turn out the most crucial stumbling block on the road to acceptance and implementation. Esp., closed source text will hardly be accepted in the DC arena, and that means the DC-RDA collaboration and the outreach to "other communities" will remain academic or pie-in-the-sky. B.Eversberg
