On Mon, 25 Nov 2002, Adrian Midgley wrote: > On Monday 25 November 2002 06:00, you wrote: > > > > What compromises for expediency are present in OIO? > > > > Glad you asked :-). We have been discussing OIO's database schema over the > > last week or so. The main thrust of the discussion surrounds OIO's use of > > lots of tables, rather than few tables with lots of rows. > > There seemed to me to be a larger one in the storage of forms, with the lack > of a data dictionary making it unfeasible to share records across multiple > systems and places.
Hi Adrian, Good point. The "data dictionary" function is provided by the OIO Library. From the "concise" project description at http://www.TxOutcome.Org: "The major components of the OIO system are the web-accessible OIO Server and OIO Library. ... OIO Library is a metadata repository that facilitates the sharing of metadata (e.g. plug-and-play web-forms, project descriptions) between users and between OIO Servers." I do not call the OIO Library a "data dictionary" because data dictionary is often used to constrain / define the "acceptable" data elements / metadata. We are no where close to wanting to do that. We just want to catalog, organize, and share them for now. :-) > But the creation of record and form is very handy - expedient. Thanks! You have found the carrot. If it is handy and expedient enough, people may be willing to use it. The side-effect is the creation of exchangeable, re-usable, adequately documented meta-data. :-) > Thrusts in the UK are toward interoperability. and this requires such > dictionaries to be shared and is helped by an underlying ontology. My view is that using even a tiny carrot will be much more successful than using a stick of any size. :-) What "handy and expedient" tools (or scary stick) are you prepared to offer in return for being constrained by UK's "comprehensive and up-to-date" data dictionary? Best regards, Andrew --- Andrew P. Ho, M.D. OIO: Open Infrastructure for Outcomes www.TxOutcome.Org (hosting OIO Library #1 and OSHCA Mirror #1)
