Z39.50 versus XML

[Stan Blum]

At 10:11 AM 3/13/01 -0500, Richard Zander wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jim Croft" <jrc at ANBG.GOV.AU>
>To: <TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG>
>Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 7:17 AM
>Subject: Re: a grandiose but (hopefully) practical idea
>
> > I don't like Zbig, not because the idea is flawed, but because it is based
> > on Z39.50, and none of my applications can use it...  now, if they were to
> > go down the XML route, we could upgrade browsers and start to party...
>
>A few details about how databases might be implemented in XML  to do much
>the same as Zbig would be real interesting, Jim. Could you give us a
>reference or a hint?

To clarify this a bit, XML and Z39.50 are not comparable standards.  Z39.50
can transport data in XML format, and actually does in the current ZBIG /
Species Analyst network.  What would make Jim Croft happier, I suspect, is
to implement ZBIG and similar systems using HTTP, the standard protocol
underlying the Web.  I'm fairly certain the ZBIG / Species Analyst work is
heading that direction, AND I believe the switch will be relatively
transparent.  In other words, a user won't see any difference between data
contributed via Z39.50 versus HTTP.  From the provider's prospective, it
will be a relatively simple matter of installing new software, entering the
correct parameters into a configuration file, and re-registering themselves
with the portal.  (There may be differences in speed, but that remains to
be seen.)

Also of note: the "Red Mundial de Informacion sobre Biodivesidad" (REMIB)
network (from CONABIO) uses HTTP but a simpler delimited file format; and
the incipient "European Natural History Specimen Information Network"
(ENHSIN) uses HTTP and XML.

Species Analyst (ZBIG): http://habanero.nhm.ukans.edu/TSA/
REMIB:  http://www.conabio.gob.mx/remib/remib.html
ENHSIN: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/science/rco/enhsin/

Bottom line:  don't let changes in protocol deter you -- technology will
always be in a state of flux.  We need to make (and keep) data capture and
"data publication" among the top priorities in systematics.

-Stan

----------------------------------------------
Stanley D. Blum, Ph.D.
Research Information Manager
California Academy of Sciences
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