Sample case

A representation of a CD can be seen as different things, depending on perspective.

For general searching and browsing, a CD is a collection of ordered files (tracks) and unordered files (cover), with some references (lyrics, band) and some metadata.

For general searching and browsing, a CD is also a work (or maybe entity?). An object that can stand for itself. A core object.

For nice presentation, a CD needs to be identified as a CD, so than the presentational layer knows to look for a tracklist, that can be shown with appropriate formatting.

The OO way

A CD could be a CD, extending a Work, extending a Collection, extending an Object.

We do not know of any current digital repository solutions, that supports this.

Hierarchical naming

Whether we specify IDs or types for objects, we can dictate that they should be named a certain way. Types or a similar construct are preferable, so that it can be updated, if our hierarchy changes.

A CD could then have the type Collection.Work.CD.

Potential problems with searching arises, since it requires the searcher to be able to search for the beginning of strings. It it not necessary to be able to search for substrings in general, as a CD will always have the type Collection.Work.CD.

Note: Is it true, that we don't need substringsearch? Will we always have a strict hierarchy? Don't we want tagging instead?

Tagging

As above, but without ordering. If we're using Dublin Core, we could put this in the type field?