Interoperability and the Exchange of Humanly Usable Digital Content

Throughout this book, it has been clearly articulated that the emergence and use of schemas and standards are increasingly important to the effective functioning of research networks. However, what is also equally emphasised is the danger posed if the use of schemas and standards results in excessive and negative system constraints – a means of exerting unhelpful control over distributed research activities. However, how realistically can a balance be facilitated between the positive benefits derived in the course of centralised coordination through the use standards versus the benefits from allowing self-organisation and emergence to prevail at the edge of organisational networks?In this chapter, we set out to explore how differing approaches to such problems are actually finding expression in the world. To do this, we have engaged in a detailed comparison of three different transformation systems, including the CGML system discussed at length in the previous chapter. We caution against any premature standardisation on any system due to externalities associated with, for example, the semantic web itself.