>Netscape's spec for RDM (Resource Description Messages) has finally shown
>up on the W3C web site, as a note (their drafts generally are available at
>http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/ --- this took a little longer than one might
>like, but I think some of the delay may well have been w3c-internal). The
>specific URL for the current RDM draft is:
>
> http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/NOTE-rdm.html
Thats great. Darren mentioned the URL for it awhile ago, as well as some
other RDM URL's, but the w3 draft wasn't up.
>The general intent of this is to allow a site to advertise a specific
>table of contents, to direct robots in more specific ways than a
>robots.txt file would allow, and to support queries of the form
>"what's new on your site *generally* since [date]?", which would allow
>indexing engines to do a full-spectrum update without subjecting sites
>to a blizzard of if-modified-since requests (which are mostly
>pointless --- but the indexer has no way to know in advance which ones
>are pointless...).
I think it could also be used as a good model for developing a software
demand/supply agent system. A user agent queries information servers, using
RDM, and then recieves and processes the URL's. The server component does not
only accept requests, but also new submissions from trusted robots.
>It's also worth noting that this represents at least a step on their
>part away from standardization-by-fiat. FWIW, some Netscape folks are
>actually interested in having us support it --- anyone care to have a
>look?
I'm definately interested in RDM, and provided there isn't some copyright/legal
restriction, I'll be using RDM in a robot/server project coming up. If RDM
changes, or is scrapped, thats fine by me.... but I'll continue using it unless
there is something really revolutionary in its place.
*Hopefully* I'll be able to release publically the source for the RDM server as
well by the end of the year (fingers crossed for luck), so if anyone is
interested, drop me a note.
Regards,
David
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David Reilly,
Computer Programmer, dodo@fan.net.au
http://www.fan.net.au/~dodo s1523@sand.it.bond.edu.au
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