Design then Create

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In all cases a good deal of time and effort needs to be put into the 
design process, before one devlopes (i.e. comes up with solutions for any 
problem space).  A Universal Service needs lots of topics designed including:

1. A standard interface
2. A standard collection structure
3. A standard policy for availability and housing
4. A standard for Administrative qualifications
5. Standardized metadata models

In this manner the system will be usable internally and externally.  In 
addition cooperating sites will be able to interoperate (share 
information).  If care is not taken at the start to provide everyone with 
rules to follow, it will become just another form of the adhoc, creative, 
and hard to follow format which the WWW has become.  

Work should be geared towards automation whenever possible, the system 
should not have to employ cadres of specialist as it grows.  It needs to 
be dynamically generated pages using an easy to follow high level 
interface for Administrators and an intuitive one for end users.  
Scalability should be incorporated at the start (i.e. it should rely upon 
a stable under-lying database which can handle massive amounts of data, 
and can be distributed for browsing/searching).

Just a technical $0.02 worth, whom has been working with these issues for 
the past few years using the WWW.  Realizing theres much more than 
mentioned which needs to be designed before a step is taken towards 
implementation.

Bob Terry

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• Previous message: George H. Brett II: "my initial two cents"