Hi,
You will find many different opinions on this and the debate goes back
years. Simplifying it a bit, I would say that the Handle System is a
heavier weight solution that offers more capability over time but
requires some added effort. An short analysis that has been frequently
quoted over the course of the debate can be found here:
http://web.mit.edu/handle/www/purl-eval.html
In both cases the item identifier can be generated by the user, if by
user you mean the person who is responsible for the identifier. Both
assume that id persistence over time depends on organizational
commitment, i.e., someone will be responsible to keep things working.
You may want to look at DOI, which is an implementation of the Handle
System with a built-in organizational back-up component - its a
consortial arrangement such that if some organization decides to stop
maintaining its identifiers, the consortium adopts them - no orphans.
Beyond the charge for a domain name, which you may already be paying,
there are no fees associated with PURLs. There is a small charge to
support the root of the Handle System. PURL doesn't have a root outside
of DNS - as you'll see in the reference above, a big difference is that
the Handle System can be run completely independently of DNS. So in that
sense it is a much different system, much less a tool for managing
things in the current web environment and much more a fundamental
approach to persistent identification of digital objects in a networked
environment.
I'm sure others can offer opinions. You may want to ask someone who uses
PURL. There may or may not be any PURL users reading this list.
Larry
On Sep 22, 2007, at 12:43 PM, Carlos Narváez wrote:
Hi,
Can someone please advice me on the pros and cons between Handle
System and PURL dealing with relocated items, and if the item
identifier can be generated by the user.
Thanks.
--
Carlos Narváez
http://www.juegopixel.com
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