[jats-list] 3. The reason you think JATS works

["Debbie Lapeyre dalapeyre@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> 3. The reason you think JATS works or doesn't work.


JATS works because (with rare, and usually regretted, exceptions) 
JATS DOES NOT LEAD, it follows publishing practice.

When JATS was being planned, we looked at many ways to organize 
journal articles and journal article metadata. 
For example, if we could imagine 5 ways to model something 
(call these techniques a, b, c, d, and e), we learned that 
(for 'publisher' in the following list, read 'publisher/archive/
webhost/platform"):

- 8% of publishers did not tag this data at all. 
- 85% of publishers used technique "a".
- 2 publishers used technique "b"  (a clearly superior technique)
- 4 publishers used technique "c" or a "c/d" hybrid (and used
    them very badly).
- Nobody used the perfectly logical, to us, technique "e" 
AND
- One publisher did something we had never imagined, some
    of them horrible, some absolutely brilliant!

So, did we use either of the brilliant, clearly  technically
superior solutions? No, We did not. We did what the 85% of
publishers did. Easier for all users all around.

JATS does not lead, it follows current publishing practice. 

--Debbie

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Deborah A Lapeyre              mailto:dalapeyre@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.      http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street         Phone: 301-315-9631 (USA)
Suite 207                        Fax:   301-315-8385
Rockville, MD 20850
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