Graham.Cameron@embl.bitnet ("Graham Cameron, ext. 257") (01/30/91)
Dear Colleagues, The issue of what format(s) should be made available for ftp, dailyish updates, on CD-ROM's, magtapes or carved in granite is of great interest to EMBL. We have been giving a lot of thought to the issues raised in the recent round of banter on this topic. 1. The EMBL format as delivered is actually supposed to be of some use: we didn't design it in an attempt to make life difficult for software producers. We'd be much happier if software used the data as they get them rather than changing them into their own thing. It's clear however that the consensus is that the data need to be reformatted before use. Some reasons are clear: e.g., compression, avoidance of having to wade through annotation to get to the real business etc. We'll certainly try to be responsive to suggestions as to how the distribution format might be modified to make it more usable. 2. The streets are not paved with gold at EMBL. It'd cost us just as much as anyone else to keep umpteen copies of the data in different formats. However, it is our job to supply the data as usefully as possible. 3. We cannot be partisan - simply to supply the data in the format suitable for our favourite commercial package would be invite wrath from people who disagree with us and from other software producers. 4. An approach we have discussed in the past is to give any software producer the chance to give us a filter through which an EMBL entry can be pushed to produce what they need. It could then be an option in file-server requests to ask for the entries to come in "Nifty-SEQ" format or whatever is available. 5. Production of releases in other formats could perhaps go the same way, but poses a few problems. We'd be unlikely to want to do the conversion on the fly. Producing a couple of hundred tapes is time consuming enough without adding anything else to it so we'd probably have to store all the formats distributed. Also specific s/w producers' customisations might render our documentation invalid but we'd be reluctant to shuffle lots of bits of paper for them. Clearly the CD mastering is another matter - we can't support lots of formats, but even here we could envisage a system whereby s/w producers provide the tools to produce a CD in their own format (and pick up the bill for mastering). In summary: - We'd like our format to be usable - tell us why it's not. - If s/w producers could provide the filters, different formats as a fileserver option is not difficult. - Production of magtapes in various formats could be done similarly but it'd cost us more. - CD's are in some senses the most difficult and the s/w producers would have to pick up the tab. Graham. Graham Cameron Phone +49 (06221) 387257 Group Leader Telex 461613 (embl d) The EMBL Data Library Telefax +49 (6221) 387306 European Molecular Biology Laboratory Postfach 10.2209 Meyerhofstrasse 1 Network(reply to) cameron@embl.bitnet 6900 Heidelberg General enquiries datalib@embl.bitnet Germany Data submissions datasubs@embl.bitnet