On 05/12/2007, Jonathan Rochkind <rochkind_at_jhu.edu> wrote:
> Alexander Johannesen wrote:
> > Hmm, how about a PDF version? If two PDFs are binary clones, what is
> > an item? I think all this talk about physical books is perhaps
> > confusing us, and also might be a flaw in FRBR worth investigating.
> >
> What makes most sense to me is to say those are two different items, of
> the same manifestation. After all, items of the same manifestation in
> general (even print) are expected to be physically distinct but
> more-or-less identical, for the purposes of a certain community.
Mmm. Three freshly-bought paperback copies of "Of Mice and Men" from
the same print run are different items, even though to distinguish one
from the other would require a pretty detailed forensic study.
Your two PDF files... well, they have different URLs, right? They
can't both be at http://text.example.com/archive/example.pdf - they'd
be the same file then. They're identical but they exist in different
"places", they're different items.
They just happen to be a special kind of item that can be replicated
perfectly without any effort whatsoever, which thankfully for the
publishing industry can't be said for paperbacks!
--
- Andrew Gray
andrew.gray_at_dunelm.org.uk
Received on Thu Dec 06 2007 - 12:05:00 EST