Jonathan Rochkind writes
> Great, I'm glad you're already doing it. If you can bring your
> project to the scope of OAIster, and add some improvemetns, I'll
> certainly use it.
I won't make it an end-user service, only a collection to be used by
others. I give you an rsynced copy. I sent the key earlier.
I may still decide to use the BASE collection, but I am not
sure that they will provide me with something that I can work
with.
> However, we all know how we'd LIKE universities to behave, but none of us
> are in charge of universities.
No, but we can develop projects that will eventually bring
us a reliable infrastructure. RePEc has close to 1100 archives
contributed by university departments and research centers.
> And Thomas, what's going to happen to your project when you retire,
> get laid off, or unexpectedly become unable to work upon it?
It is an old story. When RePEc started, folks asked "what will
happen when Thomas falls under a bus"? Forecasting my own mortality,
I have been gathering disciples to take over parts of the system,
thus eventually making myself completely dispensible. I still do a
lot of system administration; I manage the NEP service, the OAI
interface, I crack the hard nuts at the author registration service,
do the DNS and some other things. I am a general dogsbody. People
complain when things don't work. I am a bit scatterbrained and
arguably not the best system administrator and programmer on this
planet. To sum up, if I fall under a bus, the disciples will not
cheer. They are polite. But it will be no big deal.
> Can I base my own services on it knowing that it's reasonably likely
> to continue if one of those things happens?
I can offer you a copy of the data set, and all the scripts to
manipulate it, updated every night. On my last night, you have my
last copy. Then you can do what you want with it. With a DNS change
and possibly some minor local changes, you will be able to succeed
me.
Cheers,
Thomas Krichel http://openlib.org/home/krichel
RePEc:per:1965-06-05:thomas_krichel
skype: thomaskrichel
Received on Wed Sep 23 2009 - 23:36:48 EDT