[Rockhounds] I D Numbers when cataloging

[Alan Silverstein]

More good thoughts from JR and others.  Carrying on a bit farther,
admittedly on a philosophical tangent...

> ...I have seen many schemes devised by scientists to embed data into
> identification numbers.  This is a misuse of the ID number, which
> should only be a unique identifier.

Yes, within an "identifiable namespace" which provides the context
needed to interpret the identifier.  This relates to the profound saying
that, "There's no such thing as a context-free message."

Still, lots of people, not just scientists, try to embed information in
identifiers (also sometimes called "signatures") of various kinds.  It
seems to be human nature.  Just look at all the lengthy, cryptic model
and serial numbers on products out there.

The problem is that this makes identifiers longer and harder to deal
with, somewhat more rigid (the key-value incorrectness problem already
stated), and opens the door to a quandary.  Which bits of information
are WORTH encoding in the identifier, and which are not?  It depends on
the usage context!  And, what's the value of any encoding, if the reader
doesn't know how to decode it?

For example, vehicle identification numbers are long and unwieldy, but I
guess the generation scheme is at least open-ended (it won't run out of
"IP addresses" in any foreseeable future), and VINs do carry some info
directly to people who know how to interpret them.  But when you want to
label a rock specimen as unobtrusively as possible, what
meta-information is worth encoding in the identifier, that adds anything
at all?  Even "F" for fossil begs the question -- can't you usually tell
that by inspection?

I could imagine that "R" for radioactive, "T" for toxic, "L" for
light-sensitive, etc, might be worth encoding.  BUT, even THOSE bits
need not strictly be part of the identifier.  Rather, they can be
optional additional on-site tags NOT bound to the identifier.

Over all, what's important is to put some thought into the process,
before you get serious and spend a lot of time on it.  The world is full
of ill-considered but nonetheless immutable standards.

Cheers,
Alan Silverstein