Is the Open Archives Initiative only concerned with metadata?
The current OAI technical infrastructure, which is specified in the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, defines a mechanism for data providers to expose their metadata. There is nothing in the OAI mission that restricts the work of the OAI to metadata alone. However, we are guided by the goal to define a low-barrier and widely applicable framework for cross-repository interoperability and believe that exposing metadata is plausible route to such a goal. We may, in the future, explore and define other mechanisms for interoperability.
The current OAI technical infrastructure, which is specified in the Open Archives Metadata Harvesting Protocol, defines a mechanism for data providers to expose their metadata through an HTTP-based protocol. There is nothing in the OAI mission that restricts the work of the OAI to metadata alone. However, we are guided by the goal to define a low-barrier and widely applicable framework for cross-repository interoperability and believe that exposing metadata is plausible route to such a goal. We may, in the future, explore and define other mechanisms for interoperability.
