Should we register each individual MIME type or a family?

[Ned Freed]

> I work with NENA, the North American Number Association.  We're engaged
> in a standards effort for "Next Generation 9-1-1", moving the emergency
> call system to an IP network.  Our work is based on IETF work, and uses
> SIP Event Notification (RFC3265).  We need to define event packages for
> use within private IP networks connecting public safety agencies, and we
> do not expect use of these packages to escape into the wild.

> As a practical matter, defining an event package means defining one or
> more XML structures that are passed in the event subscription and/or
> notification.  These structures are passed in SIP bodies, and thus need
> MIME types, typically within the application tree.  We will request
> registration using a prefix of vnd.nena.

> My question is whether to register each of these MIME types individually
> with IANA, or register a subtree (vnd.nena.ng911) and create a registry
> in NENA for the subtree (vnd.nena.ng911.queuestate).

Registration of an entire subtree is not allowed, so this option is not
available.

> I would appreciate
> advise on that subject.  We would expect a dozen or so event packages.

We've had registrations of several dozen of types at once by some submitters,
so a dozen is not a big deal.

> We will also need some other MIME types for other SIP related use, for
> which similar issues apply.  NENA is creating a registry management
> service not unlike a very small IANA, that could manage the subname
> space if that was deemed appropriate.

Again, that's not how the process works.

				Ned