diff --git a/agent/crawl/base.py b/agent/crawl/base.py
index 188b481..738bfc1 100644
--- a/agent/crawl/base.py
+++ b/agent/crawl/base.py
@@ -61,16 +61,18 @@ class Resource(object):
 
     implements(IResource)
 
+    data = file = path = None
+    type = 'sample'
+    contentType = 'text/plain'
+    encoding = ''
     application = 'sample'
+    metadata = None
 
-    def __init__(self, data=None, file=None, path=None, application=None,
-                 metadata=None):
-        self.data = data
-        self.file = file
-        self.path = path
-        if application:
-            self.application = application
-        self.metadata = metadata
+    def __init__(self, data=None, **kw):
+        if data is not None:
+            self.data = data
+        for k, v in kw.items():
+            setattr(self, k, v)
         self.subResources = []
 
 
@@ -79,8 +81,7 @@ class Metadata(dict):
     implements(IMetadataSet)
 
     def __init__(self, data=dict()):
-        for k in data:
-            self[k] = data[k]
+        self.update(data)
 
     def asXML(self):
         # TODO...
diff --git a/agent/crawl/filesystem.py b/agent/crawl/filesystem.py
index 690486f..cead352 100644
--- a/agent/crawl/filesystem.py
+++ b/agent/crawl/filesystem.py
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ from cybertools.agent.crawl.base import Crawler
 from cybertools.agent.util.task import coiterate
 
 
-
 class FilesystemCrawler(Crawler):
 
     def collect(self):
@@ -67,7 +66,7 @@ class FilesystemCrawler(Crawler):
             meta = dict(
                 path=filename,
             )
-            self.collected.append(FileResource(filename, Metadata(meta)))
+            self.collected.append(FileResource(path=filename, metadata=Metadata(meta)))
             yield None
 
 agents.register(FilesystemCrawler, Master, name='crawl.filesystem')
@@ -75,13 +74,12 @@ agents.register(FilesystemCrawler, Master, name='crawl.filesystem')
 
 class FileResource(Resource):
 
-    def __init__(self, path, metadata=None):
-        self.path = path
-        self.metadata = metadata
-
+    type = 'file'
     application = 'filesystem'
 
     @property
     def data(self):
-        return open(self.path, 'r')
-
+        f = open(self.path, 'r')
+        text = f.read()
+        f.close()
+        return text
diff --git a/agent/crawl/filesystem.txt b/agent/crawl/filesystem.txt
index 2755c99..5783e1b 100644
--- a/agent/crawl/filesystem.txt
+++ b/agent/crawl/filesystem.txt
@@ -38,5 +38,5 @@ the twisted reactor first.
   Job 00001 completed; result: [..., ...];
 
   >>> r0 = controller.result[0]
-  >>> r0.metadata, r0.data.read()
+  >>> r0.metadata, r0.data
   ({'path': '...file1.txt'}, 'Data from file1.txt')
diff --git a/agent/crawl/mail.py b/agent/crawl/mail.py
index 78a7b5a..b9f0857 100644
--- a/agent/crawl/mail.py
+++ b/agent/crawl/mail.py
@@ -59,9 +59,11 @@ class MailCrawler(Crawler):
     def login(self):
         pass
 
+agents.register(MailCrawler, Master, name='crawl.mail')
+
 
 class MailResource(Resource):
 
-    application = 'outlook'
+    type = 'email'
+    application = 'mailclient'
 
-agents.register(MailCrawler, Master, name='crawl.mail')
diff --git a/agent/crawl/outlook.py b/agent/crawl/outlook.py
index 95086ea..878c5fd 100644
--- a/agent/crawl/outlook.py
+++ b/agent/crawl/outlook.py
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ class OutlookCrawler(MailCrawler):
                 # Create the mime email object
                 msg = self.createEmailMime(record)
                 # Create a resource and append it to the result list
-                self.createResource(msg, folder, "Microsoft Office Outlook")
+                self.createResource(msg, application='outlook')
                 yield None
 
     def login(self):
diff --git a/agent/interfaces.py b/agent/interfaces.py
index e602972..2d87d18 100644
--- a/agent/interfaces.py
+++ b/agent/interfaces.py
@@ -214,6 +214,12 @@ class IResource(Interface):
                     'None if the data or file attribute is given.')
     identifier = Attribute('A string (usually derived from the path) that '
                     'uniquely identifies the resource.')
+    type = Attribute('A string denoting the type of the resource, e.g. '
+                    '"file" or "email".')
+    contentType = Attribute('A string denoting the MIME type of the data, '
+                    'e.g. "text/plain" or "application/octet-stream"')
+    encoding = Attribute('Optional: a string denoting the encoding of the '
+                    'file data, e.g. "UTF-8".')
     application = Attribute('The name of the application that provided '
                     'the resource, e.g. "filesystem" or "mail".')
     metadata = Attribute('Information describing this resource; '