For Info: draft RFC on encoding classification references as URIs

Phil.


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [OAI-implementers] 'info' URI Internet-Draft
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 10:04:42 -0600
From: herbert van de sompel <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
To: OAI-implementers <[log in to unmask]>

Apologies for cross-posting

Announcing a new Internet-Draft for an Informational RFC, to allow commonly
used
identifiers to be part of the Web:

   The "info" URI Scheme for Information Assets with Identifiers in Public
Namespaces

       Herbert Van de Sompel - Los Alamos National Laboratory
       Tony Hammond - Elsevier
       Eamonn Neylon - Manifest Solutions
       Stuart L. Weibel - OCLC Online Computer Library Center

The draft is available at:

   http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-vandesompel-info-uri-00.txt

a. Purpose of the "info" URI scheme:

There exist many information assets with identifiers in public namespaces
that are not referenceable by URI schemes. Examples of such namespaces
include Dewey Decimal Classifications [1], Library of Congress Control
Numbers (LCCN) [2], NASA Astrophysics Data System Bibcodes [3], and Open
Archives Initiative (OAI) identifiers [4], among others.  The "info" URI
scheme will facilitate the referencing of information assets that have
identifiers in such public namespaces by means of URIs. The "info" scheme
is based on a Registry that invites the registration of public namespaces
used for the identification of information assets, by the parties that
maintain the namespaces.

For example, assuming that the namespace of Dewey Decimal Classifications
(ddc:) and the namespace of Library of Congress Control Numbers (lccn:)
would be registered by their respective authorities, then:

* the Dewey Decimal Classification 22/eng//004.678 (for the term
"Internet") could be expressed as the "info" URI <info:ddc/22/eng//004.678>

* the Library of Congress Control Number 2002022641 could be expressed as
the "info" URI <info:lccn/2002022641>

b. Background of this effort

The effort to create the "info" URI scheme emerged from the NISO process to
standardize the OpenURL Framework for context-sensitive services [5], which
requires the ability to describe resources by means of globally cognizable
identifiers.  The Draft Standard for Trial Use released for Public Comment
introduced a "proprietary" naming architecture which allowed information
assets to be referenced by means of widely used non-URI identifiers (e.g.
PubMed identifiers, Digital Object Identifiers, Astrophysics Datasystem
Bibcodes, and others) which would be registered under the OpenURL Framework.

Public feedback led to the decision to fundamentally revise the naming
architecture, and to base all resource identification requirements within
the OpenURL Framework on URIs alone.  Because it was deemed unreaslistic to
expect that all namespaces required in the OpenURL Framework would be
registered within the URI allocation by the respective namespace
authorities, the "info" URI effort was launched.  This work is being
conducted under the auspices of NISO, and with active involvement and
consultation from the IETF and the W3C.  It is hoped that the lightweight,
and community-based, registration mechanism that will underlie the "info"
URI scheme will rapidly lead to the availability of "info" URIs to identify
a wide variety of information assets.  More detailed information of the
effort is available at [6].

c. References

[1] "Dewey Decimal Classification". Retrieved September 20,  2003 from
<http://www.oclc.org/dewey/>.

[2] "Library of Congress Control Number". Retrieved August 1, 2003 from
<http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/lccn_structure.html>.

[3] "NASA Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Code". Retrieved August 1,
2003 from <http://adsdoc.harvard.edu/abs_doc/help_pages/data.html>

[4] Lagoze, C., H. Van de Sompel, M. Nelson and S. Warner. "Specification
and XML Schema for the OAI Identifier Format", June 2002. Retrieved
September 4, 2003 from
<http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/guidelines-oai-identifier.htm>.

[5] Draft Standard for Trial Use ANSI/NISO Z39.88, "The OpenURL Framework
for Context-Sensitive Services".  Retrieved September 20, 2003 from
<http://library.caltech.edu/openurl/Public_Comments.htm>

[6]<http://library.caltech.edu/openurl/PubComDocs/Announce/20030626-Announce-Naming2.htm>

--
Herbert Van de Sompel
digital library research & prototyping
Los Alamos National Laboratory - Research Library
+ 1 (505) 667 1267 / http://lib-www.lanl.gov/~herbertv/

"your argument is absolutely logical.  but people will be confused"
anonymous participant in OpenURL Standardization Committee


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--
Phil Barker                            Learning Technology Adviser
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