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China Digital Publishing Conference Beijing, China – July 15 th , 2014. Identifier Trends in Digital P ublishing E ra Paul Jessop Founder and Director, County Analytics Ltd Honorary Research Fellow, CAPP. Last Year. Focus: Making standards Publisher workflow. Today.
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China Digital Publishing Conference Beijing, China – July 15th, 2014 Identifier Trendsin Digital Publishing Era Paul Jessop Founder and Director, County Analytics Ltd Honorary Research Fellow, CAPP
Last Year • Focus: • Making standards • Publisher workflow
Today • Trends in thinking about identifiers • Trends in work on identifiers
Careful • “Academic” and precisely defined • Practical and real world Need Both Trends in thinking Trends in activity
Identifiers are Important • Short • Precise • Agreed • Flexible
Identifying the Right Thing Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Driving Licence Number Model Name Registration Plate Number
Why Identify? • Safety recall • Vehicle Identification Number • Speed camera • Registration Plate Number • then Driving Licence Number • Spare parts • Model Name
Great Care Needed (1) • Are we to identify the book? • Or the edition of the book • Or the contents of the book (independent of the format) • Or the contents of the book (independent of the language)
Great Care Needed (2) • Are we to identify the author? • Or the name they write under? • Or the English version of the name? • Or their name before they were married? • Or the nick-name?
Or Does it Matter? • In simple cases we can be “careless” • Normal writers have only one name • Most songs are recorded only once • Most books see only one edition • But it can get complex later • Maybe without you knowing
Trends in Identifier Activity • Market Driven • Actionable • Interoperable
Market Driven Significant costs in • development • operation so… Identifiers need business justification
But… • Identifiers serve many purposes • Unhelpful to have many identifiers for same things • New applications emerge quickly
So… • Identifier developers need to be smart: • Create identification schemes where • Numerous applications supported but • An overall business case is justified • Different users trust each other’s numbers
Example – Postal Codes • Developed to enable delivery of post but used for • Market analysis • Insurance profiling • In-car navigation Who would pay today for a postal code scheme?
Actionable • Usable by machines Action Identifier Represen-tation Machine GTIN Point of Sale Purchase
“Well defined” • “Actionable” must not use secret technology • People must be able to find out how to use it • Typically a web API • So you can follow links automatically
Examples - EIDR • http://doi.org/10.5240/5868-409E-7BFB-536A-6067-E <FullMetadata><BaseObjectData><ID>10.5240/5868-409E-7BFB-536A-6067-E</ID><StructuralType>Abstraction</StructuralType><Mode>AudioVisual</Mode><ReferentType>Movie</ReferentType><ResourceNamelang="en" titleClass="release">Star Wars</ResourceName><AlternateResourceNamelang="en">Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope</AlternateResourceName><AlternateResourceNamelang="de">Krieg der Sterne</AlternateResourceName><AlternateResourceNamelang="fr">La guerre des étoiles</AlternateResourceName><AlternateResourceNamelang="it">Guerre stellari</AlternateResourceName><AlternateResourceNamelang="es">La guerra de las galaxias</AlternateResourceName><AlternateResourceNamelang="en">Star Wars: A New Hope</AlternateResourceName> …
Examples - ISNI • http://isni.org/0000000121331026 ISNI: 0000 0001 2133 1026 Name: Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Husein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein (II) Obama, Barak Obama, Baraks Obama, Barry Obamah, Baraḳ Obamy, Baracka Opāmā, Parāk
Example Application • Receive recording identifier • Resolve to reference metadata for identity • Resolve to rich metadata including ISNIs of artists • Resolve ISNIs to other creations such as books with ISBNs • Resolve ISBNs at online bookstore to offer to buy
Interoperability • Working together by design 1,435 mm
Types of Interoperability • “Chained” interoperability • (see previous example) • Including other identifiers in metadata • Common field definition • e.g. Date of publication • Format “1/7/2014” vs. “7/1/2014” • Definition of “publication” • Common technology
Examples • ISNI metadata contains other identifiers and links • DOI Data Dictionary for DOI based identifiers • EIDR identifiers based on DOI and Handle
Trends are Conflicts • Scepticism vs. Enthusiasm • Movies vs. Music • Proprietary vs. Open • Amazon vs. others • Registered vs. “Mined” • ISBN vs. ISNI • Steady state vs. Progressive • ISBN vs. ISNI
Contact paul@countyanalytics.com