Transcript Slide 1

International Telecommunications Union
Corporation for National Research Initiatives
Resolving Unique and Persistent Identifiers
for Digital Objects
Identifiers are a key component of the Digital Object Architecture, a system for managing
digital information and other resources in a global context. They allow for effective
management of Digital Objects of all kinds.
Why Worry About Identifiers?
Individuals and organizations, including governments and businesses, need to manage
increasing amounts of primary and secondary data and increasingly complex and fluid data
relationships over long periods of time. Identifiers are essential to this process.
Why is Resolution Important?
The resolution system enables client software to go from a digital object’s identifier to
current state information about the object. Such identifiers can persist over changes to
the identified object, such as changes in its location(s), ownership, and other attributes.
What is the Handle System?
The Handle System, a principle component of the Digital Object Architecture, is a general
purpose resolution system that has been deployed for many years. Identifiers in the Handle
System are made up of a prefix and a suffix separated by a slash, e.g.,
10.1525/bio.2009.59.5.9 or 4263537/5030. The prefix is used by client software to find
specific servers within the widely distributed resolution system that can resolve the
identifier. Existing identifiers can be easily structured as handles in order to take advantage
of the resolution system.
How Would the Resolution Capability Be Managed in the Future?
Thousands of groups around the world currently use CNRI’s Handle System* for resolution
services on a daily basis. This includes many academic and national libraries, scholarly
journal publishers, scientific institutes, motion picture studios and others. Global
administration of the system is now provided by CNRI, in its role as primary prefix
administrator, through the Global Handle Registry (GHR). CNRI would make the Handle
System technology, including the GHR capability, available under a new global management
framework ― the Digital Object Numbering Authority (DONA). A Multi-primary Global
Registry (MP-GR) that can accommodate multiple primary prefix administrators would be
deployed under DONA. Each such administrator will be able to determine its own local
policies as permitted under the anticipated DONA structure.
*An overview of the current operation of the Handle System is shown on the reverse side.
May 2011
Both people and systems use the Handle System to resolve identifiers. They submit identifiers
to the system and get back the most recent state information about the identified object that
has been recorded by the object owner or administrator. This process is illustrated below.
1 Any client software, such as a mobile phone app, a web browser, or
some completely automated process, that needs to resolve the
handle 10123/ABC will first ask the Global Handle Registry (not shown
here) for the location of the local handle service responsible for
identifiers beginning with the prefix 10123. There are thousands of
such local handle services around the globe. Each is responsible for
handles that start with one or more prefixes that have been allotted
to them. The Global Handle Registry knows where those services are
located and who is responsible for each of them. Once the client
software knows which service is responsible for resolving the handle,
it sends it to that service and gets back the resolution information
associated with that handle.
3 The client software receives the current
resolution information and acts accordingly.
Most users will not see this information at all but
will simply see the end result of the resolution,
such as a journal article. Software developers
can build new applications that take advantage
of the Handle System capabilities, which include
security, identity management, and many other
features that cannot be summarized in this brief
description; some of these can be found on the
Handle System web site.
HDL:10123/ABC
Can I see this?
Who owns this?
Any services?
2 Current resolution information about digital
objects is recorded in the Handle System in a
systematic and structured fashion, so that
software clients can be built to use that
information to manage interactions with the
objects, e.g., send a user to the right location,
deliver the appropriate portion of an object, or
update the information in the handle if permitted.
DATASET
XML
Can I change this?
When was this
changed?
Other data?
Where is this?
http://www.handle.net