1. NAMING AND MEANING Norman Paskin
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
NAMING AND MEANING
Key to the management of intellectual property in digital media
Europe-China Conference on Intellectual Property in Digital Media
Shanghai Oct
Norman Paskin
T E R T I U S L t d
Norman Paskin

2. Naming Assigning an identifier to a referent
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Naming
Assigning an identifier to a referent
Identifier: unique persistent alphanumeric string (“number”, “name”, “lexical token”) specifying a referent
Unique: one to many: an identifier specifies one and only one referent (but a referent may have more than one identifier)
Persistent: once assigned, does not change referent
Resolution: process by which an identifier is input to a network service which returns its associated referent and/or descriptive information about it (metadata).
Referent: the object which is identified by the identifier, whether or not resolution returns that object.
Object: any entity within the scope of the identifier system.
may be abstract, physical or digital, since all these forms of entity are of relevance in content management (e.g. creations, resources, agreements, people, organisations)
Norman Paskin

3. Naming First class naming: Digital Object Architecture Handle system
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Naming
First class naming: Digital Object Architecture
“Digital information needs to be a first class citizen in the networked environment” (Kahn/Wilensky 1995)
First class = one that has an identity independent of any other item
Handle system
Part of the Digital Object Architecture: a system for persistent naming for digital objects and other resources on the Internet, and efficiently resolving those names to data
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) system
One application of the Handle System, which adds to it additional features – social and technical infrastructure, policies, metadata management.
Internet
the global information system that is logically linked by a globally unique address space and communications using TCP/IP and provides high level services layered on these (or successors)
Not DNS; not the Web (includes P2P, voip, etc)
DNS: Domain Name System
maps domain names (computer hostnames) to IP addresses.
Norman Paskin

4. IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
What is being named?
Granularity: the extent to which a collection of information has been subdivided for purposes of identification (e.g. a collection; a book; tables and figures)
Functional Granularity: it should be possible to identify an entity whenever it needs to be distinguished
Precisely what is being named?
The work “Robinson Crusoe”?
The Norton edition of “Robinson Crusoe”?
The pdf version of the Norton edition of…. ?
The pdf version of…held on this server…?
Most digital objects of interest have compound form, simultaneously embodying several referents
Resolution of an identifier may give the referent, or only metadata; or a “manifestation”
Resolution of an identifier
Persistence: “get me the right thing”
Contextual resolution: “get me the thing that is right for me”
Appropriate copy resolution (e.g. OpenURL context-sensitive linking): same content in different contexts
Full contextual resolution (e.g. DVIA): different content in different contexts
Norman Paskin

5. Resolution DNS is current basis of resolution of web-based identifiers
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Resolution
DNS is current basis of resolution of web-based identifiers
URL: not a first class name; an attribute: a location of a file on the WWW
specification allows addressing by full path to host ( IP address); rarely used.
if the content of the file is moved, the URL link won't find it ("404 not found", or manual redirection, or automated redirection which may not persist).
if the content, but not location, of the file is changed, a user may not know this.
URN: naming convention for the content of files.
Specification independent of technologies; but DNS the only present technique
No widely standardised ways of using this: can't type URNs into browsers except in certain special circumstances.
URI: collective name for URN and URL schemes.
Not the basis of other non-web identifiers – e.g. Skype names
DNS not a good general-purpose name system
Does not meet requirements of first class name + appropriate granularity
Not first class names: all URIs at one location have to be ultimately managed by the same domain name owner, which makes URLs brittle for any piece of content which could possibly change owners
No granularity of administration per name by anyone other than a network administrator
URLs are grouped by domain name and then by some hierarchical structure, originally based on file trees, now possibly unconnected from that but still a hierarchy
problems of security and updating and internationalisation
Potential scalability in the face of new technologies
Norman Paskin

6. What is the problem?
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Managing information in the Net over very long periods of time:
centuries or more
Dealing with very large amounts of information in the Net over time
When information, its location(s) and the underlying systems may change dramatically over time
Respecting and protecting rights, interests and value
Allow for
arbitrary types of information systems
dynamic formatting and data typing
interoperability between multiple different information systems
metadata schema to be identified and typed
Solution to this problem was put forward as Digital Object Architecture (Kahn/Wilensky 1995+) and has been successfully developed and deployed
Norman Paskin

7. Digital Object Architecture
IPDM 06
Digital Object Architecture
Naming and Meaning
Digital Objects (DOs)
Structured data, independent of creation platform
Consisting of “elements” of the form <type,value>
One of which is its unique, persistent identifier
Resolution of Unique Identifiers
Maps an identifier into “state information” about the DO
Identifiers are known as “Handles”
Format is “prefix/suffix” (e.g /1234)
Prefix is unique to a naming authority
Suffix can be any string of bits assigned by that authority
Handle System is a general purpose resolution system
Repositories from which DOs may be accessed
Metadata Registries
Repositories that contain general information about DOs
Supports multiple metadata schemes
Can map queries into unique DO specifications (via handles)
Norman Paskin

8. Handles resolve to typed data
IPDM 06
Handles resolve to typed data
Naming and Meaning
Handle
Data type
Index
Handle data
10.123/456
URL 1
URL 2
DLS 9
acme/repository
HS_ADMIN
100
acme.admin/jsmith
XYZ 12
Norman Paskin

9. IPDM 06
Handle System
Naming and Meaning
Part of the Digital Object Architecture: (Bob Kahn)
Basic resolution system for Internet: identify objects, not servers.
Optimized for speed, reliability, scaling (compared to DNS)
Open, well-defined protocol and data model (RFC 3650,1,2)
Free protocol; service at cost (non-profit);
freely available to be used as engine underneath other named identifiers.
Separation of control of the handle and who runs the servers
distributed administration, granularity at the handle level
Any Unicode character set
China: CNNIC (.CN registrar) has integrated DNS and handle
All transactions can be secure and certified
own PKI as an option
Not all data public: individual values within a handle can be private.
No semantics in the identifier
Logically centralized, physically distributed and highly scalable
Does not need DNS, but can work with DNS:
deployed via tools e.g http proxies, client plug-ins, server software, etc
Norman Paskin

10. IPDM 06
Handle System usage
Naming and Meaning
Provides infrastructure for application domains, e.g., digital libraries & publishing, network management, id management ...
Library of Congress
DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center)
IDF (International DOI Foundation)
CrossRef (scholarly journal consortium)
Office of Publications of the European Community
CAL (Copyright Agency Ltd - Australia)
MEDRA (Multilingual European DOI Registration Agency)
Nielsen BookData (bibliographic data - ISBN)
R.R. Bowker (bibliographic data - ISBN)
German National Library of Science and Technology etc
NTIS (National Technical Information Service)
D-Space (MIT + HP)
ADL (DoD Advanced Distributed Learning initiative)
Several Digital Library projects (eg ARROW)
In development: Globus Alliance (for GRID computing)
Norman Paskin

11. Handle System usage Assigned Prefixes Handles Global Handle System
IPDM 06
Handle System usage
Naming and Meaning
Assigned Prefixes
DOI
DSpace
Other apps 406
Handles
DOI M
Other: additional millions (total per prefix known only to prefix manager; e.g. LANL adding 600M but privately)
Global Handle System
Core: three service sites (added locations being considered)
c. 50 million direct resolutions per month
c. 50 million proxy server resolutions
Norman Paskin

12. The DOI System DOI (Digital Object Identifier) system: www.doi.org
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) system:
Initially developed from the publishing industry but now wider
Currently being standardised in ISO (TC46/SC9)
the home of ISBN etc “content identifers”
One application of the Handle System
adds to it additional features – social and technical infrastructure, policies, metadata management.
Norman Paskin

13. doi> Naming scheme and resolution Data Model for Policies declaring
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Naming scheme
and resolution
doi>
Policies
Data Model for
declaring
meaning
Norman Paskin

14. Naming scheme and resolution The Handle System
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Naming scheme
and resolution
The Handle System
An identifier “container” e.g.
/NP5678
/ISBN
/ ISO-DOI
Resolve from DOI to data
Initially resolve to location (URL) – persistence
May be to multiple data:
Multiple locations
Metadata
Services
Extensible
Norman Paskin

15. DOI policies Implementation through International DOI Foundation
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
DOI policies
Implementation through International DOI Foundation
Not-for-profit body: federation of appointed agencies
Governance and agreed scope, policy, “rules of the road”
Technical infrastructure: resolution mechanism, proxy servers, mirrors, back-up, central dictionary,
Social infrastructure: persistence commitments, fall-back procedures, cost-recovery (self-sustaining), shared use of IDF tools etc
Registration agencies
Each can develop own applications
Any business model
Use in “own brand” ways appropriate for their community
Norman Paskin

16. Data Model for declaring meaning DOI Data Model = Metadata tools:
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
DOI Data Model = Metadata tools:
a data dictionary to define
a grouping mechanism to relate
Necessary for interoperability
Able to use existing metadata
Mapped using a standard dictionary
Can describe any entity at any level of granularity
See “DOI and data dictionaries”
Data Model for
declaring meaning
Norman Paskin

17. IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Meaning
Assigning metadata to a referent, to enable semantic interoperability
“say what the referent is”
Resolution of an identifier may give the referent, or only metadata; or a “manifestation”
Semantic:
Do two identifiers from different schemes actually denote the same referent?
If A says “owner” and B says “owner”, are they referring to the same thing?
If A says “released” and B says “disseminated”, do they mean different things?
Interoperability: the ability for identifiers to be used in services outside the direct control of the issuing assigner
Identifiers assigned in one context may be encountered, and may be re-used, in another place or time - without consulting the assigner. You can’t assume that your assumptions made on assignment will be known to someone else.
Persistence = interoperability with the future
Norman Paskin

18. IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Tools to ensure meaning
Basis: “Interoperability of Data in E-Commerce Systems” (indecs) :
Focus: generic intellectual property and how to make data about it interoperable
Who: EC + groups from the content, author, creator, library, publisher and rights communities
What: Pioneered a model of event-based metadata as a solution for integrating management of rights.
Led to: a structured ontology (data dictionary); tools for mapping terms precisley; inference tools etc:
contextual ontology architecture
Norman Paskin

19. Agreed term-by-term mapping or “Crosswalk”
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Metadata scheme
e.g. ONIX
Metadata scheme
e.g. LOM
Agreed term-by-term mapping or
“Crosswalk”
Norman Paskin

20. Metadata scheme Metadata scheme e.g. ONIX e.g. LOM IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Metadata scheme
e.g. ONIX
Metadata scheme
e.g. LOM
Norman Paskin

21. ONIX:Author = NormanRights:Writer
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Metadata scheme
e.g. ONIX
Metadata scheme
e.g. LOM
Term “Author”
Metadata Scheme
NormanRights
Term “Writer”
ONIX:Author = NormanRights:Writer
Norman Paskin

22. Metadata interoperability: semantic problems
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Metadata interoperability: semantic problems
Mappings are not simple:
Different names (and languages) for the same thing (Author vs Writer)
Same name for different things (title, Title)
Data elements at different levels of speciality (title vs FullTitle, AlternativeTitle).
Different allowed values for elements (“pii” vs “not pii”)
Data at different levels of granularity (journal_article vs SerialArticleWork/SerialArticleVersion).
Data in different structures (article as attribute of journal or vice versa).
Data from different sources (local codes vs ONIX codes).
Different contextual meaning (DOI of what…?)
Different representation (1 title vs n titles).
Different mandatory requirements (ISSN mandatory vs optional)
Schemas are being updated all the time etc.
To manage all of this requires a coherent structured approach.
Norman Paskin

23. Agent Norman Paskin Time Place Shanghai 2006-10-18 Resource
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Contextual analysis
Agent
Norman Paskin
Time
Place
Shanghai
Resource
061018IPDMShanghai.ppt
Norman Paskin

24. Agent Event: Norman Paskin presented 061018.ppt
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Contextual analysis
Agent
Event: Norman Paskin
presented ppt
in Shanghai on 18 Oct 2006
Time
Place
Resource
Norman Paskin

25. IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Norman Paskin

26. Tools to ensure meaning
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Tools to ensure meaning
Contextual Ontology approach is used in:
ISO MPEG-21 Rights Data Dictionary (
DOI Data Dictionary ( )
DDEX digital data exchange - music industry (
ONIX: Book industry (+) messaging schemas ( )
Rightscom’s OntologyX - licensee of output, plus own work on tools ( )
Digital Library Federation - communication of licence terms (ERMI: ONIX for licensing terms)
ACAP: Content Access ( )
etc
Norman Paskin

27. IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
Naming and Meaning
Naming: prerequisite for management of digital information entities
name and manage information in the form of digital objects
naming conventions for identifying (first class naming)
service for using object names to locate and disseminate objects
infrastructure for extensible distributed digital information services
agnostic as to technology (web, mobile, P2P, etc) - assumes only the existence of the internet protocol (or successors)
Meaning: prerequisite for enabling digital information entities to interact
interoperability and digital policy management
semantic interoperability: building on the indecs (interoperability of data in e-commerce systems) principles
deployment of a context-based ontology mapping.
Norman Paskin

28. NAMING AND MEANING Norman Paskin n.paskin@tertius.ltd.uk
IPDM 06
Naming and Meaning
NAMING AND MEANING
Key to the management of intellectual property in digital media
Norman Paskin
T E R T I U S L t d
Norman Paskin