An Embarrassment of Riches - Part I

The Internet is too rich. Even powerful and sophisticated search engines, such as Google, return a lot of trash, dead ends, and Error 404's in response to the most well-defined query, Boolean operators and all. Directories created by human editors - such as Yahoo! or the Open Directory Project - are often overwhelmed by the amount of material out there. Like the legendary blob, the Internet is clearly out of classificatory control. Some web sites - like Suite101 - have introduced the old and tried Dewey subject classification system successfully used in non-virtual libraries for more than a century.

Books - both print and electronic - (actually, their publishers) get assigned an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) by national agencies. Periodical publications (magazines, newsletters, bulletins) sport an ISSN (International Serial Standard Number). National libraries dole out CIP's (Cataloguing in Publication numbers), which help lesser outfits to catalogue the book upon arrival. But the emergence of new book formats, independent publishing, and self publishing has strained this already creaking system to its limits. In short: the whole thing is fast developing into an awful mess.

http://www.doi.org/

Resolution is one solution.

Resolution is the linking of identifiers to content. An identifier can be a word, or a phrase. RealNames implemented this approach and its proprietary software is now incorporated in most browsers. The user types a word, brand name, phrase, or code, and gets re-directed to a web site with the appropriate content. The only snag: RealNames identifiers are for sale. Thus, its identifiers are not guaranteed to lead to the best, only, or relevant resource. Similar systems are available in many languages. Nexet, for example, provides such a resolution service in Hebrew.

The Association of American Publishers (APA) has an Enabling Technologies Committee. Fittingly, at the Frankfurt Book Fair of 1997, it announced the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) initiative. An International DOI Foundation (IDF) was set up and invited all publishers - American and non-American alike - to apply for a unique DOI prefix. DOI is actually a private case of a larger system of "handles" developed by the CNRI (Corporation for National Research Initiatives). Their "Handle Resolver" is a browser plug-in software, which re-directs their handles to URL's or other pieces of data, or content. Without the Resolver, typing in the handle simply directs the user to a few proxy servers, which "understand" the handle protocols.

The interesting (and new) feature of the system is its ability to resolve to MULTIPLE locations (URL's, or data, or content). The same identifier can resolve to a Universe of inter-related information (effectively, to a mini-library). The content thus resolved need not be limited to text. Multiple resolution works with audio, images, and even video.

The IDF's press release is worth some extensive quoting:

"Imagine you're the manager of an Internet company reading a story online in the "Wall Street Journal" written by Stacey E. Bressler, a co-author of Communities of Commerce, and at the end of the story there is a link to purchase options for the book.

Now imagine you are an online retailer, a syndicator or a reporter for an online news service and you are reading a review in "Publishers Weekly" about Communities of Commerce and you run across a link to related resources.

And imagine you are in Buenos Aires, and in an online publication you encounter a link to "D-Lib Magazine", an electronic journal produced in Washington, D.C. which offers you locale-specific choices for downloading an article.

The above examples demonstrate how multiple resolution can present you with a list of links from within an electronic document or page. The links beneath the labels - URLs and email addresses - would all be stored in the DOI System, and multiple resolution means any or all of those links can be displayed for you to select from in one menu. Any combination of links to related resources can be included in these menus.

Capable of providing much richer experiences then single resolution to a URL, Multiple Resolution operates on the premise that content, not its location, is identified. In other words, where content and related resources reside is secondary information. Multiple Resolution enables content owners and distributors to identify their intellectual property with bound collections of related resources at a hyperlink's point of departure, instead of requiring a user to leave the page to go to a new location for further information.

A content owner controls and manages all the related resources in each of these menus and can determine which information is accessible to each business partner within the supply chain. When an administrator changes any facet of this information, the change is simultaneous on all internal networks and the Internet. A DOI is a permanent identifier, analogous to a telephone number for life, so tomorrow and years from now a user can locate the product and related resources wherever they may have been moved or archived to."

The IDF provides a limited, text-only, online demonstration. When sweeping with the cursor over a linked item, a pop-down menu of options is presented. These options are pre-defined and customized by the content creators and owners. In the first example above (book purchase options) the DOI resolves to retail outlets (categorized by book formats), information about the title and the author, digital rights management information (permissions), and more. The DOI server generates this information in "real time", "on the fly". But it is the author, or (more often) the publisher that choose the information, its modes of presentation, selections, and marketing and sales data. The ingenuity is in the fact that the DOI server's files and records can be updated, replaced, or deleted. It does not affect the resolution path - only the content resolved to.

Which brings us to e-publishing.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and "After the Rain - How the West Lost the East". He is a columnist in "Central Europe Review", United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com

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Google News Updated : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:07:30 GMT Buckeyes survive Ohio's threat, 26-14 - The Associated Press The Associated Press Buckeyes survive Ohio's threat, 26-14 The Associated Press - 35 minutes ago COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Beanie Wells didn't play. The Ohio Bobcats sure did. Lightly regarded even in the Mid-American Conference, Ohio put a scare into No. Ohio State Football: OSU 26, OU 14 The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg ESPN USA Today - Columbus Dispatch - Chillicothe Gazette - SBR Forum all 172 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:31:47 GMT Obama, McCain to Honor Victims of 9/11 Together - Voice of America ABC News Obama, McCain to Honor Victims of 9/11 Together Voice of America - 1 hour ago By VOA News US presidential candidates Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have agreed to appear together on September 11, the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Conventions, Anything but Dull, Are a TV Hit New York Times Comment by John S. Baick Professor of History, Western New England College Newsday - CNN - Argus Press - Bloomberg all 4,236 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:01:14 GMT "Bangkok" a skillful action excursion - Reuters E! Online "Bangkok" a skillful action excursion Reuters - 15 hours ago By Stephen Farber LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Everything is relative in the realm of hyperviolent movies, and compared to this summer's other assassination thriller, "Wanted," "Bangkok Dangerous" is a model of restraint and moral rectitude. 'Dangerous' prosperous at box office Variety An Assassin Arrives to Turn Off the Lights New York Times Boston Herald - Boston Globe - Roanoke Times - Buffalo News all 251 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:41:52 GMT 'Wrestler' brings Venice fest to its feet - Hollywood Reporter Hollywood Reporter 'Wrestler' brings Venice fest to its feet Hollywood Reporter - 52 minutes ago By Eric J. Lyman VENICE -- "The Wrestler" was the toast of the Lido on the Venice Film Festival's penultimate day, with star Mickey Rourke's interpretation of an aging wrestler struggling to come to terms with the end of his career creating a buzz that ... 'The Wrestler' wins Venice Film Fest top award The Associated Press Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. TIME Bloomberg - Reuters - Monsters and Critics.com - Los Angeles Times all 327 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:14:35 GMT McCain, Obama battle over economy, leadership - AFP Telegraph.co.uk McCain, Obama battle over economy, leadership AFP - 51 minutes ago COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AFP) - Economic issues dominated the campaign trail Saturday as presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain battled over who could best lead the nation in troubled times. Reuters Politics Summary Washington Post Barack Obama, John McCain say they hate meddlers ... but both ... Los Angeles Times Intellectual Conservative - WGN - Financial Times all 650 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:15:37 GMT Journals week in review: news from One Microsoft Way - Ars Technica Washington Post Journals week in review: news from One Microsoft Way Ars Technica - 1 hour ago By Emil Protalinski | Published: September 06, 2008 - 01:15PM CT First Gates-Seinfeld ad leaves us scratching our heads. The first Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates ad has arrived. Seinfeld ads only part of Microsoft push United Press International Windows Vista: The OS About Nothing InformationWeek New York Times - Slashdot - Apple Insider - CRN all 499 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:27:03 GMT Boeing Machinists Take To Picket Line After Talks Collapse - CNNMoney.com Washington Post Boeing Machinists Take To Picket Line After Talks Collapse CNNMoney.com - 1 hour ago NEW YORK (AFP)-- Boeing machinists took to the picket line on Saturday as they launched a strike that has halted production and could cost the US aerospace giant more than $100 million per day. Low strike pay could limit length of Boeing work stoppage BloggingStocks Boeing machinists walk off the job MarketWatch Wall Street Journal - New York Times - AHN - Reuters all 2,440 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:46:08 GMT RSS feeds Increase Search Engine Traffic

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