© 2001 content directions, inc. tom davidson associate director, consulting and product development...

© 2001 CONTENT DIRECTIONS, INC.

Tom DavidsonAssociate Director,

Consulting and Product Development

Content Directions, Inc.

SSP Annual Meeting:Digital Rights Management June 8, 2001

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI):Catalyst for the DRM Market


• Assertion #1: For DRM to work it must be as seamless and friction-free as possible.

– This means complete end-to-end interoperability, from finding content to consuming it - and everything in between: purchase, pass-along, usage.

– The only barrier left standing for the user should be the willingness to part with his/her money.

• Assertion #2: This will require a widely-adopted, globally unique content identifier for digital works.

(An associated Internet-based routing and resolution service would also be nice.)

You heard it here firstYou heard it here first


Why is a unique ID so important for transactions?

Consider retail’s use of the UPC (barcode)…


UPC example

Cash

register

Financialsystems

Inventorycomputer

Just-in-Time Ordering

Distributor

Manufacturer

Receiving

Store

Head Office

The UPC (bar code): more than just a quick way to get through the checkout line


UPC example + text box

Financialsystems

Inventorycomputer


Distributor

Manufacturer

Receiving

Unique product identifier also used across supply chain for:

- Billing/Payments

- Sales Tracking

- Financial Reporting

- # goods shipped

- sales by store or region

- etc.

Cash

register

Head Office

The UPC (bar code): more than just a quick way to get through the checkout line

Store


UPC grayed + Unique ID text

Financialsystems

Inventorycomputer


Distributor

Manufacturer

Receiving

Store

Head Office

Cash

register

So in the physical world, a Unique Identifier:

- enables all kinds of automated transactions (selling, distributing, transporting, etc.)

- facilitates inventory control, financial tracking, reporting

In the online world, content has no physical inventory, transportation, or physical logistics. But:

- There is a fully analogous, if not more complex, chain of transactions and systems which must interact to facilitate sale, distribution, copyright protection, re-use, etc.

- Like any other computer systems, these systems require a unique, unambiguous ID - so they know exactly what object they’re talking about.

- Like any other computer systems, these systems must share that ID universally if they are to talk to each other - successfully, reliably, and cost-effectively


Online pub players mess

Customer / End User Services Customers / End Users

Content Creation/Supporting ServicesDistribution and Sale of Content

DRM Services

Rights Clearinghouses

E-Commerce Vendors/ Service

Providers

Online Bookstores

Content Distributors/ Aggregators/ Syndicators

Individuals

Corporations

Libraries

Universities

Subscription Agents

Abstracting and Indexing (A&I)

Services

Search Engines

Search Technology Providers

Library Automation

System Vendors

Publishers

Authors / Creators

Typesetters

Content Conversion

Services

Content Management

Systems

Editorial / Content Prep Systems

Web Publishing Systems

Content Hosting

Providers


©

Customer©Customer

Customer ©Customer

©

Content Distributors/ Syndicators/ Aggregators

Case Study:Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Secure Wrapping/ Encryption

DRM Packaging Software

©Customer

Content Hosting

©

Meta- data

Publisher

E-Commerce Vendor

Rights Clearinghouse

How can all these transactions flow successfully ???


What is Required of an Identifier?What is Required of an Identifier?From: AAP’s Numbering Standards for Ebooks (www.publishers.org/home/numbering.pdf)

• Unique: It must identify any given digital object uniquely and unambiguously.

• Persistent: It must be permanent regardless of its location or the information (i.e., metadata) associated with it.

• Granular: It must be possible to assign an identifier to a part of a work (chapter, section, sub-section, figure, table, etc.).

• Encodable: It should adhere to the character set defined by Unicode v2.0

• Open: It must be possible for any user anywhere to obtain or assign identifiers easily and at a cost which will not be a barrier to use.

• Automatable: It should be machine-interpretable to support specific business functions (for example, accounting, royalties, etc.) and to facilitate actionability.

• Compatible: It must be able to exist harmoniously and/or function with existing identification systems and with processes. For example, it should be usable with legacy numbering systems such as ISBN, ISSN, EAN and U.P.C.

• Resolvable/Actionable: It must provide a mechanism by which an identifier is submitted to a network service and generates one or more pieces of current information related to the digital object identified.

http://www.publishers.org/home/numbering.pdf


AAP report recommends:

• “A new numbering standard based on DOIs for all ebooks.”

• Assignment of a DOI to each Ebook, and to each saleable component

• Inclusion of the DOI in ONIX metadata for all Ebooks and saleable components


What is the DOI?What is the DOI?

The DOI is a “supercharged” UPC for objects of intellectual property on the Internet.

Two key aspects:

1. Uniquely Identifies Content - enabling computers to execute, track and report on transactions of all kinds. (Buy, Sell, Syndicate, Track, Compute Royalties, Clear Rights, Enforce Copyright, Grant Permissions…)

2. Provides a Stable, Persistent Link - to the content Itself, to the current rights owner, and to associated services.


#1 - Unique Content ID#1 - Unique Content ID

• Any type of content: text, music, film, video, photographs, software…

• Any level of granularity: whole book, individual chapters, illustrations, data sets, tables, music tracks, versions (e.g. dif. resolutions)…

• Compatible with (superset of) any & all other numbering schemes (ISBN, ISSN, ISWC, UPC…)

• Once assigned, never changes (“A DOI is Forever”)


©

Customer©Customer

Customer ©Customer

©





©Customer

DOI

DOI

DOI

Content Hosting

©

Meta- data

DOI

DOI PublisherDOI

E-Commerce Vendor


DOIDOI

How can all these transactions flow successfully ???


©

Customer©Customer

Customer ©Customer

©





©Customer

DOI

DOI

DOI

Content Hosting

©

Meta- data

PublisherDOI

E-Commerce Vendors


DOIDOI

DOI

DOI


‘‘Network Effects’ and Identifier AdoptionNetwork Effects’ and Identifier Adoption• A critical mass of adopters required to unlock efficiencies

• System must offer early adopters significant return on investment, independent of success of the overall initiative

• For the UPC this was achieved by in-store savings:• Labor cost savings at the checkout• Accurate, more dynamic pricing• Better sales/inventory information

• For the DOI this is achieved by:• Persistent, dynamic, linking (including multiple resol’n)• Granular identifier for internal use• Limited initial investment required: Robust, open standards-

based infrastructure already built with costs proportional to deployment. (per-DOI maintenance fees)


#2 - Persistent Linking#2 - Persistent Linking(or: can your identifier do (or: can your identifier do thisthis?)?)

• DOIs are ‘resolved’, like domain names, to up-to-date locations for content and services

• Once issued, DOI never changes, while service info does: Publisher maintains the correct URLs, etc. in a directory

• Directory is similar to Domain Name System (DNS): single directory logically, but distributed physically and mirrored/cached throughout network

• Using the DOI, many services can be associated with a given work. (“Multiple Resolution”)

• DOI can be used to “Phone Home” to the rights owner, enabling passalongs to be converted to sales (Superdistribution)

• If maintained faithfully, a DOI link survives:– moving the content to a different server– publisher’s sale of the rights in a work or of a product line– acquisition of publisher by another publisher– changes in DRM vendor/other technology

Why a Persistent Identifier?Why a Persistent Identifier?URLs are not sufficiently reliableURLs are not sufficiently reliable

http gopher ftp Total

Number of journals 33 26 2

URLs listed 81 36 29 148

% functional 67% 28% 31% 50%

Data from Ford& Harter, College and Research Libraries, July 1998

Brewster Kahle (1997): half life of a URL = 44 days


Content

URLURL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL


URL

404 File not found

Content

URLURL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL


DOIdirectory

URLURL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

URL

Content

Content

Publisher

DOIdirectory

DOIdirectory

URL

DOIDOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOIDOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOI


DOIdirectory

Content

DOIdirectory

DOIdirectory

DOIdirectory

DOIdirectory

DOIdirectory

Publisher

DOIdirectoryDOI

directory

DOIdirectoryDOI

directory

Internet

DOIDOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOIDOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOI

DOI


Underlying Technology of DOIUnderlying Technology of DOI

• “Handle System” (www.handle.net)

• Robust, scalable to the quadrillions of objects, live & working since 1997

• Developed by CNRI (Corporation for Nat’l Research Initiatives - non-profit research org)

• CNRI run by Dr. Robert Kahn, one of principal inventors of packet-switched networking (e.g. the Internet)

• CNRI runs, coordinates, or supports many Internet standards bodies: IETF, IAB, etc.


Publishing Industry SupportPublishing Industry Support

• Association of American Publishers (project was initiated by the AAP Enabling Technologies Committee, 1996)

• International Publishers Association (IPA endorsed its launch at the Frankfurt Book Fair 1997)

• STM International (also endorsed the launch, and has given special support because the STM market was the first to go online)

• Many individual publishers


Current State of DeploymentCurrent State of Deployment• Scientific Journals

– 61 of the largest international journal publishers funding permanent non-profit DOI tagging operation (“CrossRef”)

– 3 million DOIs registered to date– “Killer app:” Cross-linking the world’s scientific journal literature, based on a common “DOI Lookup”

database

• eBooks– Stephen King moves 500,000 eBook copies in 24 hours– Wake-up call to Trade Publishers: 1) there is a market, but 2) the content had better be copyright-

protected...– AAP/Andersen Consulting “eBook Standards” initiative has declared DOI the identifier of choice for eBooks

(November 27, 2000 - see http://www.publishers.org/home/press/ebookpr.htm)– DOI-EB project underway at International DOI Foundation

• Other Content Industries (Music, Video, Photography, etc)• 3rd Party Support from Technology Vendors & Others

– Digital Rights Management (DRM)– Content Management Systems (CMS)– “Infomediaries”, syndicators, retailers

http://www.contentdirections.com/


How the DOI System How the DOI System WorksWorks

© International DOI Foundation

DOI number formatDOI number format

• 10.1065/abc123defg• 10 = DOI 10.1065 = Handle prefix• abc123defg = Handle suffix

– item identifier– any format– naming authority (publisher)

• in use, a DOI is an opaque string (a “dumb number” - a good thing)

© International DOI Foundation

DOIMetadata

Metadata

Handle System(DOI Directory)

DOI Handle Data

Other Data Services

DOIDOIRegistrationRegistration

ServiceService

Added-value IndexesFiltersQueriesVARs

DOI & DOI & Metadata Metadata

RegistrationRegistrationDOI & metadata

Prefix Prefix HolderHolder


• Initial Publishing Industry implementation deliberately kept simple:

1 DOI 1 URL

Multiple ResolutionMultiple Resolution

• But the underlying Handle System has the capability to associate different URLs (or other DOIs, or other services) with requests made in different contexts.

• This can be fully automated, with no intervention needed: As long as the inbound DOI request is recognized to be of a certain type - e.g. a purchase request, a rights clearances request, a permissions request, etc. - then it can be redirected automatically, as designated by the publisher in advance, and maintained in perpetuity

(Ctrl-Alt-2)


• Content Directions, Inc.: www.contentdirections.com

[email protected]/SSP.htm

• International DOI Foundation (IDF): www.doi.org

• CNRI’s Handle System: www.handle.net

• CrossRef Consortium www.crossref.org

Further Information:Further Information:

mailto:[email protected]




Thank you!Thank you!Tom Davidson

Associate Director, Consulting and Product Development

CONTENT DIRECTIONS, INC.

This presentation online at:

http://www.contentdirections.com/SSP.htm

Content Directions, Inc.558 9th St.Brooklyn, New York 11215Phone (212) or (888) 792-1847Email: [email protected]: www.contentdirections.com

© 2001 content directions, inc. tom davidson associate director, consulting and product development...

Documents

unique content identifier

unique identifier

digital object identifier

computer systems

digital works

given digital object

chain of transactions

physical world