Date:         Thu, 15 Jan 2004 18:14:59 -0500
Reply-To:     MARC <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       MARC <[log in to unmask]>
From:         Cynthia Hodgson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      NISO-Sponsored INFO URI Scheme Published
Comments: To: NISO Press List <[log in to unmask]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format="flowed"

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Maryann Karinch ([log in to unmask])
970-577-8500


NISO-Sponsored INFO URI Scheme is Information Gateway to
the Web
Publishing and Library Communities Join Forces to
Facilitate and Expedite Representation of Standard
Identifiers such as Library of Congress Control Numbers on
the Web

Bethesda, MD - January 14, 2004 - Working under the
auspices of the National Information Standards
Organization (NISO), a joint task force of the publishing
and library communities has developed and published a
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme aimed at the
identification of information assets.  Information assets
should be interpreted rather broadly to include, for
example, documents and terms from classification schemes.
 The INFO URI scheme is a consistent and reliable way to
represent and reference such standard identifiers as Dewey
Decimal Classifications on the Web so that these
identifiers can be ?read? and understood by Web
applications.  Led by four NISO members and associates?Los
Alamos National Laboratory, Online Computer Library Center
(OCLC), Elsevier, and Manifest Solutions?the initiative
builds on earlier consultations with representatives from
the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF). An Internet-Draft for the
INFO URI scheme was first published Sept. 25th, 2003 and a
revision published Dec. 5th, 2003 (see
<http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-vandesompel-info-uri-01.txt>).*

Herbert Van de Sompel, Digital Library Research &
Prototyping at the Los Alamos National Laboratory?s
Research Library, stated, ?A good example of the problem
that the INFO URI scheme solves involves PubMed
identifiers: unique numbers assigned to records in the
PubMed database maintained by the National Center for
Biotechnology Information (NCBI) of the National Library
of Medicine.  PubMed identifiers originated prior to the
Web, so they are not URIs. As such they do not exist
naturally in the Web infrastructure because the Web only
recognizes URIs as a means to identify information
resources.  So Web applications cannot use PubMed
identifiers, and hence cannot reference PubMed records
that are identified by them.  The solution is to turn
PubMed identifiers into URIs.  The INFO Registry enables
the registration of public namespaces of standard
identifiers; NCBI registered its PubMed identifier
namespace under the INFO Registry?their namespace is
pmid?so we can now talk about the record with the PubMed
identifier ?12376099? in URI terms as
<info:pmid/12376099>.?

?The goal of INFO is to act as a bridging mechanism to the
Web by providing a lightweight means for registering
public namespaces used for the identification of
information assets,? said Tony Hammond, Advanced
Technology Group at Elsevier, a world-leading publisher of
scientific, technical and medical information products and
services.  ?We see INFO as an enabling technology for the
library, publishing and media communities?a way to
facilitate and speed the growth of the Web as a truly
global information place beyond a basic document
repository. The Library of Congress, the National Library
of Medicine, and NASA are among those organizations that
have already registered public namespaces with the INFO
Registry.?

?There are different ways to represent these identifiers
on the Web,? explained Pat Harris, NISO?s Executive
Director, ?but the INFO URI scheme really simplifies
matters. As a Web user, you aren?t likely to see the
scheme in action on your screen?for example,
<info:lccn/2002022641>, because it?s an under-the-hood way
of communicating the identity of an information asset to a
Web application.?

The INFO Registry is now available online at
<http://info-uri.info/> for receiving new registrations.
This Registry contains all the information needed by Web
applications to make use of INFO namespaces. Each Registry
entry defines the namespace, the syntax, and normalization
rules for the representing INFO identifiers as URIs, and
gives full contact information for the namespace authority
for that entry. Moreover, the INFO Registry is readable by
both humans and machines alike.

For more information about the INFO URI scheme, see the
FAQ at < http://info-uri.info/registry/docs/misc/faq.html
>.

About NISO
NISO, a non-profit association accredited by the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI), identifies, develops,
maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage
information in our changing and ever-more digital
environment. NISO standards apply both traditional and new
technologies to the full range of information-related
needs, including retrieval, re-purposing, storage,
metadata, and preservation. www.niso.org

* Both Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and Uniform
Resource Names (URNs) are types of URIs.  While URLs are
locators, or addresses, on the Web, URNs are names on the
Web.  The INFO URI scheme is a special type of URN which
complements regular URNs but is designed to be simpler and
more convenient both to manage and to use.


======================================================
Cynthia Hodgson
National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 300
Bethesda, MD  20814-5248
T. 301-654-2512, F. 301-654-1721
www.niso.org