The vulnerability of any digital material to unexpected or unintended
changes in Internet domain name assignment, and hence to the outcome of
domain name resolution, is widely recognised. The fact that domain
names are not permanently assigned is regularly cited as one of the
main reasons why http:
URIs cannot be regarded as persistent
identifiers over the long term.
However, the claim that http:
URIs are considered inadequately
persistent is belied by widespread reliance on them in digital
material that will undoubtedly persist, such as technical standards
and research articles. As this practice continues - and it certainly
will - it will become increasingly important as a matter of clarity,
trust, and integrity to align Web governance, which currently
specifies potential impermanence for domain name assignments, with practice. Either it needs to
be brought about that at least some domain name assignments are universally
recognised as persistent, and hence
at least that vulnerability to http:
URI persistence removed for URIs
using them, or a credible alternative must be supplied. But attempts to establish permanent actionable URIs outside of the http:
URI scheme have met with little success. It is therefore necessary to
investigate the prospects for universal recognition of at least some
permanent domain names.
This problem is particularly pressing for at least at least two constituencies in addition to the archival and curation community:
ietf.org
and w3.org plays a key role in the overall story of how the
Web works.http:
URIs using domains such as dx.doi.org
or hdl.handle.net
This workshop is intended to bring together interested parties to explore the dimensions of the problem and possible directions in which to look for solutions.
We invite presentations on any subject relevant to the problem of domain name persistence, including, but not limited to
Both regulatory and technical aspects of the problem are in scope
80 GBP for the full day, check IDCC11 Workshops page for details and link to registration page. Note that you do not have to pay for IDCC11 itself to attend the workshop!
Online registration is now closed. Please send email to
ht at inf.ed.ac.uk
if you would like to attend and we'll see if
that's still possible.