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Proposed solution discussions, in reverse chronological order
2019.11.30 draft Draft Inflection Spec: "?info" inflection specification
The "The info inflection" is a string, "?info", that may be added to an ARK before resolving it in order to request , not the identified object, but the return of human- and machine-readable metadata describing the identified object and the commitment made to it by its provider. A successful response returns metadata content as HTML intended for human consumption, along with embedded JSON-LD intended for machine consumption. Future extensions are expected that will permit the request and return of alternate formats. Embedded HTML meta tags that repeat some of the metadata using schema.org element names are recommended because not all processors recognize JSON-LD metadata.
For the sake of discussion, we assume that resolution define some new terms. Resolution of a given ARK (or any URL) may be a multi-stage process starting with the first resolver (HTTP server) hostname appearing in the URL form of the ARK when it is submitted for resolution. That first resolver may actually return content directly, making resolution a one-stage process. If not, the first resolver forwards forward (HTTP redirect) to a second resolver, which may in turn forward to another, and so forth. The last content resolver is the HTTP server that normally returns object content directly (without forwarding. The first resolver may in some cases be the last resolver.
The response may take several forms:
- Unsupported: THUMP header xxx "unsupported inflection"
- THUMP header
The result of resolving an ARK without an inflection is indistinguishable from an HTTP response from the last resolver.
causes the followingreturns HTML with embedded JSON-LD
a) embedded GeoJSON, which allows foreign members from JSON-LD
why? because of high integration with widespread tools, like google search and instant map integration is visually powerful
b) embedded HTML meta tags
why? because not everyone is extracting JSON-LD tags
c) metadata elements formatted for human reading per provider preference
). The metadata resolver is the HTTP server that, in response to the info inflection, returns metadata content directly. For a given ARK, the metadata resolver may be on a different host from the content resolver. (On the other hand, all three resolvers might also be on the same host.) For example, the N2T.net resolver stores a preservation copy of object metadata and can be configured on a per-ARK basis to respond to the info inflection directly or to forward it.
The object metadata returned in response to the info inflection depends not only on the object's immediate descriptive attributes but also on the object type and its place in a constituent cluster. For example, an ARK identifying a published article could have immediate attributes such as author (who), title (what), and date (when), but also, because it is a publication, additional core attributes such as publisher and length (number of pages). The article, one of eight in a particular issue of a journal, might also have multiple versions, in multiple formats, and might contain logical parts such as Abstract, Article, Appendices, and References. These represent its constituent cluster, which is a set of objects with which a given object has any of the following relationships: hasPart, isPartOf, isSiblingOf, HasFormat, hasVersion. For example, our article isPartOf a journal issue, hasPart References, and hasFormat(s) PDF and HTML. Because of its place in the cluster, the article's metadata should contain a link to the issue of which it is part. Note that link relationships within the constituent cluster exist independent of whether they are ARKs or whether they are ARKs that use the reserved '/' and '.' characters.
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Dataset",
"@id": "https://n2t.net/ark:/12345/x408001.v2",
"_comment": "The next 5 elements are for very broad cross-domain interoperation.",
"who": "National Cancer Institute; ICPSR - Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research",
"what": "Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology in the United States and Puerto Rico, 1973–1977",
"when": "1984-05-03",
"where": "https://n2t.net/ark:/12345/x408001.v2",
"how": "(:mtype data) Dataset",
"kidshasPart": [
"https://n2t.net/ark:/12345/x408001.v2/file.xsl",
"https://n2t.net/ark:/12345/x408001.v2/file.csv",
"https://n2t.net/ark:/12345/x408001.v2/file.pdf"
],
"parent": "https://n2t.net/ark:/12345/x408001",
"cite-as": "https://n2t.net/ark:/12345/x408001.v2",
"stickiness": [
"_see:comment": "for these terms, see https://datascience.codata.org/articles/10.5334/dsj-2017-039/",
"indefinite", "keeping", "intraversioned", "standard", "NR", "OP"
],
"_comment": "The next 6 elements are for interoperation within the 'data' domain.",
"name": "Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology in the United States and Puerto Rico, 1973–1977",
"authorproducer": "National Cancer Institute",
"publisherarchive": "ICPSR - Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research",
"datePublished": "1984-05-03",
"dateModified": "2015-08-06T11:20:58Z",
"version": "v2",
"Description": "This dataset was produced as part of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program to monitor the incidence of cancer and cancer survival rates in the United States, thus carrying out the mandates of the National Cancer Act. The SEER Program had several objectives: to estimate the annual cancer incidence in the United States, to examine trends in cancer patient survival, to identify cancer etiologic factors, and to monitor trends in the incidence of cancer in selected geographic areas with respect to demographic and social characteristics..."}
</script>
<!-- why? because not everyone recognizes JSON script metadata -->
<meta name="DC.identifier" content="ark:/12345/x408001.v2" scheme="DCTERMS.URI"/>
<meta name="DC.title" content="Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology in the United States and Puerto Rico, 1973–1977"/>
<meta name="DC.creator" content="National Cancer Institute"/>
<meta name="DC.publisher" content="ICPSR - Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research"/>
<meta name="DC.date" content="1984-05-03" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF"/>
<meta name="DC.type" content="Dataset"/>
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