Hi.
I'd like to continue the discussion about persistent identifiers and
DOIs, but I'm not sure the current CF github issue
<https://github.com/cf-convention/cf-conventions/issues/160> is the best
place for it, so I thought I'd attempt to move it to the listserv.
Disclaimer: I still think ACDD is the best place to address adding any
persistent identifier attributes.
As Bryan Lawrence points out in the blog posts he references in the
github issue there is some conflation of purposes for persistent
identifiers. I tend to see two top-level purposes for persistent
identifiers within a netCDF file.
* Identifying the file itself uniquely.
* Identifying some other object that has a relationship to the file.
There are likely others, but these are the ones that occur to me.
Within the second purpose I see a few different, related uses (and there
are probably more):
* Identifying a collection that the file belongs to.
* Identifying a published paper that describes the data contained in
the file.
* Identifying an organization that is associated with the file
contents in some way.
It seems to me that it's worthwhile to provide a means to accomplish
both top-level purposes within netCDF files.
So what about DOIs in relation to the more general topic of persistent
identifiers in netCDF files?
The International DOI Foundation <https://www.doi.org/index.html> says
this about DOIs in the Section 1.6.1
<https://www.doi.org/doi_handbook/1_Introduction.html#1.6.1> of their
Handbook:
DOI is an acronym for "digital object identifier", meaning a "digital
identifier of an object". A DOI name is an identifier (not a location)
of an entity on digital networks. It provides a system for persistent
and actionable identification and interoperable exchange of managed
information on digital networks. A DOI name can be assigned to any
entity — physical, digital or abstract — primarily for sharing with an
interested user community or managing as intellectual property. The DOI
system is designed for interoperability; that is to use, or work with,
existing identifier and metadata schemes. DOI names may also be
expressed as URLs (URIs).
...
Unique identifiers (names) are essential for the management of
information in any digital environment. Identifiers assigned in one
context may be encountered, and may be re-used, in another place (or
time) without consulting the assigner, who cannot guarantee that his
assumptions will be known to someone else. Persistence of an identifier
can be considered an extension of this concept: interoperability with
the future. Further, since the services outside the direct control of
the issuing assigner are by definition arbitrary, interoperability
implies the requirement of extensibility. Hence the DOI system is
designed as a generic framework applicable to any digital object,
providing a structured, extensible means of identification, description
and resolution. The entity assigned a DOI name can be a representation
of any logical entity.
Based on this description of DOIs, it seems to me that a DOI is a valid,
if poor choice for the first top-level purpose that I mentioned. It also
seems to me that DOIs are well-suited for accomplishing the second
purpose uses. They aren't the only way to accomplish these ends, but
they certainly represent a way to do so.
Grace and peace,
Jim
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