OCLC to work with Zepheira to redesign OCLC's Persistent URL service

New architecture will more effectively support management of resources in dynamic Web environment

DUBLIN, Ohio, July 11, 2007-OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
and Zepheira, LLC announced today that they will work together to
rearchitect OCLC's Persistent URL (PURL) service to more effectively
support the management of a "Web of data."

The software developed will be released under an Open Source Software
license allowing PURLs and the PURL infrastructure to be used in various
applications for public or proprietary use.  OCLC and Zepheira are
collaborating to extend the open and inclusive community of PURL users.

The PURL service has been hosted by OCLC for 12 years and provides
persistent, stable World Wide Web (WWW) addresses for the international
library and education community, government, business, and non-profit
organizations, and private citizens.  PURLs are Web addresses or Uniform
Resource Locators (URLs) that act as permanent identifiers in the face
of a dynamic and changing Web infrastructure.

Instead of resolving directly to Web resources, PURLs provide a level of
indirection that allows the underlying Web addresses of resources to
change over time without negatively affecting systems that depend on
them.  This capability provides continuity of references to network
resources that may migrate from machine to machine for business, social
or technical reasons.  PURLs grew out of the long involvement of OCLC's
Office of Research with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Uniform Resource Identifier working groups.

"Identifying and managing information resources have always been central
to librarianship.  As these resources have moved to the Web, the problem
of names tied to potentially changing locations now affects everyone.
OCLC's experience with libraries and electronic resources helped us
create the PURL infrastructure to serve libraries and other communities
in addressing these complications.  Because of our continuing commitment
to this service, we feel it is time to update and extend it to support a
larger user base and provide more resilient access to online
information," said Thom Hickey, Chief Scientist, OCLC.

Zepheira will redesign and build the new PURL service during 2007 to
support greater flexibility, new features and the scalability to face an
increased demand for PURLs.  The new service, which upgrades the
existing services at purl.org, will also be hosted by OCLC.

"Giving names to all of your documents and data allows you to easily
reference and share information in a 'Web of data.'  Changing
organizational structure, direction, priorities and opportunities
introduces a flux in data production and ownership so it is crucial to
have a mechanism to keep these references current.  The flexibility and
permanence PURLs offer lower the bar to information reuse and stability
across corporate and community boundaries accelerating information
exchange in important fields such as the scientific, government and
library communities," said Eric Miller, President, Zepheira.

The new PURL software will also be updated to reflect the current
understanding of Web architecture as defined by the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C).  This new software will provide the ability to
permanently identify networked information resources, such as Web
documents, as well as non-networked resources such as people,
organizations, concepts and scientific data.  This capability will
represent an important step forward in the adoption of a
machine-processable "Web of data" enabled by the Semantic Web.

"Persistence of identifiers is a key attribute for resources on the Web;
W3C's Technical Architecture Group place it at the core of the
Architecture of the World Wide Web. PURLs have long been useful as a way
of managing the reality of document migration; this update will support
the identification of non-document resources important to the Semantic
Web. As we continue to bring the capabilities of the Semantic Web to a
wider Web community, it is crucial to be able to make consistent and
stable references to non-networked resources.  This update to the PURL
infrastructure will help to make the Semantic Web a practical reality,"
said Ralph Swick, Technology and Society Domain Lead, W3C.

OCLC and Zepheira are pleased to provide PURLs as a core component of
the Internet infrastructure, to increase the flexibility and stability
of Web-based applications and services.  More information on the PURL
service is available on the OCLC PURL Web site:  www.purl.org
<http://www.purl.org/> .

 

About OCLC

Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer
Library Center is a nonprofit library service and research organization
that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource
sharing, eContent and preservation services to 57,000 libraries in 112
countries and territories. OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have
created and maintain WorldCat, the world's richest online resource for
finding library materials. For more information, visit www.oclc.org
<http://www.oclc.org/> .

 

About Zepheira

Zepheira is a US-based professional services firm with expertise in
semantic technologies and Enterprise Data Integration. Zepheira delivers
solutions worldwide to integrate, navigate and manage data across
personal, group and enterprise boundaries.  Zepheira performs business
analysis, data architecture, application development and implementation.
Zepheira's experts have a long history of leading Internet standards
initiatives, and delivering solutions to industries including
manufacturing, financial services, medical research and defense. The
company is privately held and has offices in Virginia, Ohio and
Colorado. For more information, visit:  www.zepheira.com
<http://www.zepheira.com/> .

 
About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where
Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to
develop Web standards.  W3C primarily pursues its mission through the
creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term
growth for the Web.  Over 400 organizations are members of the
Consortium.  W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European
Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM)
headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional
Offices worldwide.  For more information, see:  www.w3.org/.

 

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