The user types a word, brand name, phrase,
or code, and gets re-directed to a web site with the
appropriate content. The only snag: RealNames identifiers are
for sale. Thus, its identifiers are not guaranteed to lead to
the best, only, or relevant resource. Similar systems are
available in many languages. Nexet, for example, provides such
a resolution service in Hebrew.
The Association of American Publishers (APA) has an Enabling
Technologies Committee. Fittingly, at the Frankfurt Book Fair
of 1997, it announced the DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
initiative. An International DOI Foundation (IDF) was set up
and invited all publishers - American and non-American alike -
to apply for a unique DOI prefix. DOI is actually a private
case of a larger system of "handles" developed by the CNRI
(Corporation for National Research Initiatives). Their "Handle
Resolver" is a browser plug-in software, which re-directs
their handles to URL's or other pieces of data, or content.
Without the Resolver, typing in the handle simply directs the
user to a few proxy servers, which "understand" the handle
protocols.
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