MIT OpenCourseWare Identifier Strategy

MIT OpenCourseWare requires persistent, unique, unambiguous names for its Contributors, Courses, Sections, and Resources.   It refers to these names as identifiers.  This document clarifies the MIT OpenCourseWare strategy for identifier assignment and use.

MIT OpenCourseWare assigns identifiers for use within its own publications.  These identifiers may be used by individuals, organizations, or projects external to MIT OpenCourseWare.  MIT OpenCourseWare does not assume responsibility for supporting these externals uses, or for establishing or maintaining identifiers for any objects outside of MIT OpenCourseWare publications.  For example, MIT OpenCourseWare will establish identifiers for its Contributors, many of which are MIT Faculty.  This does not mean that MIT OpenCourseWare maintains identifiers on behalf of the Institute for every MIT faculty or other community member.

Follow linked data principles

See: http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html

  1. Use URIs as names for things
  2. Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those names
  3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF, SPARQL)
  4. Include links to other URIs. so that they can discover more things.

Identifiers should not change

This rules out the use of URLs as they are far too easy to change.  This also rules o

Don't Share Names

  1. Names are not Titles
         Course, Section, and Resource Titles are not unique.
  2. Names are not Personal Names
         Personal N

Follow Linked Data Principles

See: http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html

  1. Use URIs
  2. Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those names
  3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF, SPARQL) 
  4. Include links to other URIs. so that they can discover more things.

How to Fashion URIs

Our current publishing practice is to make XML metadata files available to the public

Courses and Sections

Use part of the URL (omit index.htm)

Courses omit /CourseHome/

Resources

?How are Resource URLs created in Plone?

Add /Resources/ to Course URI

Add filename minus the file extension

People