# Presentation: 676648

## Handle System GovernanceLaurence Lannom14 November 2007Corporation for National Research InitiativesReston, VAhttp://www.cnri.reston.va.us/http://www.handle.net/

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## The Essential Governance Question

- What, precisely, is being governed?

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## Handle SystemFrom a Governance POV

- Abstract System
- Software: reference implementation
- Servers
- Web proxies
- Assorted clients (admin tools, end user tools)
- External contributions
- Running system
- Root servers
- Public web proxies
- Namespace management (handle prefix allocation)
- Local Handle Services (EVERYONE ELSE)

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## Handle System: From a Governance POV Abstract System

- Defined by three RFCs
- Namespace
- Data model
- Service model, i.e., architectural components
- Operation model, i.e., how the components work together
- Over the wire protocol
- Patented
- Defensive in nature - protect the system and its users
- Abstraction must be maintained
- Patent may need defending

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## Handle System: From a Governance POV Software

- Reference Implementation of the Core System
- Server
- Edge cases (>10 servers in a single service)
- New components (data store efficiency)
- New ‘listeners’ (DNS)
- Web proxies (http://hdl.handle.net)
- Moved from Handle Server that talks http to Java servlet that talks handle
- Assorted clients
- Admin tools
- Various plug-ins, e.g., Adobe, Firefox
- Contributed bug reports/fixes
- Conformance testing?

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## Handle Resolution

**GHR**

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## Handle Clients

- Global Handle
- Registry

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## Handle Clients

- Request to Client:
- Resolve hdl:10.1000/1

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## Handle Clients

**Service Information - Acme Local Handle Service**

**Primary Site **

**123.45.67.8**

**Port #**

**Secondary Site B**

**Server 1**

**Server 1**

**Server 2**

**Server 3**

**Server 1**

**Server 2**

**123.52.67.9**

**321.54.678.12**

**321.54.678.14**

**762.34.1.1**

**123.45.67.4**

**Public Key**

**...**

**2641**

**K03RLQ...**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**5&M#FG...**

**F^*JLS...**

**3E$T%...**

**A2S4D...**

**N0L8H7...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**IP Address**

**Secondary Site A**

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## Handle Clients

**Service Information - Acme Local Handle Service**

**Primary Site **

**123.45.67.8**

**Port #**

**Secondary Site B**

**Server 1**

**Server 1**

**Server 2**

**Server 3**

**Server 1**

**Server 2**

**123.52.67.9**

**321.54.678.12**

**321.54.678.14**

**762.34.1.1**

**123.45.67.4**

**Public Key**

**...**

**2641**

**K03RLQ...**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**5&M#FG...**

**F^*JLS...**

**3E$T%...**

**A2S4D...**

**N0L8H7...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**IP Address**

**Secondary Site A**

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## Handle Clients

**Service Information - Acme Local Handle Service**

**Primary Site **

**123.45.67.8**

**Port #**

**Secondary Site B**

**Server 1**

**Server 1**

**Server 2**

**Server 3**

**Server 1**

**Server 2**

**123.52.67.9**

**321.54.678.12**

**321.54.678.14**

**762.34.1.1**

**123.45.67.4**

**Public Key**

**...**

**2641**

**K03RLQ...**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**2641**

**5&M#FG...**

**F^*JLS...**

**3E$T%...**

**A2S4D..****.**

**N0L8H7...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**IP Address**

**Secondary Site A**

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## Handle Clients

- 3. Client queries Server 3
-     in Secondary Site A
-     for 10.1000/1

**#1**

**#2**

**#3**

**Primary Site**

**Secondary Site A**

**Secondary Site B**

- Request to Client:
- Resolve hdl:10.1000/1

**Acme Local**
**Handle Service**

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## Handle Clients

- 4. Server responds with
-     handle data

**#1**

**#2**

**Primary Site**

**Secondary Site A**

**Secondary Site B**

- Request to Client:
- Resolve hdl:10.1000/1

**#3**

**Acme Local**
**Handle Service**

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## Handle System: From a Governance POV Running System

- Root service (GHR)
- Multiple servers in multiple locations, including 24x7 CoLo
- Multiple organizations running root servers
- What guarantees are needed
- Public web proxies
- Fairly constant demand for new services
- Namespace management (handle prefix allocation)
- Introduced nominal fee in 2006
- Local Handle Services
- Advice / help desk
- ‘Handle not found’ tracking

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## Handle System: From a Governance POV Scale

- Global (root) resolutions
- Oct 07: 103M
- 12 month sliding average: 63M
- Main driver: search engine bots
- Prefixes as of Oct 07
- DOI: 2459
- DSpace: 605
- Other: 467
- Handles
- DOI: 30M
- Other: ??

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## Handle System Usage

- Library of Congress
- DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center)
- IDF (International DOI Foundation)
- CrossRef (scholarly journal consortium, representing >2K publishers & societies)
- CAL (Copyright Agency Ltd  - Australia)
- MEDRA (Multilingual European DOI Registration Agency)
- Nielsen BookData (bibliographic data - ISBN)
- R.R. Bowker (bibliographic data - ISBN)
- Office of Publications of the European Community
- German National Library of Science and Technology
- Wanfang Data
- NASA
- National Agricultural Library/USDA
- DSpace (MIT + HP)
- ADL (DoD Advanced Distributed Learning initiative)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory Research Library
- PILIN (Australian Department of Education, Science and Training)
- Assorted Digital Library Projects

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## Handle System: From a Governance POV Policy Making

- Central Responsibility: CNRI
- Guided by user feedback/requests, e.g., Globus Alliance and the new license
- Guided by technological opportunity/necessity, e.g., OpenURL and the appropriate copy
- Handle System Advisory Committee (HSAC)
- Representing major users
- Meets 3-4 times/yr.
- As needed and possible - could evolve to manage the system
- Great bulk of the activity is in the hands of the Prefix holders
- Low barrier to entry
- No constraints on use

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## Handle System: From a Governance POV Funding and Sustainability

- Good news - it doesn’t cost much (relatively speaking)
- Prefix fees
- Short term, more of a library fine model
- Longer term, could potentially support the system
- CNRI provides the rest
- Funded CNRI R&D projects dependent on HS
- NSF Future Internet Design (FIND) project
- DARPA archive project
- ADL Registry project
- Service contracts based on HS expertise, e.g., IDF

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## Governance: Related Activities International DOI Foundation (IDF)

- Bootstrapped as Membership Org, moving to Registration Agency (RA) Model
- Roughly based on ISBN, but no exclusivity
- Individual RAs contribute to central organization
- Fixed fee plus usage charge
- No constraint on RA business models
- CrossRef - pre-competitive collaboration among natural competitors, supported by service fees
- OPOCE - 100% government funded
*m*EDRA - industry / government collaboration
- Provides common services
- Proxy network
- Failsafe cross-RA backup
- Subcontracted to CNRI
- Provides policy and documentation
- Managing Director reports to Board elected by members

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## Governance: Related Activities Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL)

- Initiative of U.S. DoD Personnel and Readiness
- DoD is a large consumer of computer-based education and training
- ADL put together to solve the interoperability problem among systems
- Created SCORM ( Sharable Content Object Reference Model)
- Packaging standard
- Detailed documentation
- Conformance testing
- Adopted as a global standard
- Success story - but now what?
- DoD not seen as long term standards organization
- Concerns about various industry groups as homes
- Now trying to create a new organization:  LETSI (Learning-Education-Training Systems Interoperability)
- Next initiative - ADL Registry
- Searchable registry of DoD learning objects
- Built by and operational at CNRI, for now

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## Governance: Related Activities Cross-Industry Working Team (XIWT)

*“**XIWT was a multi-industry coalition refining the architecture and key technical requirements for a powerful, sustainable information infrastructure”*
***Goal: ***to foster the understanding, development and application of technologies that cross industry boundaries and facilitate the conversion of the National Information Infrastructure vision into real-world implementation.
***Time Span: ***1994 - 2003
***Membership: ***a coalition of researchers and technical strategists from the computer, telecom and banking industries
***Funding: ***provided by the membership
***Activities: ***preparing* *publications, motivating and supporting testbed initiatives, and holding invitational workshops and meetings to promote consensus and action.

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## GovernanceConcluding Thoughts

- Provide as few services as possible to as large a community as possible
- Less to govern
- Larger base of support
- Re-use, instead of re-invent, wherever possible
- Less to maintain
- Keep focused on narrow area of expertise
- Rely on organizational incentives (skin in the game) rather than individual vision/enthusiasm

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