Re: [urn] DOI URN namespace registration

["Hakala, Juha E" <[e-mail]>]

Hello John,

-----Alkuperäinen viesti-----
Lähettäjä: John R Levine <[e-mail]> 
Lähetetty: maanantai 25. toukokuuta 2020 18.16
Vastaanottaja: Hakala, Juha E <[e-mail]>
Kopio: [e-mail]
Aihe: Re: VS: [urn] DOI URN namespace registration

> Juha: Handle and DOI are different identifier systems although they share the same technical base. DOI system is administered by International DOI Foundation, and they have the mandate to register a URN namespace for DOI (and asked me to help in the process). Handle system and Handle specifications are managed by DONA Foundation, and they have not required registration of a URN namespace for Handles.

Thanks, but that's not what I'm asking.  Is there ever a situation where a 10.xx/yy DOI and the same 10.xx/yy handle would refer to different resources?  I understand that the answer is no.  That's what I mean by the same namespace.

Juha: correct, you can change the resolver address in the DOI URI from https://doi.org to http://hdl.handle.net and the DOI still resolves to the same resource. And vice versa. International DOI Foundation is considering a possibility of allowing a retrospective upgrade from Handles to DOIs, so that in the future some DOIs may be former Handles with prefixes which do not start with "10.".

>From my point of view (and that of the International DOI Foundation) the fact that DOIs and Handles share the same technical infrastructure does not mean that they should share the same URN namespace as well. There is an important difference between these identifier systems, namely that DOIs are centrally managed, whereas Handles don't have such administrative layer. This means, for instance, that DOIs are likely to be more persistent than Handles, since persistence of a URN is primarily not a technical, but an administrative challenge. 

The other side of this coin is that the International DOI Foundation has a mandate to require registration of a URN namespace for DOI, but they cannot register a namespace also for Handles. Only DONA Foundation can request a namespace for Handle (but not for DOI). A single namespace covering both identifiers not possible since a) this is not what the registrant is asking for, and b) Handles and DOIs are different identifier systems although they share the same technical basis.

DOI is an ISO standard is ISO 26324:2012. As regards the syntax and character set, it relies on informational RFCs which specify Handles, but there are also some additional constraints which do not apply to Handles, such as guidelines for presenting ISBNs as DOIs.   

Best regards, 

Juha