Robert E. Kahn
William Y. Arms
This project continues the architectural work of the DARPA-funded Computer Science Technical Reports (CS-TR) project. That project developed a Framework for Distributed Digital Object Services and implemented some key components. This project continues research and development of this framework and two extensive testbeds at the Library of Congress.
The basic entity in the system architecture is the "digital object", which contains copyright material or other material in which other rights and interests are manifest. There may also be rights and interests associated with digital objects themselves. The major components of the system are: (a) repositories of digital objects that allow network based deposit and access, (b) handle servers that record the location of digital objects over long periods of time, (c) registration and recordation mechanisms to keep track of rights and interests associated with digital objects, and (d) client software to enable use of these components over the network. Digital object fingerprints are used in the registration system to permit validation of the objects at a later time.
The first testbed is with the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. This is a system to register electronic materials for copyright and recordation of changes in copyright ownership. The second testbed is with the National Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress. This is a very large scale project to convert historic materials from the library's collections to digital form and make them available to the world.
Funding for this work is provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Library of Congress.
wya
6/30/96