What are mEDRA services?
mEDRA is first of all a DOI registration agency: this means that the first and most important aim for mEDRA is to provide authors, publishers and distributors with an identifier for digital content.
In addition to the DOI, mEDRA offers also a set of DOI-based services:
- citation system for Internet documents
- service for relation tracking
- deposit of Intellectual Property works .
What is the citation system for internet documents?
The aim of DOI as a citation system for Internet documents is to substitute URLs to cite Internet resources. Currently, the lack of reliability of URLs depends on their lack of persistence: when you quote a URL you cannot be sure how long this reference will work. It happens frequently to everyone to find the "error 404-file not found" page while browsing in the web. When a publisher assigns a DOI to an Internet document, he is sure that users will always reach the best available information about the document location. Persistence means that: If the document is moved to a different web-page users will reach it anyway, as long as the publisher will up-grade the URL in the DOI data base.If the document is definitely removed from the Internet, users will receive a message - in alternative to "error 404" page - saying that the document is not available any longer in the Internet .If the publisher removes or changes location to the document without up-grading the DOI data base, the DOI system itself will locate the mysfunction by means of an automated routine. At that point, the system will alert the publisher in order to get the up-grading, and users as well, through an "emergency" message, saying why and since when the document is not reachable. The user will never receive an "error 404" page, but always a more complete information and the best available information.
Therefore, authors will be quoted in a reliable way when they publish in the Internet.
What is the service for Relation Tracking?
The objective of the DOI service for relation tracking is to take under control the relations between digital objects. From the user (final user and/or intermediaries like booksellers, librarians, etc.) point of view this service allows to navigate digital objects that are linked together in a structured way.
The relations between IP entities can be of the following types:
A is part of B (a chapter of a book; a journal article, etc.)
A is a translation of B
A is a new edition of B (different in the content)
A is a different product form of B (the same content but different in format: e.g. pdf and doc version of the same text)
A is a resource related to B (e.g. an abstract of an article, a cover of a book, etc.)
Users, while navigating these relations, could find out, for example, that "A is part of B which is a translation of C, which is a new edition of D" etc.
This service is not yet implemented, but the relations can be registered through the metadata.
Many benefits can be gained from this service:
Publishing Houses have a tool to keep under control the relationships among their own products in a structured way and using an international standard.
Intermediaries like booksellers and librarians can offer their customers information on product availability and supply. A virtual bookshop, for example, can easily offer its customers reliable information about the different editions available of the same work (hardcover, paperback, ebook, pdf, audiobook, etc.)
Libraries can manage in a more effective way their buying policy. Buying a new edition of a book (different as to the content) is different from buying a different product form (with the same content).
Final users may navigate overlooking the relations running throughout the documents. For example, they can find out if the English version of a document is referring to the same text in Italian or instead, if it is a new edition of the Italian text.
What is the service for Deposit of Intellectual Property works?
The service is useful whenever legal ownership has to be demonstrated in case of copyright contest or in case of use of a publication within administrative procedures.
Thanks to appropriate technical devices, certifications can be opposed to third parties, according to the European legislation.
The system is based on time stamping and digital signature to certify that the deposit has taken place, and when.
The service includes deposit and maintenance of the content besides the DOI - and the related metadata - registration.
The service will be available at the beginning for text files, both monographs and journal articles, for publishers and authors, and in a second phase also for images (photographs, icons etc.), software and algorithms. As it is a protection device, the Deposit of Intellectual Property works is mainly useful where digital piracy is spreading.
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