New Journal Article: “Persistence Statements: Describing Digital Stickiness”

The following article was published today by Data Science Journal.
Title
Persistence Statements: Describing Digital Stickiness
Authors
John Kunze
University of California
Scout Calvert
Michigan State University
Jeremy D. DeBarry
University of Georgia
Matthew Hanlon
Texas Advanced Computing Center
Greg Janée
University of California
Sandra Sweat
Athena Health
Source
Data Science Journal. 16, p.39
doi:10.5334/dsj-2017-039
Abstract

In this paper we present a draft vocabulary for making “persistence statements.” These are simple tools for pragmatically addressing the concern that anyone feels upon experiencing a broken web link. Scholars increasingly use scientific and cultural assets in digital form, but choosing which among many objects to cite for the long term can be difficult. There are few well-defined terms to describe the various kinds and qualities of persistence that object repositories and identifier resolvers do or don’t provide. Given an object’s identifier, one should be able to query a provider to retrieve human- and machine-readable information to help judge the level of service to expect and help gauge whether the identifier is durable enough, as a sort of long-term bet, to include in a citation. The vocabulary should enable providers to articulate persistence policies and set user expectations.

Direct to Full Text Article

Filed under: Data Files, Journal Articles, News, Open Access