Challenges
- I needed a clear delineation of what each public communication point is and what is unique about its purpose. That tells me what should/should not go in the Wikipedia article.
- I couldn’t really draft the ToC without also kind of drafting the content in my mind’s eye. So this document suggests what actually goes under those headings.
Opening paragraphs
Wikipedia articles start with an opening paragraph that is above the table of contents. The ARK opening paragraph should:
- Succinctly define what ARKs are, with appropriate links to related Wikipedia entries, such as "Persistent identifier".
- Like the DOI opener, it should clearly convey the most common user communities, i.e. cultural heritage institutions such as libraries and museums.
- Should touch on the role of resolver service
Proposed Wikipedia ToC
- ARK Features
- Structure and syntax
- Resolvers and other tools
- Comparison with other identifier schemes
- History and administration
- See also
- Notes and references
- External links
ARK Features
- Start with the features that may not be unique to ARKs, but are core features – persistence.
- Flexibility – extend a ARK for a complex digital object to be able to uniquely identify any component of that object.
- Lifecycle – create/reserve ARKs early in the digital object creation workflow
Structure and syntax
- Perhaps include the illustration from the FAQ.
- It would be nice if NAAN could be a Wikipedia article of its own. Barring that, try to get a 1 to 2 sentence definition of the role of NAAN.
Resolvers and other tools
- Use this section to elaborate on the role of resolver services and related open source tools as well as services like EZID.
Comparison with other identifier schemes
- This can be brief. Some differentiating features will already have been mentioned above. I do think it’s important for the article to show awareness of the sector, and to connect users to other systems.
History and administration
- Role of CDL, N2T in development
- Information about the scope of adoption (without a long list of adopters).
- Current administration - AITO, IETF
Additional notes
I saw Wikipedia as being for a general audience, who might not know much about identifiers and who may not be in the process of implementing ARKs. I did not include a heading that was focused on ‘how-to’ for adopters – that seemed more like a role for the ARK page at N2T or the FAQ.
I’m including a spreadsheet that
- Lists ToC headings for related/similar documents
- Tries to distinguish the audience and purpose of the three main communication points. I know we’ve discussed this in our meetings, but I didn’t investigate to see if we wrote it down.
