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DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIERS
MAY 26, 1998
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) in collaboration with the non-profit
Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) has developed a system to identify
individual electronic objects as a first step in tracking ownership of such objects.
The system is called the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). In its most basic form a
number is attached to an object (photograph, text, music, film, etc.). A user locating
that number can instantly go to an internet directory that will provide the name and
contact information for the owner, or the organization having rights to license use to
the object.
Additional features may eventually be built into the system such as on-line pricing of
certain items for certain uses, but the content owner always has the final decisions as
to which features he or she wants to adopt relative to any particular object.
Because this system has been designed by a major organization of publishers, and
because it is non-profit, it has a good chance of eventual wide acceptance.
Nevertheless, at the moment it is in its early stages and wide acceptance is not
assured.
While the system was designed primarily to track digital use of text information, there
has
been some discussion in the organizing meetings that it would be a good idea to attach
the DOI number to all printed pieces, as well, just as one would a copyright notice.
This way someone who wanted to make another use of published material would have an
easy way of
locating the rights holder. For the creator who wants to be paid for future uses it
might be more important to have a DOI number listed next to the work than to have a
copyright notice. On the other hand there is probably no reason not to print both.
Obviously, this system works for images as well as text.
DOI numbers have a prefix and a suffix. In the photo business the prefix would indentify
the individual or stock
agency. The suffix can be used to identify the specific image and a host of other
information depending on the needs of the creator or user in each specific case. For
example a credit line could include a DOI number:10.1486:[JHP1089]. The 10.1486 would
identify the stock agency and number in brackets would identify a specific image. The
information in brackets can be in virtually any format or length. (There is a maximum of 128 characters for each DOI number.) Other information can follow
the brackets.
Publishers could use these DOI numbers to track usage of individual chapters or
photographs within a publication. This could be particularly helpful in compensating
creators for specific articles or chapters of a book when sections of books are used in
"course packs."
A DOI for an illustrated article, might indicate that the publisher can license rights
to the article, but use of the photos attached to the article must be licensed
separately by contacting the creator identified in the DOI for the photo.
Negotiating rights for initial uses may become much more complex, but there is
the potential that photographers can now be paid for many uses that were given
way free in the past.
One thing that certainly should be part of any negotiation is whose DOI number will
appear by your image in their publication. Publishers will want to put their own
DOI number there. Photographers and agents should insist on using their DOI
numbers, unless there is a clear agreement on how the photographer will be compensated
for future uses.
Even if you give the publication unlimited rights to re-use the story in which your
image appears, it is still a good idea to insist that your DOI number be attached
to the image. This way if someone, other than the publisher, sees your image in the
original story, and wants to re-use it in some other way, they will contact you instead
of the publisher.
Stock agencies or individuals can register for a prefix for a one-time fee of $1000,
and an annual mantenance fee of less than $.01 per DOI (prefix and suffix combination).
You can have an unlimited number of DOI's attached to a single prefix. At the current
time the CNRI is waving the annual maintenance fee. For most photographers it will
probably be more practical to use their stock agent's DOI
than to have one of their own.
The idea is to use a suffix attached to the organization prefix to identify each
individual item (photograph). However, there would also be value in attaching the
prefix alone, particularly in news situations where no one knows until the last minute
which specific image will be used. This way at least someone spotting the image could
use your prefix number to locate the image owner. At that point there would need to be a
discussion to determine the specific image of interest.
In order to effectively use the DOI number on digital files it would help if there were
some standardization as to where the number should be placed. An ID bar with the image
number can be built into the image file, but that is somewhat time consuming. The file
name of the image file could contain the entire DOI number. With Photoshop it is possible
to create a text file
connected to each image. However, this file is separate from the picture file and does not have
to stay with it.
Their are about 50 organizations that are CMRI members at the present time. They include
ALCS, a writers collecting society in the UK, and music publishers as well as many text
publisher associations. The Copyright Clearance Center, manager of the MIRA photo database
is also a member. There are an estimated 500,000 DOI's registered at the present
time.
The idea is to use a suffix attached to the organization prefix to identify each
individual item (photograph). However, there would also be value in attaching the
prefix alone, particularly in news situations where no one knows until the last minute
which specific image will be used. This way at least someone spotting the image could
use your prefix number to locate you. At that point there would need to be some
discussion to determine which specific image they were interested in.
If you are interested in learning more about DOI, Carol Risher of the AAP will be speaking on the copyright panel
at Photo West Expo in Anaheim, CA on June 19th at 10:30am. Or, you can go to the Association of
American Publishers web site at www.publishers.org .
For information about Photo West
Expo see: www.pdn-pix.com/photoplusexpo .
Paula Berinstein of Berinstein Research has done an excellent article in InfoToday
"DOI: A New Identifier for Digital Content" explaining the system
HREF="http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jan/story4"> www.infotoday.com/searcher/jan/story4.htm
Another useful article by Bill Rosenblatt can be found at:
HREF="http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-02/doi.html"> http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-02/doi.html