Define a Persistent URI Scheme

Define your persistent URIs

A persistent URI is immutable. You can see it as a online inventory number for your obect. It's a stable link that always resolves to the latest up-to-date version of your web resource (e.g. data, images, a human-readable description (web page)) of that object. It's not (only) a technical challenge that should be fixed by your IT'er, but requires good management of the PIDs by collection managers.

Rules for persistent URIs

A persistent URI consists of:

• http:// or https://
• a simple, (human-)readable form (a cool URI)
• and a name that is assigned by a collection manager (see the ICOM Statement on Linked Data identifiers for museum objects stating that museums are the sole authority with responsibility for establishing globally unique and persistent identifiers (URIs) for each of the objects in their collections)

Persistent URI form

http://[domein]/[type]/[concept]/[identifier]

HTTP / HTTPS scheme

A PID is an HTTP URI, which means that the URI always starts with http or https and should be accessible by a browser.

Domain

A domain (name) is a name in the Domain Name System (DNS) that is used by computers to identify services. A domain is needed to find resources on the web. This part of the URI pattern is formed by the hostname and my be preceded by a subdomain.

Examples:

• In the URL https://packed.be/nieuws the part packed.be is the domain of the URL
• In the URL http://datahub.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be the part vlaamsekunstcollectie.be is the domain and the part datahub is the subdomain of the vlaamsekunstcollectie.be-domain

Concept (optional)

The concept represents the category of the resource.

Examples:

• work: the resource is an artwork
• item: the resource is about a collection item
• agent: the resource is about a person, e.g. the creator of an artwork
• place: the resource is about a place, e.g. a city that relates to an item in the collection
• concept: the resource is about a concept, e.g. an idea, an art style, ...
• event: the resource is about an event, e.g. the creation of a collection item

Type (optional)

The type represents the type of information of the resource.

Examples:

• id: the resource references to a real world object or abstract concept, e.g. a web page of a collection item
• data: the resource references to (meta)data of a real world object or abstract concept, e.g. a JSON- or XML-file with metadata of a collection item
• representation: the resource references to an image of a real world object or abstract concept, e.g. an image of a collection item

Identifier

The identifier represents a unique code that identifies the resource.

Examples:

• inventory number of the object
• UUID: an ID that is mainly used in software architecture and is standardized by the Open Software Foundation. It consists of 32 hexadecimal numbers (numbers 0-9 complemented with A-F) and 4 hyphens, e.g. 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000
• the checksum of a digital resource (image, data): MD5, SHA-1, SHA-2

Read more

• Project Persistente Identificatie
• Vlaamse URI-standaard voor data
• Study on persistent URIs, with identification of best practices and recommendations on the topic for the MSs and the EC