Buying & Selling DOIs...and the same for specimens

A previous post of mine described the business model for digital object identifiers in albeit simplistic terms. But, perhaps I should back up a second. Just what the heck is a DOI and why should the average systematist care? [Later in this post, I'll describe an interesting business model for biodiversity informatics]

Rod Page recently wrote a post in iPhylo that does a great job of selling the concept. Permit me to summarize and to add my own bits:

1. DOIs are strings of numbers & letters that uniquely identify something in the digital realm. In the case of published works, they uniquely identify that work.
2. DOIs are resolvable and can be made actionable. i.e. you can put http://dx.doi.org/ in front of a DOI and, through the magic of HTTP, you get redirected to the publisher's offering or the PDF or HTML version of the paper
3. DOIs have metadata. If you have for example a citation to a reference, you can obtain the DOI. Conversely, if you have a DOI, you can get the metadata
4. DOIs are a business model. Persistent URLs (championed by many) are not a business model because there is no transfer of funds & confidences

Systematists have lamented that their works on delineating & describing species don't get cited in the primary literature. If they published in journals that stamped DOIs on their works or if they participated in helping journals get DOIs for back-issues or future publications, then outfits like the Biodiversity Heritage Library would have an easier time mapping taxon names to published works. For example, searching not for a publication but a taxon name in Biodiversity Heritage Library (protoype HERE) would not only provide a list of works in BHL that used the name somewhere in its text, it could provide a forward-linking gadget from CrossRef. The end user would have an opportunity to do his or her own cognitive searching:

There is nothing stopping an outfit like the Biodiversity Heritage Library from using Handles or some other globally unique identifer. But, doing so cuts off the possibility of injecting old works back into contemporary use because they will not be embedded into a widely used cross-linking framework.

MOIs for Sale

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility and The Encyclopedia of Life must also be active participants in the adoption of globally unique identifiers. But again, there must be a business model. So, here's a business model in relation to museum specimens:

1. A registry sells a "MOI" - Museum Object Identifier (my creation of course) at 1 cent per labelled specimen.
2. The price will go up to 2 cents a specimen after 2020, the usual year given for various National Biodiversity Strategies. Translation: get your act together because it'll cost more later.
3. All MOIs must have DarwinCore metadata
4. The registry sets up a resolver identical in functionality to DOIs

Now, before all the curators out there scream bloody murder, let's stop and think about this and put a creative, financial spin on the possibilities. Craig Newmark, the founder of the ever popular Craig's List, was recently interviewed on Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report where he mentioned Donor's Choose (see interview). If you're not familiar with that new service, here's the slogan: "Teachers ask. You choose. Students learn."

DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.

There's a lot of interest in The Encyclopedia of Life and the Biodiversity Heritage Library now. Let's set-up a global "Donor's Choose" clone called something like "Biodiversity Knowledge Fund" (though that's not catchy enough) to be locally administered by daughter organizations to EOL and the BHL in countries throughout the world. Funds then are transferred to institutions of the donor's choosing. Museums then accept the funds donated to them and turn around and buy "MOIs". What would prevent a museum from taking the money specifically donated to them and spending it on things other than MOIs? Nothing. But, their specimens then aren't indexed. Are you a philanthropist or have 20 dollars (or francs, rubles, pounds, pesos, dinar, lira, etc.) you'd like to donate? Want to fund biodiversity but don't know how? Here's an answer. But is such a "Biodiversity Knowledge Fund" sustainable? No, but it's a start.