Abstract: This paper describes a pervasive, scalable, and extensible design for distributed information objects. The system is designed so that all information has persistent identity, independently of the devices used to store and transmit information.
The system relies on the notion of a u-form, which is a bundle of attribute-value pairs indexed by a universal identifier. The Universal Unique Identifiers (UUID’s) in our system are more ubiquitous than the typical uses of the URI or URN references of the World Wide Web, since even mundane objects are given UUID’s that are guaranteed to be unique, even if they have no fixed location and are not objects in any other managed namespace.
UUID’s allow u-forms to refer directly to one another, irrespective of their source or physical location, enabling the construction of a global semantic network. Requests for replicates of u-forms are managed by artificial agents called shepherds, whose goal is to promote consistency across multiple repository venues in a peer-to-peer network.
U-forms are not bound by any one schema and new attribute-value pairs can be added as appropriate. Schemata can be layered onto u-forms by adding relations to role u-forms, which state the intended interpretation of the attributes. The system is mature and has been deployed in a number of governmental, environmental, geospatial, and human-services projects, some of which are presented as case studies.
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