Abstract. In this paper, we argue that implementing the grand vision of the Semantic Web would greatly benefit from a service which can enable the reuse of globally unique URIs across semantic datasets produced in a fully decentralized and open environment. Such a service, which we call Entity Name System (ENS), stores pre-existing URIs and makes them available for reuse mainly -but not only -in Semantic Web contents and applications. The ENS will make the integration of semantic datasets much easier and faster, and will foster the development of a whole family of applications which will exploit the data level integration through global URIs for implementing smart semantic-based solutions.

Abstract. In recent years, there is an increasing interest in the Semantic Web and the relevant technologies, which can have a significant impact in the context of information and knowledge management. An important observation is that the entity identification problem lies at the core of many semantic web applications and the intrinsic difficulties of this problem have hindered progress in this area. In this paper, we argue for an infrastructure responsible for assigning and managing unique identifiers for entities in the semantic web, and we propose a conceptual model for the storage and management of these entities. The proposed model is generic and flexible and it allows for efficient and effective retrieval and analysis of the stored entities. We discuss the requirements with respect to creating and modifying these entities, as well as to managing their evolution over time. Finally, we study some enhancements of the entity representation, and we discuss the beneficial impact they can have on the performance of the system.

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The fast growth of scientific and non-scientific digital data, as well as the proliferation of new types of digital content, has led – among many other things – to a lot of innovative work on the concept of the identifier. Digital identifiers have become the key to preserving and accessing content, just as physical identifier tags have been the key to accessing paper-based content and other physical entities for millennia. Two main schools of thought have emerged: on the one hand, librarians and public repositories have pushed the concept of the Persistent Identifier (PI) as a way to guarantee long term identification and (sometimes) access; on the other hand, the extraordinary success of the web has led several researchers and web experts to push the concept of the Cool URI as the universal mechanism for identifying and accessing digital content. Both views have their pros and cons, but so far (with only a few exceptions) the two visions have developed in parallel, sometimes with a subtle underlying hostility.In this paper, we present the evolution of the Entity Name System (ENS), an open service-based platform developed as part of the OKKAM EU co-funded project, which can reconcile these two approaches. The new system, called ENS2.0, is currently under development and will enable data creators and curators to combine the technical strengths and opportunities of the (Semantic) Web vision with the organizational, economical and social requirements legitimately raised by the PI community and stakeholders.

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