Contentwho

Contentwho is a hypothetical framework used in discussions of digital content attribution and provenance. It describes a system that attaches a persistent, creator-centric identity to a content item and records its origin, edits, and ownership as it moves across platforms. The concept is often presented in theoretical papers, seminars, and demonstration projects to illustrate how content provenance could be managed in an open web ecosystem.

The term has appeared in debates about accountability in publishing, education, and media, rather than as a standardized specification. It is typically used to explore how content creators could be reliably identified and how a content item’s history could be traced in a cross‑platform environment.

Core concepts of contentwho include a content identifier that encodes metadata such as creator identity (often linked to identity standards like ORCID), creation date, license, and version history; a provenance chain showing prior revisions; and rights metadata. A contentwho record is envisioned to be interoperable with existing standards and infrastructures, linking to DOIs for formal works, IPFS for storage, ORCID for author identity, and the W3C PROV model for provenance.

Architecture and operation are imagined to rely on tamper‑evident or cryptographically signed records and append‑only logs, with APIs that allow querying provenance across platforms. The approach supports multiple contributors and revision histories, and can be integrated with current content management systems.

Impact and critique focus on potential benefits such as improved attribution, easier verification, and greater transparency, weighed against concerns about privacy, governance, data complexity, and the risk of misattribution or misuse in a less regulated ecosystem. See also digital provenance, content addressability, DOIs, ORCID, and IPFS.