Identifierit

Identifierit is a term used in discussions of digital identity and data interoperability to describe a systematic approach to creating, issuing, and resolving unique identifiers for digital objects across diverse systems. The concept emphasizes consistent identification across organizational boundaries to improve data linking, discovery, and reuse.

Origin and scope: The name combines "identifier" and IT, signaling its role in information technology. It is not a universally recognized standard but a conceptual framework used to compare methods of issuing identifiers, resolvers, and the metadata that accompanies them.

Core principles: Global uniqueness, persistence over time, and resolvability through dedicated services; stability across system boundaries; readability of the identifier; and privacy-by-design to minimize exposure of sensitive attributes.

Implementation patterns: Identifierit frameworks may employ a layered architecture with registries or decentralized registries. They typically reuse or compose existing schemes such as UUIDs, DOIs, or URNs, and rely on resolver services that map a given identifier to metadata, location, or both. Versioning, deprecation policies, and governance rules are often included to maintain long-term reliability.

Applications: Used in digital libraries, research data management, enterprise asset tracking, software catalogs, and IoT ecosystems to match records across systems and prevent duplication.

Limitations: Achieving consensus on governance and standardization can be difficult; performance and latency of resolvers can affect usability; privacy and security concerns require careful design and access controls.

See also: UUID, URN, DOI, persistent identifier, identifier resolution.