URN Namespace for NewsML Resources
A permanent naming scheme for news items in NewsML format
Coates, A., Allen, D., and D. Rivers-Moore, "URN Namespace for NewsML Resources", RFC 3085, DOI 10.17487/RFC3085, March 2001, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3085>.
@misc{rfc3085,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 3085,
howpublished = {RFC 3085},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC3085},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3085},
author = {A. Coates and D. Allen and D. Rivers-Moore},
title = {{URN Namespace for NewsML Resources}},
pagetotal = 6,
year = 2001,
month = mar,
} RFC text
Contents
Network Working Group A. Coates
Request for Comments: 3085 Reuters
Category: Informational D. Allen
IPTC
D. Rivers-Moore
Rivcom
March 2001
URN Namespace for NewsML Resources
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes a URN (Uniform Resource Name) namespace for
identifying NewsML NewsItems. A NewsItem is an information resource
that is expressible as a NewsML element within a NewsML document
conforming to the NewsML Document Type Declaration (DTD) as defined
by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC).
1. Introduction
NewsML is an XML format for packaging multimedia news resources. It
has been created under the auspices of the International Press
Telecommunications Council (IPTC), and version 1.0 was approved by
the IPTC on 6 October 2000.
The same logical NewsItem may exist in multiple physical locations.
The NewsML specification allows NewsItems to have multiple URLs, but
only a single URN. It is the latter which then uniquely names the
resource.
This namespace specification is for a formal namespace.
2. Specification Template
Namespace ID:
"newsml" requested.
Registration Information:
Registration Version Number: 1
Registration Date: 2000-11-07
Declared registrant of the namespace:
David Allen
ho73@dial.pipex.com
IPTC
Royal Albert House
Sheet Street
Windsor
SL4 1BE
Declaration of structure:
The identifier has the following ABNF[6] specification:
NSS = ProviderId ":" DateId ":" NewsItemId ":" RevisionId Update
ProviderId = string
DateId = date
NewsItemId = string
RevisionId = posint
Update = 0*1( "A" / "U" )
date = century year month day
century = ( "0" posdig ) / ( posdig DIGIT )
year = 1*2DIGIT
month = ( 0 posdig ) / ( "1" ( "0" "1" "2" ) )
day = ( 0 posdig ) / ( ( "1" / "2" ) DIGIT ) / "30" / "31"
string = 1*char
char = ALPHA / DIGIT / symbol / escape
symbol = "(" / ")" / "+" / "," / "-" / "." / "=" / "@" / ";" /
"$" / "_" / "!" / "*" / "'"
escape = "%" HEXDIG HEXDIG
posint = posdig *DIGIT
posdig = "1" / "2" / "3" / "4" / "5" / "6" / "7" / "8" / "9"
The ProviderId must be an Internet domain name, and must be owned
by the organisation creating the NewsML resource and allocating
the URN to it, at the date identified by the DateId.
DateId is a date in ISO 8601 Basic Format (CCYYMMDD), and must
correspond to a date at which the organisation allocating the
URN owned the domain name specified in the ProviderId.
The NewsItemId must be unique among all NewsItems emanating from
the same provider and having the same DateId.
RevisionId is a positive integer indicating which revision of a
given NewsItem this is. Any positive integer may be used, but
it must always be the case that of two instances of a NewsItem
that have the same ProviderId, DateId and NewsItemId, the one
whose RevisionId has the larger value must be the more recent
revision. A RevisionId of 0 is not permitted.
If the NewsItem contains an "Update" element or elements, then
Update must be set to "U". If the NewsItem consists only of a
replacement set of NewsManagement data, then Update must be set
to "A". If neither of these is the case, then Update must be
suppressed.
Relevant ancillary documentation:
None
Identifier uniqueness considerations:
The combination of ProviderId and DateId serves to uniquely
identify the organisation that is allocating the URN. That
organisation is responsible for ensuring the uniqueness of the
DateId/NewsItemId/RevisionId combination.
Identifier persistence considerations:
A NewsML URN may only be allocated by an organisation that owns an
Internet domain name. The URN identifies a date on which the
organisation owned that domain name. The combination of date
and domain name will serve to uniquely identify that
organisation for all time.
Process of identifier assignment:
The organisation identified by the ProviderId/DateId combination
is responsible for allocating a NewsItemId that is unique among
all those that it allocates with that DateId.
Process of identifier resolution:
NewsML providers are responsible for the provision of a URN
resolution service, if any, for NewsML URNs they have assigned
with a valid ProviderId/DateId combination.
Rules for Lexical Equivalence:
URNs are lexically equivalent if the ProviderId, DateId,
NewsItemId, and RevisionId are all identical (case-insensitive
comparison).
Conformance with URN Syntax:
No special considerations beyond the syntax herein described.
Validation mechanism:
Organisations that allocate NewsML URNs are responsible for the
provision of a URN validation service, if any, for URNs they
have assigned with a valid ProviderId/DateId combination.
Scope:
Global
3. Examples
The following examples are representative of NewsML URNs, but may not
refer to actual resources.
urn:newsml:iptc.org:20001006:NewsMLv1.0:1
urn:newsml:reuters.com:20000206:
IIMFFH05643_2000-02-06_17-54-01_L06156584:1U
4. Security Considerations
There are no additional security considerations other than those
normally associated with the use and resolution of URNs in general.
References
[1] Rivers-Moore, D., "NewsML Version 1.0 Functional Specification",
November 2000,
<http://www.iptc.org/NewsML/specification/NewsMLv1.0.pdf>.
[2] Rivers-Moore, D., "NewsML Version 1.0 DTD", November 2000,
<http://www.iptc.org/NewsML/DTD/NewsMLv1.0.dtd>.
[3] W3C, XML WG, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0", February
1998, <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml>.
[4] Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.
[5] Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R. and P. Faltstrom, "URN
Namespace Definition Mechanisms", RFC 2611, June 1999.
[6] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.
Authors' Addresses
Anthony B. Coates
Reuters
85 Fleet St
London EC4P 4AJ
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 75 42 21 65
EMail: tony.coates@reuters.com
David Allen
IPTC
Royal Albert House
Sheet Street
Windsor SL4 1BE
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 17 53 70 50 51
EMail: ho73@dial.pipex.com
Daniel Rivers-Moore
Rivcom
Lotmead Business Village
Swindon SN4 0UY
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 17 93 79 20 00
EMail: daniel.rivers-moore@rivcom.com
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
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or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
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kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
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Acknowledgement
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AI ELI5
On this page
§1NewsML and URN Naming
NewsML is an XML format for packaging multimedia news resources. It was created under the auspices of the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). The RFC defines a URN (Uniform Resource Name) namespace for identifying NewsML NewsItems—individual information resources expressible as NewsML elements within a NewsML document conforming to the NewsML Document Type Declaration.
The same logical NewsItem may exist in multiple physical locations. While NewsML allows NewsItems to have multiple URLs, a single URN provides the unique, persistent identifier. The namespace is intended as a formal namespace following RFC 2611 requirements.
News files can move around the web, but they need one permanent name that never changes. This RFC explains how to name each news story so it can always be found.
§2URN Structure and Components
The NewsML URN namespace is requested as 'newsml'. The URN identifier follows this ABNF structure:
NSS = ProviderId ":" DateId ":" NewsItemId ":" RevisionId Update
The ProviderId must be an Internet domain name owned by the organisation creating the NewsML resource. The DateId is a date in ISO 8601 Basic Format (CCYYMMDD) indicating when the organisation owned that domain name. The NewsItemId must be unique among all NewsItems from the same provider with the same DateId. The RevisionId is a positive integer (never zero) indicating which revision of a NewsItem this is; larger values indicate more recent revisions. The optional Update flag is 'U' if the NewsItem contains Update elements or 'A' if it contains only replacement NewsManagement data; if neither, it is omitted.
The news name has four parts: who wrote it (domain name), when they owned that domain (date), what news it is (ID number), and which version of the story (revision number). An extra flag says if this is an update or replacement.
§3Uniqueness and Persistence
The combination of ProviderId and DateId uniquely identifies the organisation allocating the URN. That organisation is responsible for ensuring uniqueness of the DateId/NewsItemId/RevisionId combination. Since a NewsML URN may only be allocated by an organisation that owns an Internet domain name, the URN identifies a date on which the organisation owned that domain name. This combination of date and domain name uniquely identifies that organisation for all time, ensuring identifier persistence.
News providers are responsible for providing URN resolution services if any for URNs they have assigned. URNs are lexically equivalent if the ProviderId, DateId, NewsItemId and RevisionId are all identical using case-insensitive comparison. Organisations may also provide validation services for URNs with a valid ProviderId/DateId combination.
No two news stories can have the same name because the domain name plus date plus story number plus version creates billions of possible combinations. The news provider keeps track of which names they gave out.
§4Example URNs
Example NewsML URNs include:
urn:newsml:iptc.org:20001006:NewsMLv1.0:1
urn:newsml:reuters.com:20000206:IIMFFH05643_2000-02-06_17-54-01_L06156584:1U
The first example uses IPTC's domain (iptc.org) with date 6 October 2000, a NewsItemId of 'NewsMLv1.0', and revision 1 with no Update flag. The second uses Reuters' domain (reuters.com) with date 6 February 2000, a longer alphanumeric NewsItemId, revision 1, and the 'U' flag indicating it contains Updates.
Here are two real examples of what these permanent news names look like: one from IPTC, one from Reuters. Each one uniquely identifies one version of a specific news story from a specific company on a specific date.
§5Security and Scope
There are no additional security considerations beyond those normally associated with the use and resolution of URNs in general. The scope of the newsml URN namespace is global, allowing any news provider with a registered domain name to participate.
The registration information notes that the namespace registration version is 1, with registration date 6 November 2000, and the declared registrant is David Allen of IPTC.
The naming scheme itself is not a security feature; it is just a permanent way to label news stories. Normal web security rules apply when finding or using the news items.