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General discussion

ESBNs on TWIT & ITToolBox

Feb 8, 2006 10:04AM PST

I introduced the ESBN (Electronic Standard Book Numbers) idea on CNET's Buzz Outloud Forum just a couple of months ago as a concept site and now they are being covered in the latest TWIT and ITToolBox podcasts!

Leo Laporte recognizes the value of ESBNs as a global media identifier and will begin tagging all of his podcasts with ESBN IDs.
(http://thisweekintech.com/41)

The Chief Security Monkey from ITToolBox discusses the importance of ESBNs in the fight against plagiarism and points out that the Verify ESBN link can be used to check the authenticity of someone?s blog. It?s similar to the SSL certificate verification window that anyone with a web browser to view to verify a security certificate.
(http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/security/investigator/archives/007611.asp)

To refresh your memories, an ESBN is a unique identifier of electronic content and media. ESBNs are simple and quick to generate and serve as branded identifier or copyright for individuals or companies developing electronic content and media. I have created a Firefox extension and a Mac OSX widget to allow for quick and simple free ESBN ID generation plus there is a web portal that allows you to manage your ESBNs and assign licensee rights to each digital asset. I guess you can look at it as a virtual ISBN number for bloggers, podcasters, and authors in general.

More information on ESBNs can be found at http://www.esbn.org. Please let me know your thoughts!

Cheers,
Chris Matthieu, founder
ESBN.ORG
Tag your content!

ESBN 96089-060208-878029-66

Discussion is locked

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Thats cool.
Feb 8, 2006 10:45AM PST

Although, didn't Leo Laporte say you would have to upload a copy of your files to their servers? (correct me if I am wrong) Uploading the file to another server is fine, but it sounds like it will turn into Archive.org which has became REALLY slow, unless of course they charge and get more equipment as they grow.

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No Upload Required
Feb 8, 2006 11:33AM PST

Thanks for the feedback! This is an excellent question and I also replied to Leo via email on this subject. You can create ESBN IDs 2 distinct ways:

1) With Upload: A more concise method of digital storage. As the original content plus heritage is in 1 spot.

2) Without Upload: Using this method, the heritage information may be
hyperlinked by using the referenced URL field in the ESBN database to point at the original digital asset.
We recommend using the UPLOAD METHOD for audio/video/images for nonrepudiation needs but using the Blogger method for just copy and pasting content into the engine for ESBN ID assignment.

In addition to the Firefox extension, we now offer a Mac OSX widget which both speed up the generation of ESBN IDs without needing to log into the ESBN portal. Links to these add-ons are included on the http://esbn.org home page.

I am interested to learn how other people may be interested in using ESBNs in the future. You can get the a jump start by reviewing some of my ideas:

http://www.esbn.org/esbn/what.asp

Cheers,
Chris Matthieu
ESBN.ORG

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Hey Chris
Feb 8, 2006 2:15PM PST

I heard the TWIT discussion about ESBN.

I registered my site with an ISSN way back int he day. What advantages would an ESBN give over ISSN? (vs. ISBN which is expensive and not good for serialized publications).

Thanks for posting the info again!

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ESBN vs. ISSN
Feb 8, 2006 9:47PM PST

ISSN are electronic IDs assigned only to periodicals. They do not support all copyrightable material such as websites, blogs, images, audio, video, email, etc. ISSNs are also assigned only to the title of a periodicals not allowing you to have a unique ID per copy of a digital asset.

ESBNs are free and quick to generate. Any content that can be referenced, or copy & pasted, or uploaded into ESBN.ORG will receive a unique ESBN ID in real-time. You can also assign copyright use of each ID to a licesee and later reassign that use to a different licensee if desired. The licensee tracking creates a simple form of a nonintrusive DRM protocol where you can track who owns what copy of a digital asset. In other words the same content can have multiple IDs each of which can be assigned to a particular person or group.

ESBNs are global, free, instant, and flexible. Thanks for the great question!

Cheers,
Chris Matthieu
http://ESBN.ORG

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Thanks Chris
Feb 9, 2006 8:04AM PST

Good info.

They do assign ISSNs to online periodicals ( I got one). It's free and global, albeit French.

But ESBN has a whole lot more applicability to posts and assets. I think I'd recommend doing both if you're any kind of regular online pub.

Thanks!!

Tom

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Mention on Podcast?
Feb 9, 2006 1:02PM PST

Think we can get a mention on the podcast to generate listener feedback on ESBN uses other than those posted on http://www.esbn.org/esbn/what.asp ?

I am currently working on a WordPress plug-in with more blogging site tools to come. In addition to the Firefox extension and the Mac OSX widget, we should soon have smooth integration into many sources to generate ESBNs in less than 5 seconds for blog postings, podcasts, and documents!

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Plagiarism Protector
Feb 9, 2006 1:07PM PST
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Thank You!
Feb 14, 2006 10:35AM PST

Thank you Tom and Veronica for your mention of ESBNs on Monday's Buzz Out Loud podcast! The show is awesome - I'm addicted! Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
Chris Matthieu, founder
ESBN.ORG