The Internet Search Environment Number (ISEN)

Paul Thompson, Dartmouth College

The Internet Search Environment Number (ISEN) is a proposed new

Internet standard, analogous to the International Standard Book Number,
or the International Standard Serial Number, that will allow searchers on
the Internet to find more reliable, authoritative information than can be
found with conventional search engines. ISEN will support quick and
advanced, metadata-based search for end users. Whereas a DNS entry
provides a name to a number and ISBNs and ISSNs are associated with
‘names’, e.g., book and journal titles, the ISEN combines content
architecture and network architecture, providing a number that
corresponds to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and a database IP
subnet address, i.e., a web server, or a database server, with a
comprehensive set of metadata associated with an Internet-based
resource.

Databases are dynamically driven and constantly updating, creating many

versions; possibly several in one day. But they are still the same resource,
a single instance of a changing, growing set of information. The ISEN
system is intended to facilitate identification of a variety of ‘search
environments’. A ‘search environment’ may be defined as ‘a body of
structured information with its own search algorithm’. A ‘search algorithm’
can be defined as a matching operator used by an information retrieval
system.

Additionally, the ISEN system will support activities for several classes of
administrative users. A database provider will have a web interface
through which to create a draft metadata record for the database’s
inclusion in the ISEN system. An ISEN editor, or classifier, will have an
ISEN interface that supports review and modification of the ISEN metadata
and classification of the database using the Library of Congress
classification scheme, as well as a popular scheme developed by ISEN.

ISEN’s facilitation of access to more reliable, authoritative information will

support COINS.

1
Download copies of COINs 2009 research and industry papers at
ScienceDirect.
Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/59087-2010-999979995-
2182758

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 2, Issue 4, The 1st

Collaborative Innovation Networks Conference - COINs2009. Edited by
Kenneth Riopelle, Peter Gloor, Christine Miller and Julia Gluesing.

Connect to the COINs 2010 Conference community across these media

platforms:

o COINs 2010 http://www.coins2010.com

o Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Savannah-
GA/Collaborative-Innovation-Networks-COINS2010-
Conference/102489653133049
o Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/coinsconference/
o Livestream http://www.livestream.com/coinsconference
o Scribd http://www.scribd.com/SwarmCreativity
o Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
o Twitter http://twitter.com/coins_2010
o Hashtag #COINS2010
o Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/user4147060
o You Tube http://www.youtube.com/coinsconference

The COINs 2010 conference, Oct. 7–9, 2010, is presented by I-Open and
the COINs Collaborative, an initiative of the Savannah College of Art and
Design, Wayne State University College of Engineering Department of
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, and the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology Center for Collective Intelligence. The collaborative builds
open knowledge networks to advance the emerging science of
collaboration for research and industry competitive advantage. Hosted by
SCAD. For more information about the COINs 2010 conference, visit
www.coins2010.com.