[uf-new] ISBN, ISSN and the case for moving forward now

[Benjamin Melançon]

A strong vote for adding ISBN to microformats including hreview.  Just
having this conversation offlist with another member.  I really don't
care how it's done but the point is to have a standard.

Is there an ISBN lookup service?  I searched the Internet and looked
around ISBN.org (which seems disturbingly for-profit) but didn't find
anything.

I'm trying to get this straight... an hReview for a book should
reference an hcite which has the author, publisher (both as hcard),
format, and ISBN information etc?  Number of pages, printing date,
etc. still need standards, and format needs to be firmed up it looks
like.

How is a reference done-- just sharing author and title?

Thanks...

ben  ::  http://AgaricDesign.com  ::  http://PWGD.org


On 3/18/07, Andy Mabbett <andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
>
> Abstract
> ========
>
> We can have uFs for ISBNs and ISSNs. The very specific nature of the way
> in which those codes are formatted means that further evidence gathering
> would be superfluous. Such uFs would be useful components in a number of
> other, currently-proposed, microformats. Acting now will ensure that a
> standard method can be applied across such be formats
>
>
> Coverage
> ========
>
> This post addresses the use of ISBNs; almost all of it applies to ISSNs
> equally.
>
>
> Proposal
> ========
>
> There as been previous discussion of marking-up ISBNs (International
> Standard Book Numbers:
>
>         <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN>
>
> ISBNs include a checksum digit:
>
>         <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN#Check_digit_in_ISBN_10>
>
> and can (only) be either 10 or 1 digits long.
>
> Such discussion has, for example, taken place around the proposed
> citation uF:
>
>         <http://microformats.org/wiki/citation-examples>
>
>
> I believe, however, that a UF for ISBN should stand alone, and thus be
> available for use in any other microformat (for recipes, for example, or
> for hResume, hAtom, hReview or hListing).
>
>
> I then started to think about evidence-gathering, and it occurred to me
> that so many websites use ISBN numbers, that I would never have time to
> examine even 1% - so I could ever be sure that I was dealing with cases
> in the larger side of an 80-20 divide.
>
> It then occurred to me that there are very few ways in which ISBN
> numbers can be marked up, in a meaningful and valid sense. Furthermore,
> the very nature of ISBNs, with rigidly defined formats, and check-sums,
> means that detecting, validating and parsing ISBNs is relatively easy to
> describe.
>
>
> Consider these examples (all found on the aforesaid citations-examples)
>
>         <div class="isbn">0-313-32847-1</div>
>
>         <span id="lblIsbn">0-313-32847-1</span>
>
>         <span class="isbnNumber">0195162471</span>
>
> (note that "isbnNumber" is a tautology!)
>
> and these other possible methods of marking up those ISBNs:
>
>         <div class="isbn">ISBN 0-313-32847-1</div>
>
>         <span id="lblIsbn">ISBN: 0-313-32847-1</span>
>
>         <span class="isbnNumber">the ISBN is 0195162471</span>
>
>         <span class="isbn">ISBN: 0-95115-320-X</span>
>
> in each case, the marked-up text includes a valid ISBN (some with
> permitted, but superfluous, dashes) and, in the latter cases, some other
> non-numerical characters. All a parser need do is discard the non
> numerical characters, apart from a possible "X" check-digit (it's
> interesting to note that no "X" check-digit occurs on
> citation-examples), and check that the remaining digits validate to the
> included checksum digit.
>
> If the mark-up has introduced additional digits:
>
>         <span class="isbnNumber">the ISBN of book #42 is
>         0195162471</span>
>
> then a parser may simply discard the results as invalid - and thus
> requiring a more tightly applied element.
>
>
> Use case
> ========
>
> Marking up ISBNs would allow tools to enable users to quickly locate the
> relevant title in a shop or library; for example in the way which
> Wikipedia uses ISBNs:
>
>         <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Booksources&isbn=0950788120>
>
> Indeed, that service could be the target used by a user agent (as could:
>
>         <http://worldcat.org/issn/0006-3657>
>
> for ISSNs).
>
>
> Conclusion
> ==========
>
> I believe that we could, quickly, have uFs for ISBN and ISSN; and that
> this would be of benefit to the development of any other uF which
> includes an ISBN or ISSN component - as well as benefiting the many
> thousands of publishers, and the any millions of consumers, of ISBNs and
> ISSNs
>
> All that remains is to agree a suitable class-name (ISBN vs. hISBN, for
> example).
>
>
> Next steps
> ==========
>
> I hope Mike Kaply, to whom I'm forwarding a copy of this e-mail, will
> agree to place a test-case version in a beta version of Operator.
>
>
> I've marked up a test-case (using class="isbn") on:
>
>         <http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/biblio/sandwellISBNTEST.htm>
>
> which has two with "X" check digits, and I'll be happy to add further
> examples.
>
> I'll be placing a version of this message on the 'wiki' in due course.
>
> --
> Andy Mabbett
>                  <http://www.pigsonthewing.org.uk/uFsig/>
>
>             Ten-day moderation delays amount to a defacto ban!
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