ContextObjects in Spans (COinS) is a method to embed
bibliographic metadata in the
HTML code of
web pages. This allows
bibliographic software to publish machine-readable bibliographic items and client reference management software to retrieve bibliographic
metadata. The metadata can also be sent to an
OpenURL resolver. This allows, for instance, searching for a copy of a book at a specific library.[1]
History
In the late 1990s,
OpenURL was created at
Ghent University as a framework to provide context-sensitive
links. The OpenURL link server implementation called
SFX was sold to
Ex Libris Group which marketed it to libraries, shaping the idea of a "link resolver". The OpenURL framework was later standardized as ANSI/NISO Z39.88 in 2004 (revised 2010).[2] A core part of OpenURL was the concept of "ContextObjects" as metadata to describe referenced resources.
In late 2004, Richard Cameron, the creator of
CiteULike, drew attention to the need for a standard way of embedding metadata in HTML pages.[3] In January 2005, Daniel Chudnov suggested the use of OpenURL.[4] Embedding OpenURL ContextObjects in HTML had been proposed before by
Herbert Van de Sompel and Oren Beit-Arie[5] and a working paper by Chudnov and Jeremy Frumkin.[6] Discussion of the latter on the GPS-PCS mailing list[7] resulted in a draft specification for embedding OpenURLs in HTML,[8] which later became COinS. A ContextObject is embedded in an HTML
span element.
The adoption of COinS was pushed by various publications and implementations. The specification was
OCOinS.info, which includes specific guides to implement COinS for journal articles and books.[9]
Summary of the data model
From OpenURL 1.0 COinS borrows one of its serialization formats ("KEV") and some ContextObject metadata formats included in OpenURL implementation guidelines.[10] The ContextObject implementation guidelines of COinS include four publication types (article with several subtypes, book, patent, and generic) and a couple of simple fields. However, the guidelines are not required part of COinS, so the standard does not provide a strict metadata model like
Dublin Core or the
Bibliographic Ontology.