Robustifying Links To Combat Reference Rot

Jones, Shawn Morgan; Klein, Martin; Van De Sompel, Herbert

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DOE OSTI · 1879378

Robustifying Links To Combat Reference Rot

Jones, Shawn Morgan·Klein, Martin·Van De Sompel, Herbert

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Abstract

Links to web resources frequently break, and linked content can change at unpredictable rates. These dynamics of the Web are detrimental when references to web resources provide evidence or supporting information. In this paper, we highlight the significance of reference rot, provide an overview of existing techniques and their characteristics to address it, and introduce our Robust Links approach, including its web service and underlying API. Robustifying links offers a proactive, uniform, and machine-actionable way to combat reference rot. In addition, we discuss our reasoning and approach aimed at keeping the approach functional for the long term. To showcase our approach, we have robustified all links in this article.

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96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION computer science content drift information science link rot memento reference rot robust links web archives

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BibTeX RIS

Jones, Shawn Morgan, Klein, Martin, Van De Sompel, Herbert. 2021-02-10. Robustifying Links To Combat Reference Rot. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1879378

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