Distributed Digital Rights Management: The EduSource Approach to DRM.
Stephen Downes, Gilbert Babin, Luc Belliveau, Raphael Blanchard, Gérard Lévy, Pierre Bernard, Gilbert Paquette, Sylvie Plourde · 2004
This paper describes the design and implementation of the distributed digital rights management (DDRM) system as undertaken by the eduSource project, a national network of learning object repositories built by a consortium of universities and other agencies in Canada. DDRM is foremost a system of rights expression, with transactions managed by a set of brokers acting on behalf of purchasers and providers. Rights are described using ODRL, contained in files managed by the provider broker, and accessed by means of pointers in the learning object metadata exchanged within the eduSource network. 1. eduSource The eduSource project is a network of Canadian learning object repositories providing access to all Canadian educational institutions to a broad array of educational resources. Funded by the contributions of project partners (more than 30 universities, agencies, and businesses across Canada) and by CANARIE, Canada’s Advanced Internet Development Organization, the intent of eduSource is to "create a testbed of linked and interoperable learning object repositories. " (McGreal, et.al., 2003) The development of eduSource involves not only the design of a suit of software applications, referred in project documentation as the Repository in a Box (RiB), it is also intended support the ongoing development of standards based tools, systems, practices and protocols necessary for a national learning infrastructure. eduSource is based in part on three prior CANARIE funded initiatives: