ARKs: the year 2019 in review

[John Kunze]

This past year has seen lots of progress for ARKs and the ARKsInTheOpen.org project.

1. Since the last project update 12 months ago, 75 more institutions across the world have registered to use ARKs. This includes the usual assortment of museums, journals, archives, and libraries. Here is a brief sampling of the new members:
        Louvre Museum                Hearst Museum of Anthropology
        EarthCube                    Arqueologia Iberoamericana
        Journal of Geophysics        Archives Nice Côte d'Azur
        University of Amsterdam      Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
        University of Virginia       University of Colorado Boulder
   
2. Major new growth in ARK numbers, that we know of, is coming from University of California campuses and the Smithsonian Institution. Since ARKs are decentralized, there is certainly growth that we don't know of, so if you have stories to share, please write to let us know!
3. Three working groups were established this year, and they issued the first ARKs FAQ in English and French, published an updated ARK specification, and conducted the first ARKs survey. We are very grateful for their great help in these areas. If you might be able to help us with additional translations, please let us know!
4. The N2T.net resolver doubled in size, now hosting 50 million ARKs and DOIs. N2T continues to support redirection rules for all ARK NAANs, as well as for 1500 other kinds of identifier.

For the year ahead we look forward to further engagement and to finalizing the ARK specification. Wishing you all the best for the holiday season,

-John