International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) - The 16-digit ISNI is an ISO (defined in the International Organization of Standards entry below) standard for the identification of "Public Identities." ISNIs are assigned to the "Public Identities" of parties that participate in the creation, production, management, or distribution of cultural goods. The party can be a person, such as a book author, or a legal entity, such as a record label. It provides a tool for pulling together different forms of a name (such as linking pseudonyms to the appropriate identity), or to disambiguate multiple identities with the same name (John Smith, for example). Consistent use of ISNI as part of book metadata about contributor names makes it much easier for bookseller sites to correctly display all titles by the same author, even if the author's name is identical or similar to many other author names.
- Companies:
- Amazon.com