Ascribenation

Ascribenation is the act of ascribing credit to a source or set of sources, for a piece of work — or for any personal data, with the permission of its originator.

In media the work might be a newspaper story, a blog post, or a song mashed from multiple sources or samples, to members of social networks, or to any person or group that has contributed value worth paying for. (For example, the unpaid users who give value to a "social network. See this from Devon Lofreto for more on that.) It is derived from the verb ascribe.

In manufacture, the work would be a finished product.

In direct marketing, the work might be a personalized message, delivered in a permitted way.

Ascribenation as currently conceived (but we're open) is not possible without sources carrying ascribenation metadata that can be concatenated forward as each source's work is included in (or referenced by) other works. There are several means for doing this, including microformats and XDIs.

Ascribenation makes possible crediting sources for work, and getting those sources paid as well.

For example, here's a Houston Chronicle story on climate change lobbying] that sources an analysis of climate change lobbying by the Center for Public Integrity. Right now the Chronicle doesn't have any links in that story. But if it did, that link might contain concatenated metadata that could be gathered by the Read Log on the reader's device (phone, laptop, whatever). Using EmanciPay, the reader could pay both the Chronicle and the Center for Public Integrity.