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ContextObjects in Spans (COinS) is a unmaintained method of embedding latent OpenURL ContextObjects in web pages. This allows client software to retrieve bibliographic metadata and to use an OpenURL resolver to find a mediated link. A principal advantage of using COinS, rather than giving a static OpenURL, is that the client can determine which resolver to use. This allows, for instance, searching for a copy of a book in one's own library.
COinS have been added to various parts of Wikipedia. They are basically just a chunk of bibliographic information stored in a way that machines can read. This has two applications:
- The information can be converted into a full OpenURL and resolved by a local OpenURL resolver.
- The information can be stored by bibliographic tools like Zotero.[1] The tool can download the bibliographic information from an article into a personal library for future research and retrieval.
- Zotero also has Wikipedia export,[2] which allows references to be dragged into a Wikipedia edit box, where they will appear formatted as Wikipedia citation templates.
So far, COinS have been added to:
- Wikipedia:Book sources – just contains the ISBN
- Many citation templates and infoboxes – see: Category:Templates generating COinS
- MediaWiki:Citethispage-content – generated when you click Cite this article; contains information for citing Wikipedia itself in other documents
- ^ "Zotero and Wikipedia / Wikidata". Zotero.
- ^ "Zotero & Wikipedia: Perfect Together". Zotero.