Research communication involves the unambiguous referencing of documents.
Using a location on the world wide web to reference a baseprint is unsatisfactory.
Multiple websites can present a baseprint
and no single website is the authoritative source of a baseprint.
Instead of referenceing a location on the world wide web,
baseprints are referenced with an intrinsic identifier,
such as a Software Heritage ID (SWHID).
The identity of a baseprint is determined by the exact digital encoding of the baseprint.
The exact digital encoding is a sequence of bytes
when a baseprint is a single file.
When a baseprint is more than a single file, other digital encodings are possible,
such as a *git tree*, which encodes a directory of files.
A SWHID identifies a baseprint using a cryptographic hash of the digital encoding of a
baseprint.
