Keyword-based multimedia data lookup in decentralized systems

The use of decentralized systems has the potential to offer secure and efficient collaboration without intermediaries, and in the absence or fault of a central server. However, searching for content in a decentralized system is still an issue, especially when real-time information needs to be retrieved (e.g. emergency situations). We propose a keyword-based decentralized lookup scheme, based on the International Standard Content Code (ISCC), which enables the unique identification of digital content without the need for a centralized registry or authority. Our approach exploits a hypercube Distributed Hash Table (DHT) for storing and retrieving shared resources and compares different approaches to index contents within it. Results show that the use of ISCC, as the basis for creating identifiers, enables more efficient content placement and retrieval, which could pave the way for novel decentralized solutions that surmount the presence of centralized servers for content lookup.