A clear advance in the field of computer networking was the introduction of separate concepts and mechanisms for naming, addressing, and routing. Machines might have names (db.stanford.edu) which then get translated to addresses (36.38.0.91), for which the appropriate route might be determined.
However, the situation for documents and information resources is more complex. The Internet community is working on standardizing ways of describing how to find, name, and obtain access to information resources, through Uniform Resource Locators (which correspond roughly to an address or route), Uniform Resource Names (which name the object independently of its locations), and descriptions of the characteristics of objects which can be used for searching.