Hi.
We are presently sketching out the plans for some online reference/
discographical works and are aware that there is no perfect solution
or consistency amongst agreement :( In order to try and make things
as user friendly yet accurate (with scope for expansion) I am looking
for any views towards the following:
1. Presentation of artist names and groups.
a. As these will have to go into one field rather than a "first name",
"last name" or "group name" arrangement, do people still really use
the "last name, first name" format that much when it comes to ONLINE
searching? I am aware of its importance still in paper products and
should there be any paper based developments I would hope we could
computerise the reversal of names.
b. Allowing for the fact that computers can strip out (for alphabet
presentation) in listings "The" and such words, do people prefer it to
the previous use of parenthesis. I.e. "The London Chorus" instead of
"London Chorus (The)" and variants.
c. Some discographies and catalogues have used a combination of
capitals to show a family name whilst using the same format. This may
be a European influence I cannot be sure. Does it prove to be off-
putting to an American audience, i.e. "Hiram HOSIE" (as artist) and
"HONEYMAN'S FIDDLERS (as group/artist).
2. Discographical indication of language
a. We are considering the use of a field to indicate the language used
within a recording. Is ISO 639-3 the right standard ? I am a bit
confused here. We want to make it a standard lookup so that we could
define Gaelic (GLA) or if possible differentiate Swedish as used in
Sweden compared to Swedish as used in Finland (a different branch).
Any linguists care to help here. From what I can see ISO 639-3 is the
nearest.
Many thanks for any thoughts.
Best wishes, Darren
¦ D P Ingram ¦ Ab Ingram Oy ¦
¦ darren at ingram.fi ¦ www.ingram.fi ¦
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