Dear Antoine,
A long-delayed response to your comments/questions:
"- the splitting into elements may sometimes not play well with the
> punctuation,"
-- Yes, some things come out odd. And, you're right, this is one of those areas where developers would like clean, unambiguous rules about when and where punctuation is needed and - if that were not a tall enough order - the types of punctuation to be used. I don't have much more to say about this issue than that. At this time, we're just interested in making the data available.
Why are the name elements of a label not displayed when the name is a component of a NameTitle?
-- This was an implementation choice. We *could* include the elements of the name in such a situation. However, because the name has its own resource description (read: URI), those users who wanted the name elements (fullname, dates, terms of address, etc.), could follow the HTTP URI for that additional information. (By not including this information, and the presence of an HTTP URI, there is also the side benefit of emphasizing the fact that the Name is its own resource.)
Do others believe that it might be better to include all the parts of labels in the data of NameTitles even when part of the NameTitle label is its own resource?
Finally, thanks for the kind words, Antoine. And do send along additional questions, oddities, etc.
Warmly,
Kevin
--
Kevin Ford
Network Development and MARC Standards Office
Library of Congress
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Authorities and Vocabularies Service Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Antoine Isaac
> Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 5:41 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ID.LOC.GOV] [MODS] New Vocabularies Added to ID.LOC.GOV
>
> Dear all,
>
> This is really great news! Congrats to all for this.
> It's also very good that you serve both MADS and SKOS at the same time.
> A great illustration of the complementarity of both...
>
> I will try to have a closer look at the data in the coming week.
> Meanwhile, here is a couple of things I picked from a first random
> exploration:
>
> - the splitting into elements may sometimes not play well with the
> punctuation, see for instance
> http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85303985.rdf ("(1980 :" and "New
> Orleans, La.)"). I guess this is a problem well known to you. And it's
> indeed hard to solve. I remember spending hours studying the
> punctuation rules at BnF for *generating* labels with punctuation, from
> the MARC sub-fields. I can imagine how hard the reverse splitting is.
>
> - I am wondering why in
> http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2009177878.rdf the first
> component of the authoritative form ("Lopatnikoff, Nikolai, 1903-1976")
> is not decomposed into its elements, why the second ("Variazioni
> concertanti") is, while the second just has one element.
>
> Best,
>
> Antoine
>
>
> > *Announcement: New Vocabulary Data Added to LC Authorities and
> Vocabularies Service *
> >
> > The Library of Congress is pleased to make available additional
> vocabularies from its Authorities and Vocabularies web service
> (ID.LOC.GOV), which provides access to Library of Congress standards
> and vocabularies as Linked Data. The new dataset is:
> >
> > * Library of Congress Name Authority File (LC/NAF)
> >
> > In addition, the service has been enhanced to provide separate access
> to the following datasets which have been a part of the LCSH dataset
> access:
> >
> > * Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms
> >
> > * Library of Congress Children's Headings
> >
> > The LC/NAF data are published in RDF using the MADS/RDF and SKOS/RDF
> vocabularies, as are the other datasets. Individual concepts are
> accessible at the ID.LOC.GOV web service via a web browser interface or
> programmatically via content-negotiation. The vocabulary data are
> available for bulk download in MADS and SKOS RDF (the Name file and
> main LCSH file will be available by Friday, August 12).
> >
> > **Please explore it for yourself at http://id.loc.gov. **
> >
> > Contact Us about ID:
> >
> > As always, your feedback is important and welcomed. Though we are
> interested in all forms of constructive commentary on all topics
> related to ID, we're particularly interested in how the data available
> from ID.LOC.GOV is used. Your contributions directly inform service
> enhancements.
> >
> > The addition of Names has resulted in considerable changes to the
> ID.LOC.GOV backend. Although we have endeavored to bring the service up
> with all pieces in place, please be patient as we work out any
> remaining "kinks".
> >
> > You can send comments or report any problems to us via the ID
> feedback form or ID listserv (see the web site).
> >
> > Background:
> >
> > The Authorities and Vocabularies web service was first made available
> in May 2009 and offered the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH),
> the Library's initial entry into the Linked Data environment. In part
> by assigning each vocabulary and each data value within it a unique
> resource identifier (URI), the service provides a means for machines to
> semantically access, use, and harvest authority and vocabulary data
> that adheres to W3C recommendations, such as Simple Knowledge
> Organization System (SKOS), and the more detailed vocabulary MADS/RDF.
> In this way, the Authorities and Vocabularies web service also makes
> government data publicly and freely available in the spirit of the Open
> Government directive. Although the primary goal of the service is to
> enable machine access to Library of Congress data, a web interface
> serves human users searching and browsing the vocabularies. The new
> datasets join the term and code lists already available through the
> service:
> >
> > * Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
> >
> > * Thesaurus of Graphic Materials
> >
> > * MARC Code List for Relators
> >
> > * MARC Code List for Countries (which reference their equivalent ISO
> 3166 codes)
> >
> > * MARC Code List for Geographic Areas
> >
> > * MARC Code List for Languages (which have been cross referenced with
> ISO 639-1, 639-2, and 639-5, where appropriate)
> >
> > * PREMIS vocabularies for Cryptographic Hash Functions, Preservation
> Events, and Preservation Level Roles
> >
> > The above code lists also contain links with appropriate LCSH and
> LC/NAF headings. Additional vocabularies will be added in the future,
> including additional PREMIS controlled vocabularies.
> >
> > Sally McCallum
> >
> > Library of Congress
> >
> > **************************
> >
> > Sally H. McCallum
> >
> > Chief, Network Development and Standards Office
> >
> > Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE
> >
> > Washington, DC 20540 USA
> >
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > Tel. 1-202-707-5119 -- Fax 1-202-707-0115
> >
> > **************************
> >
|