RDA FTW or WTF

RDA FTW or WTF

LITA LOD SIG ALA AC 2014

ALA Annual 2014 LITA/ALCTS LOD SIG 2

RDA

For The Winor

What The Fheck

2014-06-29


Perspective

(Mine)...and everything I say is arguable

2014-06-29


A very brief history of bibliographic metadata standards

• CHAOS• …(passage of time)…• AACR3• CHAOS (LOD)• RDA• Bibex (schema.org)• BibFrame

2014-06-29


RDF vs. XML (yet again)

• XMLish (bound) data is– Concrete, finite, closed, constrained by Schema• XML Schema, JSON Schema, RelaxNG, SQL, et al)

– Good for creation, storage• RDF (unbound) data is– Flexible, infinite, open, constrained by Logic– Good for distribution, aggregation– VERY likely to be globally invalid (illogical)

2014-06-29


A brief word or 3 about RDF

• Data model assumes an ‘Open World’• Any ‘body’ can ‘say’ any Thing about any Thing• Knowledge has no boundary– There is no ‘record’

• Every Thing that is ‘said’ is ‘true’– Until it’s ‘inconsistent’

…because it’s all about POV

2014-06-29


Anglo-American vs. (everyone else)

• Software Developers are used to English everything

• “That ship has sailed” -- Richard Wallis (English speaker)

• Semantics aren’t consistent, even across English-speaking cultures– Semantics (meanings) matter in bib metadata

2014-06-29


Anglo-American vs. (everyone else)

• Cataloging by/for French (or Chinese) speakers may require different semantics

• Global metadata, especially LOD, requires cross-cultural Linking– This requires cross-cultural mapping (not

crosswalks) of often dissimilar semantics

2014-06-29


MARC 21 vs. (everything else)

• Both semantics and syntax– Semantics has centuries of accumulated value– Syntax is too limited for LOD– Syntax uses opaque identifiers

• Doesn't play well with FRBR– Not even a little bit – doesn’t deal with

abstractions

2014-06-29


RDA Data Model

• RDA instructions are for people• Explicitly multilingual, multicultural– Intense, cross-cultural semantic commitment– Semantics and labels continuously adjusted for

cross-cultural uniformity • Explicitly based on FRBR and DCAM– Wait... DCAM?

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RDA RDF

• 'Opaque' identifiers– http://rdaa:P50029– No ontological commitment– Multicultural– Supports RDA's commitment to cross-cultural

semantic alignment

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RDA RDF

• Lexical Aliases– http://rdaa:founder.en– Language-specific identifiers (URIs)– 'Readable' by humans in each language– Convey minimal semantics (Bad but

whadareyagonnado?)– Always 'resolve', for the machines, to the

canonical opaque identifier• ...and resolve historical aliases

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RDA RDF

• Unconstrained Properties– http://rdau:P60694– Implies no membership in a set (class) of the Thing

Being Described– Required for cross-domain mapping • see bf:Work, schema:CreativeWork, isbd:Resource

– Supersets of the constrained properties

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A brief word aboutSemantic Mapping vs. Crosswalks

• Semantic mapping– Preserves original data context– Assigns meaning to the mapping relationship– This is what the Unconstrained facilitate

• Crosswalk– 1:1 relationship – always ‘same as’– Discards original data context

2014-06-29


RDA & GIT

• Uses git for versioning• Uses GitHub for– Distribution

• https://github.com/RDARegistry/RDA-Vocabularies– Documentation (GitHub pages)

• http://www.rdaregistry.info/– Issue tracking

• https://github.com/RDARegistry/RDA-Vocabularies/issues– Release tracking

• https://github.com/RDARegistry/RDA-Vocabularies/releases

2014-06-29

https://github.com/RDARegistry/RDA-Vocabularies



http://www.rdaregistry.info/

http://www.rdaregistry.info/

https://github.com/RDARegistry/RDA-Vocabularies/issues

https://github.com/RDARegistry/RDA-Vocabularies/issues

https://github.com/RDARegistry/RDA-Vocabularies/releases

https://github.com/RDARegistry/RDA-Vocabularies/releases


rdaregistry.info & git

• Nginx server• Hosts the data in ‘resolvable’ form• Content negotiation for all RDF ‘flavors’• Gets updated from GitHub• ‘code’ pulled from GitHub Master branch• Always updated to match current release• Eventually able to request specific release

2014-06-29


rdaregistry.info & the OMR

• Open Metadata Registry– http://metadataregistry.org/schema/list.html?filte

rs%5Bagent_id%5D=177&filter=filter

• Editorial interface• Generates RDF– Uses API from http://rdf-translator.appspot.com/

• Maintains a local git repository• Pushes results to GitHub2014-06-29

http://metadataregistry.org/schema/list.html?filters%5Bagent_id%5D=177&filter=filter



http://rdf-translator.appspot.com/

http://rdf-translator.appspot.com/


Soo…

What’s the answer?(does FRBR matter?)

At this point in our program Jon becomes a typical talking head…

2014-06-29


BibFrame isn’t the ‘answer’

• Discards MARC 21 semantics• Redefines existing properties• Redefines frbr:work• ‘Borrows’ semantics from RDA without

reference • Discards FRBR semantics• Unique approach to frbr:work• Proprietary approach to MARC 21 mapping2014-06-29


Schema.org bib extensions (Bibex) isn’t the ‘answer’

• Oriented toward global search engines• Redefines frbr:work• Hard (not impossible) to extend• Constrained by limitations of HTML-based

container

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Schema.org bib extensions (Bibex) isn't the 'answer’

• Hard to map• Hard to translate• What are the instructions?• ‘Unique’ approach to frbr:work• Proprietary approach to MARC 21 mapping

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RDA isn’t the ‘answer’

• Lots of cruft from AACR2 and MARC 21• Minimal community involvement in

development of the data model• Strong commitment to FRBR

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MARC21 isn’t the ‘answer’

• Semantics tied to syntax• Field:indicator:subfield ‘means’ some Thing– See http://marc21rdf.info– 11,078 Things can be said in current 0xx-7xx

• Hard to extend• Can’t be globally extended without local pain

2014-06-29

http://marc21rdf.info/


POV

For decades we’ve shared a single POV:MARC

LOD forces the consideration of multiple POV

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So what’s the answer?

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Harvest globally

• MARC 21+RDA+BibFrame+Bibex+...• The global (open) web of data is full of:• Known knowns• Known unknowns• Unknown knowns• Unknown unknowns

– We can exploit that… be flexible– The Robustness principle

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Process Locally

• Aggregate– To integrate and surface inconsistencies

• ‘Validate’ – according to local knowledge

• Map– To apply your knowledge to the unknown

• Cherry-pick– To create variable ‘boundaries’

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Publish Globally

• MARC 21+RDA+BibFrame+Bibex+…• With consistency and precision• Make your data ‘knowable’ • The Robustness principle

2014-06-29


Controversy

“…Where there is conflict, let me sow harmony,Where there is doubt, let me sow faith,Where there is despair, let me sow hope,Where there is darkness, let me sow light,…”

2014-06-29


Cheers!

Aka Thanks!

@[email protected]

http://managemetadata.com

2014-06-29

mailto:[email protected]

http://managemetadata.com/

RDA FTW or WTF

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