Re: Historical events

One thing is clear to me from this thread, is that the current description
of Event <http://schema.org/Event> does not do a good job in making the
breadth of its potential usage clear.  In some eyes it seems to limit its
usage to current commercial uses.  The lack of diversity in the supplied
examples goes to reinforce this view.

As a result of this observation I have raised an issue in the Schema.org
Github (#1931 <https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1931>),
proposing a rewording thus:

An event happening at a certain time past or future and location physical
or virtual, such as a concert, lecture, meeting, festival, or historical
event. Repeated events may be structured as separate Event objects. Where
applicable ticketing information may be added via the offers property.


In addition I have proposed an extra example, based upon my previous Magna
Carta example.

Although it does not address some of the points about new types/properties
being discussed, I believe it would be a useful in any case.

Allison , it is good to hear that you managed to follow posts to get a
localised working version of Schema running, to explore your thoughts on
this.

On a couple of specific points….

HistoricalEvent - I am still unconvinced that the definition of an event
that is historical would be clear enough.  Does an event become historical,
as soon as it is in the past?  What are the attributes that make such
a ‘historical’ event?  Is it just that it has ‘historical significance’?

HistoricalPeriod - I think there is some potential for a new type here,
probably based upon Event (to follow Schema.org patterns) — describing The
Jurassic Period, The Middle Ages, Elizabethan Era, the 1960’s, etc. needs
some help from the vocabulary.

Webfeet raises some good points.  I am reading it as a historical event, is
just like any other event except it has historical significance.  In fact
most any thing can have historical significance, a place a person, a
creative work etc.  What is being suggested is use of the Multi Type Entity
(MTE) feature in Schema.org - any entity can be described of being of more
than one type.

The MTE functionality was used very effectively in the introduction of the
TouristAttraction <http://schema.org/TouristAttraction> type - any type of
thing can be a tourist attraction, in the same way any type of thing can
have historical significance.  There is a bit more detail here:
https://dataliberate.com/2017/09/19/schema-org-for-tourism/.
Coincidentally, this is the same approach being taken in the currently
pending Archives proposal
<https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1758>.

Allison, I encourage you in your efforts; be they result in proposals for
some additions/adjustments to the core Schema.org vocabulary,
a ‘historical’ hosted extension <http://schema.org/docs/extension.html> or
an external extension, or more likely some combination of these.

~Richard.






Richard Wallis
Founder, Data Liberate
http://dataliberate.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/richardwallis
Twitter: @rjw

On 3 June 2018 at 07:31, Webfeet <schema@webfeet.org> wrote:

> On 02/06/18 06:46, Muri, Allison wrote:
>
> ... I am interested in providing microdata that is parallel to, equivalent
>> to, something like FoodEvent when it comes to history and culture. Why is
>> FoodEvent appropriate and not HistoricalEvent? I’m just curious about
>> pursuing the best approach. I’m not proposing anything: I am suggesting
>> options, and asking for expert advice on what might be worth pursuing ...
>>
>
> .... As an interested observer, my gut feeling is that "historical
> importance" is orthogonal to the type of event. You could have Music
> Events, Sports Events, Theatre Events (or whatever) that "become"
> historically interesting...
>
> Would it not be possible to mark up an event with an addtional
> "HistoricalSignificance":
>
>    ... "@type" : [ "Event", "HistoricalSignificance" ]
>
> "HistoricalSignificance" properties could then hold information about what
> the context is, who thinks the event is significant, when they thought so,
> why, to whom, etc...
>
> As an additional benefit, this could extend to Places with Historical
> Significance, People with Historical Significance...
>
> Regards,
>
>    Webfeet...
>
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