Demo script and vocabulary mapping

Hi team,

I have been thinking about the examples from the demo script. After looking
at the examples, I'm not sure if mapping between vocabularies is the ideal
solution? 

An alternative approach would be similiar to FRBR as outlined here

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/default.htm
http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/algorithm.htm

FRBR means reorganizing a collection to better reflect its conceptual
structure. For details, see the OCLC page but very roughly this involves
sorting records into three groups: 

Group 1 consists of the products of intellectual or artistic endeavor (e.g.,
publications). 
Group 2 comprises those entities responsible for intellectual or artistic
content (a person or corporate body). 
Group 3 includes the entities that serve as subjects of intellectual or
artistic endeavor (concept, object, event, and place). 

So what we really want to do when mapping between IMS and VRA is
1. First identify all the example records are about Frank Lloyd Wright,
group them together and place in group 1 i.e. the example metadata in the
demo script. 
2. Extract some information about FLW e.g. populate a group 2 item. 

then if we search for "Frank Lloyd Wright" then we get all three records
because they have all been grouped together. Alternatively if we search for
"20th century designers", then from the group 2 item we determine that FLW
is a designer, and based on the sheer number of records about FLW in the
content databases determine that he is important, then use the FLW search
term to return the IMS and VRA records?

So instead of doing some mapping at the query stage, the important bit is
doing the FRBR restructuring at the beginning. Once we've established the
relationships, we can use different "viewers" for the IMS and VRA records,
so in a way the vocabulary mapping doesn't matter. What is harder is how we
map 

vra.Creator.Personal Name=Wright, Frank L. (1867-1959)

onto

ims.general.title = Frank Lloyd Wright

Any comments?

Dr Mark H. Butler
Research Scientist                HP Labs Bristol
mark-h_butler@hp.com
Internet: http://www-uk.hpl.hp.com/people/marbut/

Received on Tuesday, 16 September 2003 08:38:57 UTC