WebSchemas/Collection

From W3C Wiki

Proposal for Collection Type and parts properties for CreativeWork

Submitted by the Schema Bib Extend Group
Detail in Schema Bib Extend Wiki

Description

This proposal addresses two associated but separate needs. Collections of things - artefacts in a museum, books in a library collection, toys in a play-box, images on a website, etc. - are currently only describable in the context of CollectionPage. Created collections are found in many contexts and there is a need to apply the approach more generically. Multi-part works - especially books (eg. Lord of the Rings), but with potentially broader use (the collection of a sculpture plus photographs and textual description of it) - is not currently describable.

These two proposals have been combined as they both share the need for two new properties for CreativeWork hasPart & isPartOf.

New Type: Collection

This is a collection in the broadest and simplest possible sense. It is a set of CreativeWorks or Things. The things in a collection may be thought of as its "parts", even though the membership could be ephemeral.

The defining of a Collection, by bringing, identifying, or linking together a collection of things, is considered to be a creative act, hence a Collection is a more specific type of CreativeWork.

sub-classed to

  • Thing > CreativeWork > Collection



New properties for CreativeWork

hasPart: As a matter of principle, anything imaginable can be thought of has having parts. Although we are primarily interested in this property for sake of modelling collections and multi-part works, a broader treatment as a property of schema:Thing would be appreciated.

isPartOf: Currently a property of the http://schema.org/WebPage type with schema:CollectionPage as the range. This should be promoted to CreativeWork with a range of schema:CreativeWork. To be used to identify membership of a Collection, or a multi-part CreativeWork.

Property Expected Type Description
hasPart CreativeWork or Thing A related thing that is included either logically or physically in this CreativeWork. For example things in a collection or parts in a multi-part work
isPartOf CreativeWork A related CreativeWork (eg. Collection or multi-part work) that this is either logically or physically included.

Notes

  • The proposal could be applied more generically by promoting isPartOf to become a property of Thing. This would enable any Thing to be described as part of a collection.
  • The proposals have parallels in other areas of the vocabulary. The principle of collections has been established in WebPage & CollectionPage but needs to be able to be applied in a wider context. The same pattern also appears in TVSeries / TVSeason / TVEpisode, using partOfSeason & partOfTVSeries properties. These narrowly scoped, within specific subtypes, could probably be justified even if this more generic proposal had already been adopted.

Examples

Collection

Metropolitan Museum of Art Collections and items (Turtle)

@prefix : <> .
@prefix schemap: <http://proposed-schema.org/> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
@prefix dbpedia: <http://dbpedia.org/resource/> .
@prefix pto: <http://www.productontology.org/id/> .
:gallery2
	a schemap:Collection, pto:Collection_(artwork);
	schema:name "Ancient Near Eastern Art"@en;
	schema:about dbpedia:Ancient_Near_East;
	schema:about dbpedia:Art;
	schema:creator dbpedia:Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art;
	schema:url "http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/museum-departments/curatorial-departments/ancient-near-eastern-art"^^xsd:anyURI;
	schemap:hasPart :gallery400;
	.
:gallery400
	a schemap:Collection, pto:Collection_(artwork);
	schema:name "Gallery 400 - The Assyrian Empire and Its Sphere of Influence"@en;
	schema:about dbpedia:Assyria;
	schema:creator dbpedia:Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art;
	schema:url "http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/galleries/ancient-near-east/400"^^xsd:anyURI;
	schema:contentLocation :room400;
	schemap:hasPart :item30003754;
	schemap:hasPart :item30009051;
	schemap:hasPart :item30004228;
	schemap:hasPart :item30003350;
	# etc.
	.
:room400
	a schema:Place;
#	schema:url "http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/museum-map#"^^xsd:anyURI; # Unfortunately, their online map doesn't support hotlinks to individual rooms.
	schema:description "2nd floor near the Great Hall Balcony Bar."@en
	.
:item30003754
	a schema:CreativeWork, pto:Artwork, pto:Figurine, pto:Artifact_(archaeology);
	schema:name "Tribute bearer with an oryx, a monkey, and a leopard skin"@en;
	schema:description "Phoenician ivory carvers were strongly influenced by the themes and style of..."@en;
	schema:url "http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/30003754"^^xsd:anyURI;
	schema:image "http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/30003754#fullscreen"^^xsd:anyURI;
	schema:isPartOf :gallery400;
	.
# etc. for other items
dbpedia:Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art
	a schema:Organization, schema:Museum;
	schema:name "Metropolitan Museum of Art"; 	
	schema:url "http://www.metmuseum.org/"^^xsd:anyURI;
	.

Part Work

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Turtle)

@prefix schema: <http://schema.org/> .
@prefix schemap: <http://proposed-schema.org/> .

<http://exampleworks.org/work/12345> 
	a schema:Book;
	schema:name "Lord of the Rings";
	schema:about <http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1020337>;
	schema:author <http://viaf.org/viaf/95218067>;
	schema:author [ a schema:Person;
					schema:name "Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973."];
	schema:inLanguage "en";
	schema:genre "Fiction";
	schema:description	"v. 1. The fellowship of the ring.--v. 2. The two towers.--v. 3. The return of the king.";
	schemap:hasPart <http://exampleworks.org/work/12346>; 
	schemap:hasPart <http://exampleworks.org/work/12347>;
	schemap:hasPart <http://exampleworks.org/work/12348>.

<http://exampleworks.org/work/12346> 
	a schema:Book;
	schema:name "The fellowship of the ring";
	schema:about <http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1020337>;
	schema:author <http://viaf.org/viaf/95218067>;
	schema:author [ a schema:Person;
					schema:name "Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973."];
	schema:inLanguage "en";
	schema:genre "Fiction";
	schema:description	"Lord of the Rings Pt1";
	schemap:isPartOf <http://exampleworks.org/work/12345>.

<http://exampleworks.org/work/12347> 
	a schema:Book;
	schema:name "The two towers";
	schema:about <http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1020337>;
	schema:author <http://viaf.org/viaf/95218067>;
	schema:author [ a schema:Person;
					schema:name "Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973."];
	schema:inLanguage "en";
	schema:genre "Fiction";
	schema:description	"Lord of the Rings Pt2";
	schemap:isPartOf <http://exampleworks.org/work/12345>.

<http://exampleworks.org/work/12348> 
	a schema:Book;
	schema:name "The return of the king.";
	schema:about <http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1020337>;
	schema:author <http://viaf.org/viaf/95218067>;
	schema:author [ a schema:Person;
					schema:name "Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973."];
	schema:inLanguage "en";
	schema:genre "Fiction";
	schema:description	"Lord of the Rings Pt3";
	schemap:isPartOf <http://exampleworks.org/work/12345>.