People & Organizations Application Profile
Purpose
To document how various facets of LINCS data are modelled, along with reference authorities for the populating vocabularies. This will provide a basis for instruction for how to model data in a LINCS-compatible manner, as well as aid in navigation and discovery.
“People and Organizations” describes patterns that are unique or specific to representing information about persons and groups of persons.
This document introduces the concepts as used by LINCS, and are not complete definitions of the CIDOC CRM ontology class or property concepts. Consult CIDOC CRM v. 7.1.1 documentation for full class descriptions and property descriptions.
Acronyms
Ontology Acronyms:
- CRM - CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model
- FRBRoo - Object-Oriented Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
Vocabulary and Authority Acronyms:
- Biography - The LINCS Biography Vocabulary
- Context - The LINCS Context Vocabulary
- Event - The LINCS Event Vocabulary
- Identity - The LINCS Identity Vocabulary
- LINCS - LINCS minted entities
- Occupation - The LINCS Occupation Vocabulary
- Persrel - The LINCS Personal Relations Vocabulary
- Wikidata - Wikimedia Knowledge Base
Main Classes
Entity type | Class | Declaration Snippet (TTL) |
Actor | crm:E39_Actor |
|
Person | crm:E21_Person |
|
Group | crm:E74_Group |
|
Name | crm:E33_E41_Linguistic_Appellation |
|
Contact points | crm:E41_Appellation |
|
Activity | crm:E7_Activity |
|
Birth | crm:E67_Birth |
|
Death | crm:E69_Death |
|
Occupation | frbroo:F51_Pursuit |
|
Identities | crm:E89_Propositional_Object, crm:E55_Type |
|
Group Formation | crm:E66_Formation |
|
Overview Diagram
Below is an image of the application profile overview diagram. Follow this link for a zoomable, more readable version. The segments below align with the document sections.
Nodes
Actors
CIDOC CRM contains three classes for representing people or groups of people: E39_Actor, E21_Person, and E74_Group. E39_Actor, the superclass of the other two, should only be used in cases where it is not possible to state if the entity is one or more persons. This use should be extremely minimal. Otherwise, if the entity is a single person the class E21_Person should be used; if it is more than one person—such as an artist collective or organization like a business or a company—then E74_Group should be used.
Names
For more on identifiers, see the Identifiers section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
For how names are made of up parts (such as a full name having a first and last name), see the Identifiers section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
Different types of names are differentiated by the P2_has_type → E55_Type pattern associated with them. For more on this, see the Types section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile. For example:
- Personal name:
http://id.lincsproject.ca/biography/personalName
- Preferred name:
http://id.lincsproject.ca/biography/preferredName
- Pseudonym:
http://id.lincsproject.ca/biography/pseudonym
- First name:
http://id.lincsproject.ca/biography/forename
- Last name:
http://id.lincsproject.ca/biography/surname
Pattern in TTL:
<actor> a crm:E39_Actor ;
rdfs:label "<actor>" ;
crm:P1_is_identified_by <name>.
<name> a crm:E33_E41_Linguistic_Appellation ;
rdfs:label "<name>" ;
crm:P2_has_type <type> ;
crm:P190_has_symbolic_content "<name>" .
<type> a crm:E55_Type ;
rdfs:label "<type" .
Contact Points
Different types of contact points are differentiated by the P2_has_type → E55_Type pattern associated with them. For more on this, see the Types section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile. For example:
- Address:
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q319608
- Phone number:
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q214995
Pattern in TTL:
<actor> a crm:E39_Actor ;
rdfs:label "<actor>" ;
crm:P74_has_current_or_former_residence <residence> ;
crm:P76_has_contact_point <contact> .
<residence> a crm:E53_Place ;
rdfs:label "<residence>" ;
crm:P1_is_identified_by <contact> .
<contact> a crm:E41_Appellation ;
rdfs:label "<contact>" ;
crm:P2_has_type <type> ;
crm:P190_has_symbolic_content "<contact>" .
<type> a crm:E55_Type ;
rdfs:label "<type>" .
Activities
For information about how to say that an actor was involved in or carried out an activity, see the Roles section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
Persons
Birth
A birth date adds temporal information to the birth event. For birthdate, see the Time-Spans of Activities section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
A birth place adds location information to the birth event. For birthplace, see the Location of Activities section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:P98i_was_born <birth> .
<birth> a crm:E67_Birth ;
rdfs:label "birth event of <person>" .
Death
A death date adds temporal information to the death event. For deathdate, see the Time-Spans of Activities section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
A death place adds location information to the death event. For deathplace, see the Location of Activities section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:P100i_died_in <death> .
<death> a crm:E69_Death ;
rdfs:label "death event of <person>" .
Cause of Death
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:P100i_died_in <death> .
<death> a crm:E69_Death ;
rdfs:label "death event of <person>" ;
crm:P140i_was_attributed_by <attribution> .
<attribution> a crm:E13_Attribute_Assignment ;
rdfs:label "cause of death event of <person>" ;
crm:P141_assigned <cause> .
<cause> a crm:E55_Type ;
rdfs:label "<cause>" .
Activities
Educational Activities
Pattern/Structure Values | Definition | This pattern declares that a person engaged in educational activities. |
Abstraction |
| |
Content Values | Type of Value | Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); literal value (text) |
Expected Value | URI from project dataset, existing linked data authority, or minted by LINCS; literal value from project dataset | |
Format/Requirements for the Value | URI (preferably dereferenceable); rdfs:literal | |
Case Examples | Typical Example & Abstraction | The Yellow Nineties Personography states that Patrick Geddes was educated at the Royal School of Mines.
|
Edge Case Example & Abstraction | N/A | |
Resource Links | Brown, S., Cummings, J., Drudge-Wilson, J., Faulkner, C., Lemak, A., Martin, K., Mo, A., Penancier, J., Simpson, J., Singh, G., Stacey, D., & Warren, R. (2020, July 14). The CWRC Ontology Specification 0.99.86. The Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory. https://sparql.cwrc.ca/ontologies/cwrc.html# The Wikimedia Foundation. (2021). Wikidata. | |
Discussion Elements Pertaining to This Pattern | When using E7_Activity and not a more specific subclass, use at least one (1) E55_Type on each activity specifying what it is. | |
Projects Following This Pattern | Orlando, Yellow Nineties Personography |
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:P02i_is_range_of <reified_P14> .
<reified_P14> a crm:PC14_carried_out_by ;
rdfs:label "<actor> in the role of <role>" ;
crm:P01_has_domain <activity> ;
crm:P14.1_in_the_role_Of <role> .
<activity> a crm:E7:Activity ;
rdfs:label "<activity>" ;
crm:P14_carried_out_by <school> .
<school> a crm:E74_Group ;
rdfs:label "<school>" .
<role> a crm:E55:Type ;
rdfs:label "<role>" .
Professional Activities and Occupations
Pattern/Structure Values | Definition | This pattern declares that a person engaged in professional occupations. |
Abstraction |
| |
Content Values | Type of Value | Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) |
Expected Value | URI from project dataset, existing linked data authority, or minted by LINCS | |
Format/Requirements for the Value | URI (preferably dereferenceable) | |
Case Examples | Typical Example & Abstraction | The Yellow Nineties Personography states that Rosamund Marriott Watson held the occupation of “author.”
|
Edge Case Example & Abstraction | The Yellow Nineties Personography states that Walter Crane held the apprenticeship of “pictoral engraver.”
| |
Resource Links | Brown, S., Cummings, J., Drudge-Wilson, J., Faulkner, C., Lemak, A., Martin, K., Mo, A., Penancier, J., Simpson, J., Singh, G., Stacey, D., & Warren, R. (2020, July 14). The CWRC Ontology Specification 0.99.86. The Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory. https://sparql.cwrc.ca/ontologies/cwrc.html# The Wikimedia Foundation. (2021). Wikidata. | |
Discussion Elements Pertaining to This Pattern | F51_Pursuit is a subclass of E7_Activity. Use F51_Pursuit when describing occupations related to the professional and creative activities of the person. Use E7_Activity to describe jobs held that are not necessarily related to the reason that the person is captured in the dataset. For example, Louisa May Alcott would have an E51_Pursuit as a writer, but been involved in the E7_Activity of nursing. | |
Projects Following This Pattern | Orlando, Yellow Nineties Personography |
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:14i_performed <occupation>
<occupation> a frbroo:F51_Pursuit ;
rdfs:label "<role> occupation of <person>” ;
crm:P2_has_type <role> .
<role> a crm:E55_Type ;
rdfs:label "<role>" .
Relationships
Parents & Children
Mother
Pattern/Structure Values | Definition | This pattern declares that a person is the mother of the person born in the birth event. |
Abstraction |
| |
Content Values | Type of Value | Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) |
Expected Value | URI from project dataset, existing linked data authority, or minted by LINCS | |
Format/Requirements for the Value | URI (preferably dereferenceable) | |
Case Examples | Typical Example & Abstraction | The Orlando dataset states that Sylvia Ball is Rosamund Marriott Watson’s mother.
|
Edge Case Example & Abstraction | N/A | |
Resource Links | N/A | |
Discussion Elements Pertaining to This Pattern | This is a full path for representing a child-parent relationship that can be shortcut using P152_has_parent if there is no desire to represent the birth event or specific motherhood. | |
Projects Following This Pattern | Orlando |
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:P98i_was_born <birth> .
<birth> a crm:E67_Birth ;
rdfs:label "birth event of <person>" ;
crm:P96_by_mother <mother> .
<mother> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<mother>" .
Father
Pattern/Structure Values | Definition | This pattern declares that a person is the father of the person born in the birth event. |
Abstraction |
| |
Content Values | Type of Value | Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) |
Expected Value | URI from project dataset, existing linked data authority, or minted by LINCS | |
Format/Requirements for the Value | URI (preferably dereferenceable) | |
Case Examples | Typical Example & Abstraction | The Orlando dataset states that Benjamin Williams Ball is Rosamund Marriott Watson’s mother.
|
Edge Case Example & Abstraction | N/A | |
Resource Links | N/A | |
Discussion Elements Pertaining to This Pattern | This is a full path for representing a child-parent relationship that can be shortcut using P152_has_parent if there is no desire to represent the birth event or specific fatherhood. | |
Projects Following This Pattern | Orlando |
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:P98i_was_born <birth> .
<birth> a crm:E67_Birth ;
rdfs:label "birth event of <person>" ;
crm:P97_from_father <father> .
<father> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<father>" .
Parent-Child Shortcut
This pattern declares the parentage of a person using a parent-child relationship shortcut. Parentage can also be declared in relation to the birth event.
Pattern/Structure Values | Definition | This pattern declares that a person has or is a parent. |
Abstraction |
| |
Content Values | Type of Value | Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) |
Expected Value | URI from project dataset, existing linked data authority, or minted by LINCS | |
Format/Requirements for the Value | URI (preferably dereferenceable) | |
Case Examples | Typical Example & Abstraction | The Yellow Nineties Personography declares that Walter Crane is the child of Thomas Crane , and inversely Thomas Crane is the parent of Walter Crane.
|
Edge Case Example & Abstraction | N/A | |
Resource Links | N/A | |
Discussion Elements Pertaining to This Pattern | N/A | |
Projects Following This Pattern | Yellow Nineties Personography |
Pattern in TTL:
<Person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<name>" ;
crm:P152_has_parent <Person2> .
<Person2> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<name>" .
<Person2> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<name>" ;
crm:P152i_is_parent_of <Person> .
<Person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<name>" .
Interpersonal Relationships
Relationships are structured as an activity that is performed by the participants in the relationship. This allows for spatiotemporal information to be included, such as the length of time for which the relationship held. This supports representation of different kinds of relationships that may evolve between people over a period of time.
Pattern in TTL:
<person1> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person1>" ;
crm:P14i_performed <relationship_activity> .
<relationship_activity> a crm:E7_Activity ;
rdfs:label "<type> relationship between <person1> and <person2>" ;
crm:P2_has_type <type> ;
crm:P14_carried_out_by <person2> .
<type> a crm:E55_Type ;
rdfs:label "<type>"
<person2> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person2>" .
Marriage
Married couples and other concepts of family are regarded as particular examples of E74 Group. For this pattern, see Group Membership below.
The Yellow Nineties Personography dataset does not follow this pattern, but instead uses the Relationships pattern (above) to represent marriages.
Identities
For broader context regarding assertions and the attribute assignment pattern, see the Assertions and Attribution Assignment section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
The Cultural Forms pattern, developed by the Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory for the Orlando Project and other biographical data about persons, is for representing that statements about an actor’s identity have been made without implying anything further about the accuracy of those claims: this pattern is used to state that, for example, a biographer has described Louisa May Alcott as a woman, without stating wither Louisa May Alcott is a woman or not. This pattern recognizes that categorization is endemic to social experience and necessary to knowledge organization, but that social identities in particular are historically and geographically situated, frequently contested and shifting, constructed through discursive and social practices. It can be used to represent identities adopted by persons themselves, or identities attributed to them by others. Multiple attribute assignments can assist in representing intersectional identities. This pattern can be built upon to assert who made the attribution and when. See the Assertions and Attribute Assignment section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
Pattern/Structure Values | Definition | This pattern declares that a person has had an attribute about their identity associated with them. |
Abstraction |
context:CulturalFormContext
| |
Content Values | Type of Value | Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) |
Expected Value | URI from project dataset, existing linked data authority, or minted by LINCS; likely LINCS Identity vocabulary, Homosaurus, or other nuanced vocabulary for identities | |
Format/Requirements for the Value | URI (preferably dereferenceable) | |
Case Examples | Typical Example & Abstraction | The Orlando dataset states that Rosamund Marriort Watson was attributed with having a gender of woman.
|
Edge Case Example & Abstraction | N/A | |
Resource Links | Billey, A., Cifor, M., Kronk, C., Noland, C., Rawson, K.J., van der Wel, J., Watson, B. M., & Colbert, J. L. (2020, December). Homosaurus v. 2.2. The Homosaurus Editorial Board. https://homosaurus.org/v2 Brown, S., Cummings, J., Drudge-Wilson, J., Faulkner, C., Lemak, A., Martin, K., Mo, A., Penancier, J., Simpson, J., Singh, G., Stacey, D., & Warren, R. (2020, July 14). “Preamble: Cultural Formations.” The CWRC Ontology Specification 0.99.86. The Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory. https://sparql.cwrc.ca/ontologies/cwrc-preamble-EN.html#culturalformationsontology | |
Discussion Elements Pertaining to This Pattern | Because of the origins of this concept in the CWRC Orlando project, the majority of cases will reference CWRC vocabularies for all three elements: Cultural Form Context, Cultural Form Event, and Cultural Form Label. There may be some use of other vocabularies such as Homosaurus for the Cultural Form Label, but the use of CWRC vocabularies to describe the E13_Attribute_Assignment and E7_Activitiy entities remains. Brown, S., “Categorically Provisional.” PMLA, vol. 135, no. 1, 2020, pp. 165-174. Brown, S., Faulkner, C., Lemak, A., Martin, K., Warren, R. “Cultural (Re-)formations: Structuring a Linked Data Ontology for Intersectional Identities.” Digital Humanities 2017 Conference Abstracts. https://dh2017.adho.org/abstracts/580/580.pdf | |
Projects Following This Pattern | Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology, Orlando, Yellow Nineties Personography |
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:P140i_was_attributed_by <identity_assignment> .
<identity_assignment> a crm:E13_Attribute_Assignment ;
rdfs:label "<person> - Cultural Form Context - Assigning" ;
crm:P2_has_type <context:CulturalFormContext> ;
crm:P141_assigned <identity_assertion> .
<context:CulturalFormContext> a crm:E55_Type ;
rdfs:label "cultural form context" .
<identity_assertion> a crm:E7_Activity ;
rdfs:label "<person> - Cultural Form Label - Connecting" ;
crm:P2_has_type <event:CulturalFormEvent> ;
crm:P16_used_specific_object <identity:CulturalForm> .
<event:CulturalFormEvent> a crm:E55_Type ;
rdfs:label "cultural form event" .
<identity:CulturalForm> a crm:E89_Propositional_Object ;
rdfs:label "cultural form label" .
Groups
Group Membership
Pattern/Structure Values | Definition | This pattern declares that a person is a member of a group. |
Abstraction |
| |
Content Values | Type of Value | Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) |
Expected Value | URI from project dataset, existing linked data authority, or minted by LINCS | |
Format/Requirements for the Value | URI (preferably dereferenceable) | |
Case Examples | Typical Example & Abstraction | The Yellow Nineties Personography states that Patrick Geddes is a member of the British Sociological Society.
|
Edge Case Example & Abstraction | Married couples and other concepts of family are regarded as particular examples of E74 Group. | |
Resource Links | N/A | |
Discussion Elements Pertaining to This Pattern | Use at least one (1) E55_Type on each group specifying what it is. | |
Projects Following This Pattern | Orlando, Yellow Nineties Personography |
Pattern in TTL:
<person> a crm:E21_Person ;
rdfs:label "<person>" ;
crm:P107i_is_current_or_former_member_of <group> .
<group> a crm:E74_Group ;
rdfs:label "<group>" .
Formation
For adding temporal information, such as the date of the group formation, see the Time-Spans of Activities section of the Basic Patterns Application Profile.
Pattern/Structure Values | Definition | This pattern declares that a group was formed. |
Abstraction |
| |
Content Values | Type of Value | Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) |
Expected Value | URI from project dataset, existing linked data authority, or minted by LINCS | |
Format/Requirements for the Value | URI (preferably dereferenceable) | |
Case Examples | Typical Example & Abstraction | The AdArchive dataset states that the Women’s Caucus for Art (wikidata:Q8030842) is a group that was formed.
|
Edge Case Example & Abstraction | N/A | |
Resource Links | N/A | |
Discussion Elements Pertaining to This Pattern | N/A | |
Projects Following This Pattern | AdArchive |
Pattern in TTL:
<group> a crm:E74_Group ;
rdfs:label "<group>" ;
crm:P95i_was_formed_by <group_formation> .
<group_formation> a crm:E66_Formation ;
rdfs:label "Formation of <group>" .