Data Model

Data Model v1.0 (4-Dec-13)

About the Model

This model is extensible - that is, more attributes and relationships may be added in future if needed. More entities may be added too if this proves necessary. This, the first version of a finalised HuNI Data Model, reflects the content and structure of the data made available to HuNI through the live data feeds, and provides a "just enough" data schema to enable effective discovery and linking.

Download HuNI Data Model.pdf

Proposed Core Entities

PERSON

Description

A natural person who was born, and has or had a physical body. Exists independently in their own right. May be identified but can never be defined.

A group of people may be an entity in its own right. It can be linked to the individual people in the group but this is not required. For example, the "Quintrell family bell-ringers" can exist as a group of people without having to define the individual people in the group.

Exclusions

• Fictional characters like "Harry Potter".
• Personas like "Dame Edna Everage".
• Characters or roles like "the Yellow Wiggle".

Notes

• A PERSON entity may be associated with multiple names or pseudonyms

ORGANISATION

Description

Has some existence in its own right above and beyond just being a group of particular people. In essence is a social concept/agreement that occurs in time and may be related to people, places, other concepts etc. May have an existence as a legal entity but not necessarily.

Has temporal boundaries to its existence. eg started in 1945 and concluded in 1999.

Exclusions

• "The Kelly Family" - this is a group of people, not an organisation.
• Fictional organisations like Hogwarts school for Wizards and Witches

Notes

• May be multiple names associated with the same ORGANISATION entity

EVENT

Description

Something that happens in time and space and may involve people, places, organisations, works, concepts and possibly other entities. In essence it is something reified out of a continuous dynamic stream of interactions of entities in time and space. It may be bounded in various ways citing place, people, activities, state transitions and more. The boundaries may be definite or fuzzy. Reification occurs on the basis of being considered significant enough by someone that they wish to refer to it as an entity in its own right. Doesn't really have an independent existence: is dependent on all the other entities and their interactions.

Exclusions

• Fictional events like the picnic at hanging rock.
• Written Works that are performed eg written music, dance choreography, a play, a circus act. These are a template for a performance, not an event in themselves

Notes

• Performances are events

PLACE

Description

A real, spatial location. Can be a location on Earth (ie a geo-location) or off-world, but must be a real place. Geo-locations in HuNI may be specified as a lat/long point (possibly extending for a certain distance) or as a lat/long bounded area. May have fuzzy boundaries. May change over time. Can still be a place even if HuNI does not have the information about the co-ordinates. The main reason for allowing off-world locations is that they may be settings for fictional works, particularly in the sci-fi genre. They can simply be specified as "off world" - spatial co-ordinates won't be given for locations not on the surface of the Earth. However, if it is not a real place, or there is considerable doubt/contention about whether it is a real place eg Shangri-la, Atlantis, etc it should be modelled as a concept rather than as a location.

It is acceptable to use a place name that doesn't have known physical co-ordinates - that is, it is known that it was a real place, but we don't really know where it was.

Exclusions

• Locations not in the real physical universe
• Fictional locations like "Hades"
• Relative locations like "home" or "south of the river"
• Highly contentious locations like Atlantis

Notes

• May have one or more names
• May be off-world
• Ideally defined by a Lat/Long point or bounded area. Area is usually connected and contiguous, but may not be.
• Gazetteer to be used to find spatial co-ordinates associated with place names.
• Place Names can have fuzzy boundaries eg "the Wheatbelt" of WA. Can the Gazetteer help?? ISSUE
• Spatial co-ordinates associated with a Place Name may change over time. There is a W.A. historical gazetteer which might be appropriate (see Comments [1] below), but this is an ISSUE for other states.

WORK

Description

Something created by someone that has some independent existence, usually either physical or digital. Can be transferred from one person to another whilst retaining its essential form and structure eg it could be boxed up and sent somewhere, or sent via email. Once created, usually doesn't change, although it may be interactive eg a computer program. May have versions that are related but differ in some way.

Exclusions

• Natural phenomena like Uluru. (Although carvings or rock art on Uluru can be considered to be works.)

Notes

• For consideration: can a circus act be considered a work? It may be completely conceptual in nature when not being performed.
• Are Recordings of performances to be considered to be works?

CONCEPT

Description

Something that essentially has only a mental existence, although it may relate to other kinds of entity in various ways. It can be written down, illustrated and communicated in other ways, but its primary existence is in the mind.

Exclusions

• Anything that can validly be modelled as one of the other five entities above

Notes

• Anything fictional eg Harry Potter
• Anything purely mental in nature, although it can be associated with physical things
• Anything that doesn't fit well in one of the other categories

Proposed System Entities

HuNI USER

System Entity HuNI USER

Description

ID and Info about a user of the HuNI system

A User has the power to:

• create and modify collections they own
• change the owner of a collection they own to another HuNI user by inviting them to become the owner and them accepting
• view and add comments to public collections. Add new entities?
• view and edit collections where the collection owner has invited them to collaborate
• provide feedback on Core entities and relationships in HuNI, which will be publicly visible and will assist the data source custodians to improve data quality. For relationships, users will be able to add or subtract weight from the relationship to reflect whether it does or doesn't actually exist. eg "Ned Kelly" is the subject of the 1973 film "Ned Kelly" will have Agree/Disagree choice for users to select.

Exclusions

• People who use the system without logging in do not have User IDs.

Notes

Will include:

• User ID
• Name
• Institution(s)
• Self-Description of User
• Interests of user wrt Humanities Research
• "Seeking to collaborate with" where they can note any interest/receptiveness to collaborations
• Titles of Collections they own

We will also want to track when they have logged in and what they have done. What to do with this info is to be discussed further.

HuNI VIRTUAL COLLECTION

System Entity HuNI VIRTUAL COLLECTION

Description

A collection of HuNI core entities created by a HuNI user. A user may choose any core entity in HuNI to add to their own collection. They may also add metadata to the collection to title it, describe the collection, tag it, and make a personal note against each entity in it. Relationships between entities in the collection will automatically be included.

A collection is owned by a HuNI user.

A collection may only have one owner. They may invite collaborators or invite another user to become the owner.

Only the owner can delete entities and notes made by other users. Other users can only delete their own entities and notes.

Exclusions

Questions:

• Can a collection include another collection?

Notes

• Owner
• Date created
• Date last modified
• Name of collection
• Description of collection
• Names of Core Entities included in collection
• Notes for each entity - owner and collaborators can add notes for each Core entity included in the collection
• Relationships between entities in collection (this is automatically included for entities chosen)
• Note for each relationship - owner and collaborators can add notes
• Collection Status (Private, Shared or Public). For public collections any HuNI user is considered to be a collaborator. However, they may only add to the collection and can't delete anything except their own comments and additions.

Proposed Relationships

Comments

[1] - Toby Burrows Nov 06, 2013

There's a historical gazetteer of Western Australia, published as a book: "Where was that?" by G.J. Higham.

Higham says on his Web site that the data may be available in various formats: http://www.geoproject.com.au/WA_history.html

Each entry contains: Placename (old); Feature (type); Lat; Long; Notes (incl. dates)

The book also contains a reverse index from modern name to former name.