Persons Entity

This page documents the metadata fields available to the Persons Entity, along with guidance on their use.

Fields

Unique Identifier

Assigned by the application; the URI.

Required: yes

Repeatable: no

Preferred Name

The name form preferred for the Sinai Data Portal and used as the display label for the entity.

• TBD: naming conventions used in Sinai: expressed in English; includes distinguishing titles, e.g. Basil of Caesarea rather than just Basil. name ordering, inclusion of dates, etc.

Required: yes

Repeatable: no

Alternate Name

Variant forms of an entity's name

Sub-fields:

• Name required: the name form itself
• Lang required: the language code for the name

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Description

A concise, prose summary of the person's salient bibliographic details. Use for disambiguation between persons with similar names.

Required: no

Repeatable: no

Bibliography

A secondary scholarly source that provides information about the entity.

Sub-fields:

• Ref required: the Zotero URI of the bibliographic reference
• Cite_rg: A string representing the cited range within the bibliographic reference
• TBD: include a type for these bibliographic items? Not crucial for persons but 'edition' vs 'translation' vs 'study/other' would be nice to know for works

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Related Concept

An equivalent or closely matching concept in an external authority file.

Sub-fields:

• Name required: the uniform/preferred name form provided in the external authority file
• URI required: a web-addressable uniform identifier for the entity in the external authority file that corresponds to the given record
• Source required: the name of the authority service in which the related concept may be found.
  • is it possible that multiple authority files in the same source can be associated with an SMDP record?
  • TBD: term list. VIAF, LoC, Syriaca, Pinakes, HAF

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Reference Number

The uniform name, entry number, and source for the person in a standard reference list.

Sub-fields:

• Name required: the uniform/preferred name form provided in the reference list
• ID required: the entry number in the standard reference list
• Source required: the name of the reference list from which the number derives
  • is it possible that multiple authority files in the same source can be associated with an SMDP record?
  • TBD: term list. CPG, CPL, BHO, etc.

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

• Note that the only distinction between Related Concept and Reference Number is that the former supplies a web-addressable URI for Linked Data purposes.

Associated Date

The time span defining an event or events in a person's life.

Sub-fields:

• type required: defines which event the date corresponds to ('birth', 'death', 'floruit', etc.)
• label required: a human-readable form of the date
• normalized required: a machine-readable form of the date
  • TBD: machine-readable dating conventions for Sinai

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

• There should only be one date of each type, ideally

Gender

Specifies the gender identity of a person.

• TBD: how best to document and describe this for cataloguers?

Required: no

Repeatable: no

Associated Person

A person entity connected to the person resource through a given role.

Sub-fields:

• ID_required_: the entity ID for the corresponding person record
• Role required: classifies the nature of the relation/assocation between the records
  • TBD: term list

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Associated Place

A place entity connected to the person resource through a given role.

Sub-fields:

• ID required: the entity ID for the corresponding person record
• Role required: classifies the nature of the relation/assocation between the records
  • TBD: term list

Required: no

Repeatable: yes

Relationships from Other Records to Persons

• Other persons may be related through a given role to a person record
• Place records may be related through a given role to a person record
• A work record will connect to the person record(s) that are authors or editors, etc. of the work
• Textual artifacts, codicological units, manuscript objects, and paratexts, etc. will link to a person record when they are attested as authors, scribes, owners, etc.