Relationships: An essential component of art and culture

Giving spice to metadata

Why do we add something to a collection of an archive, a museum, or a library? We do not add something because it weighs 3.5 kilograms, is of blue color, or is made of cardboard. We rather add it because it relates to something we know, and possibly, to other things in ways we still have to discover.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2006-10-15_Tasse%2BUntertasse-Pflaume01.jpg

Trash or treasure? It all depends on relationships. Who drank from this cup? Was it someone important? Who was the previous owner? Is it a rare specimen or does it exist in thousands of exemplars? Who created the design and who manufactured it? Is it a specimen of an important artistic style? And perhaps most importantly: was it used in the set decoration for a film?

From: Definition of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, Version 4.2.5a. CIDOC CRM Special Interest Group, September 2008

A small excerpt from the list of relationships (referred to as properties in this context) from the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM). Originally motivated by the requirements of museums, this model had (and continues to have) a profound impact on metadata activities throughout the cultural heritage sector. The CIDOC CRM is an elaborate example of what is also known as a domain ontology.

hasAsSubject is one of the relationships defined in EN 15907. In its forward form, it says that something has something else as subject (i.e. is about the subject). In its inverse form, it says that someting is the subject of something else. Relationships with an inverse form are said to be asymmetric.

From: http://www.sfi.se/en-gb/Swedish-film-database/Item/?type=MUSIC&itemid=1688

Here is a record for a musical work as part of a filmographic database. EN 15907 defines a HasOtherRelation element that can be used to relate cinematographic works to non-film works such as music.

Musical works need to be performed in order to be useful in a film. If a suitably detailed music database is available, then the cinematographic work can be linked to a performance. If not, then the target for the uses music relationship can be described in plain text.