[samvera-metadata] [metadata ig] URI Selection Working Group predicate hosting options and questions

[Hardesty, Juliet Louise]

Hi - As we discussed in yesterday’s interest group meeting, following are the options and questions we have as the Samvera Metadata Interest Group (SMIG) about the work being done by the URI Selection Working Group and what they need to move things forward. Please reply with questions and edits! We are thinking this is something to pass along to the Samvera Steering Group for discussion:

Background

The URI Selection Working Group is in place to review requests from the Samvera Community regarding predicates that need to be created in order to properly construct RDF statements for objects that are uploaded to Hyrax or are being managed with Samvera software (in combination with Fedora 4, in particular). 

The Predicate Decision Tree and, fairly soon, the MODS to RDF Mapping Recommendation are meant as guides to help select appropriate predicates but sometimes the right predicate is not part of any existing ontology. Examples include:

• Requests for new predicates - https://github.com/samvera-labs/uri_selection_wg/issues
• Instances in the Hyrax code of local properties that are currently not resolving to anything - [Ryan, is this an example you were thinking of: relativePath and importURL in https://github.com/samvera/hyrax/blob/master/app/models/concerns/hyrax/basic_metadata.rb?]
• MODS to RDF Mapping Recommendation predicates that need to be created - see mappings for mods:physicalDescription and mods:identifier as examples

Options

In order to create and host these predicates for Samvera Community (and wider) use, we note the following options:

• Create properties that are managed in a git repo and resolve to Github pages with definitions and recommended uses
• Develop a Samvera Community Vocabulary Manager as a standalone site, similar to http://opaquenamespace.org 
  • see Functional Requirements document for a proposed approach to this development
• [are there other options to list here?]

Questions

Additionally, we have questions that don’t seem to be answerable by SMIG:

• What should a domain be for any predicates that the Samvera Community creates and hosts, regardless of the method for hosting (git repo, standalone site, etc) - we’re contemplating [something].samvera.org?
• What are the plans for developing a Samvera Community Vocabulary Manager? The functional requirements were produced right around the time of the Samvera project name change so this was placed on a back-burner until after that was complete. The name change took a year and this never really came back to the front of the stove.

The git repo option is the quickest method to get up and running but it might limit how the URI Selection Working Group can manage and implement requests. Also, does that really work long-term?

Thoughts? Edits? Someone from Samvera Steering might see this as well so let us know if there are any recommendations for moving this discussion forward.

Thanks!

Julie

Juliet L. Hardesty

Metadata Analyst/Librarian

Digital Collections Services

Library Technologies

Indiana University

812.855.3710