Re: [Records in Contexts users] Digest for records_in_contexts_users@googlegroups.com - 3 updates in 1 topic

[Ann Attwood]

Hi RiC commmunity

Thank you for the opportunity to be in the loop and to hear about all the great work you are all doing, I am learning a lot.  I love the RiC-CM Nav tool and Modelling Playground shared recently, I found it really helpful, so thank you Matthew Damigos.

A couple of things on that, which may be just me but I thought I'd mention anyway.  In the Modeling Playground, I didn't at first realise that the 'Add Text Node' is where you get to add the Attribute, so I ended up typing in notes about how I am intending to use the entity - which actually worked for what I was wanting to do, but I don't think it is quite what was envisaged!  It was only when I started using the Attribute Edge tool that I realised my mistake..  

Also I couldn't work out how to undo something when I made a mistake, other than to start again, an Undo and/or delete button would be very useful if it is possible.  I also found that if I used the back arrow, or clicked through to a different page, it cleared the playground and I had to start again - after a couple of times I learnt not to do that (and found I could find all the information I needed through the info button anyway) but a warning before leaving the page would be lovely!

I have attached a jpg and I would be happy to receive any comments or suggestions from the community.  It would be good to know if you think it would actually work like this!.  I am trying to create a RiC-CM framework for an archive description of my own family collection.  I am starting from scratch so I don't have a pre-existing archival description to map.  This is a personal project and I am not an archivist.  I work in archives as a conservator, and when I got given our family collection to look after, I decided the best thing to do would be to create an archival description for it,. I tried using ISAD(G) and found it difficult to do what I wanted, so I was delighted when RiC-CM came along with the whole context piece built in.  It has been a bit of a learning curve, but I think I can make it work.

I would like it to be relatively quick and easy to map my collection, so the minimum necessary for the initial build, and I (or someone else) can then build onto it and develop it further in the future if desired.  So in the model I have come up with (very much a draft version!), I currently have only one Attribute for each Entity, although I am intending to include at least the General Description, Name and Identifier in all of them, also Date of Relation in some instances and maybe History.   There are also a couple of Relation Edges that I have doubled up because I wasn't able to delete the one I didn't want!  I was trying to create an easy to follow blueprint.  It will probably look somewhat different in practice with less Person Entities if the archive description is all by the same person (me intially at least!), and likely more Relations between the Persons as I am directly related to the family.

At n48 Agent/n58 Position, I wasn't quite sure what to use, I was after describing the role that someone played in an Event eg if it was a wedding photograph, who was the bride in the photograph, or who was the guest.  There might be several Persons I want to have here linked to the Event, all with different roles.  As it is not an organisation but a family that I am describing, Position did not seem quite right, but it may be that I can make it work if there isn't an alternative.  Any suggestions welcomed!

Thanks again

All the bests

Ann Attwood

On Mon, 20 Apr 2026 at 16:17, <records_in_c...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

records_in_c...@googlegroups.com

Google Groups

Topic digest
View all topics

• New Tool: RiC-CM Nav & Modeling Playground for Records in Contexts Conceptual Model - 3 Updates

New Tool: RiC-CM Nav & Modeling Playground for Records in Contexts Conceptual Model

Matthew Damigos <mgd...@gmail.com>: Apr 20 12:21AM -0700 Hi all,   I would like to share with the community a new interactive web tool, named RiC-CM Nav tool, designed to simplify the navigation and practical application of the Records in Contexts Conceptual Model. The tool provides a user-friendly interface to explore the entities, attributes, and relationships within the framework, making it an essential resource for training, professional research, and understanding RiC-CM. The definitions, scope notes, and examples included in the tool are those provided in the RiC-CM v1.0 documentation.   A standout feature is the Modeling Playground, which facilitates a deeper understanding of the standard by allowing users to design and visualize their own conceptual models based on RiC-CM principles. You can explore the navigator and start experimenting with the playground at https://dlib-ionian-university.github.io/ric-cm-nav/.   Feedback and suggestions from the community are more than welcome to help improve the tool. Please feel free to share your thoughts or report any issues as we continue to develop this resource!   Thank you

Thomas Francart <thomas....@sparna.fr>: Apr 20 10:26AM +0200 Very cool. A super useful feature of similar browsers like the page of the CIDOC-CRM [1] is to list all properties, **including inherited ones** (in the CIDOC-CRM page, click on a class, and click on "Show all properties" next to its title). It took me a while to understand that your navigator is actually showing the same thing, by listing inherited attributes and relations. When listing the relations, it seems a bit misleading to list the explicit range along with all inherited ones (e.g. when the range is Thing, then all entities are listed). Maybe you could distinguish between explicit range, and inherited ones ? similarly, when listing the relations, you could distinguish between the ones explicitly attached at this level, and the inherited ones (and from which ancestor they are inherited - this is very explicit in what is shown for the attributes, but not as explicit for the display of the relations).   Similarly, on a property page, giving all inherited classes as domain and ranges is misleading. The domain of R016 has successor is not Agent or Person or Group or Mechanism or Family, etc. The domain is just Agent. Of course subclasses could be listed as well, but just as a help to browse quicker, and they should be clearly marked differently.   Kind Regards Thomas   [1] https://cidoc-crm.org/html/cidoc_crm_v7.1.3.html     --   *Thomas Francart* -* SPARN**A* linked *data* | domain *ontologies* | *knowledge* graphs blog : blog.sparna.fr, site : sparna.fr, linkedin : fr.linkedin.com/in/thomasfrancart tel : +33 (0)6.71.11.25.97

CLAVAUD Florence <florence...@culture.gouv.fr>: Apr 20 09:34AM Dear Matthew and all,   Thank you, this is indeed a very interesting and useful tool.   Just for your information: EGAD has included in its roadmap the transition to a structured version (probably in XML/TEI) of the RiC-CM source file, which is currently a Word file. This is one of our priorities for this year, for several reasons, including because we want to distribute RiC-CM - in addition to a PDF version - as a website offering the same ease of navigation and exploration as the web site you released.   Best regards,   Florence Clavaud Head of the Lab, Archives nationales de France Chair of EGAD   ________________________________ De : records_in_c...@googlegroups.com <records_in_c...@googlegroups.com> de la part de Thomas Francart <thomas....@sparna.fr> Envoyé : lundi 20 avril 2026 10:26 À : Records_in_C...@googlegroups.com <Records_in_C...@googlegroups.com> Objet : Re: [Records in Contexts users] New Tool: RiC-CM Nav & Modeling Playground for Records in Contexts Conceptual Model   ⚠ Expéditeur Externe au ministère de la Culture. Ne cliquez sur aucun lien et n'ouvrez aucune pièce jointe à moins que vous ne reconnaissiez l'expéditeur et que vous soyez sûr que le contenu est sans danger.   Very cool. A super useful feature of similar browsers like the page of the CIDOC-CRM [1] is to list all properties, **including inherited ones** (in the CIDOC-CRM page, click on a class, and click on "Show all properties" next to its title). It took me a while to understand that your navigator is actually showing the same thing, by listing inherited attributes and relations. When listing the relations, it seems a bit misleading to list the explicit range along with all inherited ones (e.g. when the range is Thing, then all entities are listed). Maybe you could distinguish between explicit range, and inherited ones ? similarly, when listing the relations, you could distinguish between the ones explicitly attached at this level, and the inherited ones (and from which ancestor they are inherited - this is very explicit in what is shown for the attributes, but not as explicit for the display of the relations).   Similarly, on a property page, giving all inherited classes as domain and ranges is misleading. The domain of R016 has successor is not Agent or Person or Group or Mechanism or Family, etc. The domain is just Agent. Of course subclasses could be listed as well, but just as a help to browse quicker, and they should be clearly marked differently.   Kind Regards Thomas   [1] https://cidoc-crm.org/html/cidoc_crm_v7.1.3.html<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cidoc-crm.org/html/cidoc_crm_v7.1.3.html__;!!Gnbj7qdtAHuaEg!oXKv8kB6Yx2Y7VOJWUXAscWCR4sD2gwnBtAWp__g6pOHd2-tpq5l4PRoNacbKJHfoWBOb1bAfeuy8KriASk-tfL3-XyYVbdqDaGpbeLAaA$>   Le lun. 20 avr. 2026 à 09:28, Matthew Damigos <mgd...@gmail.com<mailto:mgdamig@gmail.com>> a écrit : Hi all,   I would like to share with the community a new interactive web tool, named RiC-CM Nav tool, designed to simplify the navigation and practical application of the Records in Contexts Conceptual Model. The tool provides a user-friendly interface to explore the entities, attributes, and relationships within the framework, making it an essential resource for training, professional research, and understanding RiC-CM. The definitions, scope notes, and examples included in the tool are those provided in the RiC-CM v1.0 documentation.   A standout feature is the Modeling Playground, which facilitates a deeper understanding of the standard by allowing users to design and visualize their own conceptual models based on RiC-CM principles. You can explore the navigator and start experimenting with the playground at https://dlib-ionian-university.github.io/ric-cm-nav/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dlib-ionian-university.github.io/ric-cm-nav/__;!!Gnbj7qdtAHuaEg!oXKv8kB6Yx2Y7VOJWUXAscWCR4sD2gwnBtAWp__g6pOHd2-tpq5l4PRoNacbKJHfoWBOb1bAfeuy8KriASk-tfL3-XyYVbdqDaHodq-7hQ$>.   Feedback and suggestions from the community are more than welcome to help improve the tool. Please feel free to share your thoughts or report any issues as we continue to develop this resource!   Thank you   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Records_in_Contexts_users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to Records_in_Context...@googlegroups.com<mailto:Records_in_Contexts_users+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/Records_in_Contexts_users/6c5f6de2-c532-4aca-9814-6a52ebe2b3a5n%40googlegroups.com<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/Records_in_Contexts_users/6c5f6de2-c532-4aca-9814-6a52ebe2b3a5n*40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer__;JQ!!Gnbj7qdtAHuaEg!oXKv8kB6Yx2Y7VOJWUXAscWCR4sD2gwnBtAWp__g6pOHd2-tpq5l4PRoNacbKJHfoWBOb1bAfeuy8KriASk-tfL3-XyYVbdqDaGNcqUeeQ$>.     --   Thomas Francart - SPARNA linked data | domain ontologies | knowledge graphs blog : blog.sparna.fr<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://blog.sparna.fr__;!!Gnbj7qdtAHuaEg!oXKv8kB6Yx2Y7VOJWUXAscWCR4sD2gwnBtAWp__g6pOHd2-tpq5l4PRoNacbKJHfoWBOb1bAfeuy8KriASk-tfL3-XyYVbdqDaFHsF_CkQ$>, site : sparna.fr<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://sparna.fr__;!!Gnbj7qdtAHuaEg!oXKv8kB6Yx2Y7VOJWUXAscWCR4sD2gwnBtAWp__g6pOHd2-tpq5l4PRoNacbKJHfoWBOb1bAfeuy8KriASk-tfL3-XyYVbdqDaEdcEDS9w$>, linkedin : fr.linkedin.com/in/thomasfrancart<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fr.linkedin.com/in/thomasfrancart__;!!Gnbj7qdtAHuaEg!oXKv8kB6Yx2Y7VOJWUXAscWCR4sD2gwnBtAWp__g6pOHd2-tpq5l4PRoNacbKJHfoWBOb1bAfeuy8KriASk-tfL3-XyYVbdqDaELOhUyaQ$> tel : +33 (0)6.71.11.25.97   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Records_in_Contexts_users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to Records_in_Context...@googlegroups.com<mailto:Records_in_Contexts_users+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/Records_in_Contexts_users/CAPugn7XNRKHLnm_mKAxQ4rjGfkxxL2TAOY-g_K7B%2B6BBHv9WtQ%40mail.gmail.com<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/Records_in_Contexts_users/CAPugn7XNRKHLnm_mKAxQ4rjGfkxxL2TAOY-g_K7B*2B6BBHv9WtQ*40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer__;JSU!!Gnbj7qdtAHuaEg!oXKv8kB6Yx2Y7VOJWUXAscWCR4sD2gwnBtAWp__g6pOHd2-tpq5l4PRoNacbKJHfoWBOb1bAfeuy8KriASk-tfL3-XyYVbdqDaF8sHVMNw$>.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Merci de nous aider à préserver l'environnement en n'imprimant ce courriel et les documents joints que si nécessaire.

Back to top

You received this digest because you're subscribed to updates for this group. You can change your settings on the group membership page. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it send an email to records_in_context...@googlegroups.com.

[Richard Williamson]

Hi Ann,

Thank you very much for writing and sharing this, I love it! A beautiful example of defining a 'meta-model' for a RiC description of a collection; not too many examples of this kind of thing have been shared on the list before I think, it's great that you did so!

I am impressed with the modelling, which is both accurate (at least according to my own interpretations!) and detailed: a large proportion of RiC is involved, including almost all entities. I will make a few minor comments below, but these are of no great significance, what you have is already really good.

I too love Matthew's tool! I have written to Matthew privately that I and others in EGAD had something like this in mind for some time, indeed I was intending one day to try to make something like it; but it would not have been as good as what Matthew' has created, it is fantastic and better that it has emerged out of the RiC community instead!

My not very important comments on the modelling:

1. Where you have written 'Or Activity? That Record Set records' (n37, towards the right), I would suggest indeed to use Activity here, and to use 'documents' instead of 'results or resulted from' in the arrow from n27 to n36. There are a few words about Event vs Activity in RiC-AG at the following link (§6a.3.3; the previous section §6a.3.2 may also be useful)...

https://ica-egad.github.io/RiC-AG/faq--general_questions_and_smaller_modelling_questions.html#can-you-elaborate-upon-the-difference-between-activity-and-event

...I'm not sure if that helps much, but a reasonable rule of thumb would be that Activity (and 'documents'/'documented by') is almost always correct when it comes to the raison d'être of a record resource, i.e. what it is about/documenting. What you have is not wrong, since Activity is a sub-entity of Event and 'documents' is a sub-relation of 'results or resulted from', but expressing it more precisely where one can is always good!

2. On the other hand, in n29 'Or Activity? How we come to have it', here I think I'd be inclined to keep n28 as Event in a meta-model of the kind you are describing, just mentioning that Activity can be used where appropriate. I'd imagine that there could be a fair bit of serendipity sometimes in 'How we come to have it', i.e. the 'agent-designed and performed' aspect of Activity that RiC-AG refers to would be unlikely to be regarded as present (or at least rather a stretch!).

3.  Whereas for 'n5', I'd definitely view accumulation of the collection as a whole as an Activity: there is definitely some agent-performed/designed-ness there :-). For the same reason, Activity and Activity Type seem good to me in n13 and n14. 

4. I very much enjoyed the use of 'results or resulted from' between Family and Event (n50 and n52)!! I had never thought of that before!! To be a killjoy, some might think that this might be stretching 'results or resulted from' a bit far, perhaps the weaker 'is associated with event' could be used instead if so :-). 

5. In relating Record Parts to Records, and Records to Record Sets, I'd suggest to use the more specific 'has or had constituent' and 'includes or included' respectively; again, not wrong how you have it, but more specific is good :-).

6. I think 'has or had part' is not really intended to be used with Person as domain, at least an example would have to be quite out-of-the-way I think, as it is supposed to refer specifically to parts-of-a-whole. I think Position is not really intended for roles in the sense you have in mind either; I think probably it can be used with Family in some circumstances, e.g. 'Father-figure', but then it is something 'fixed', whereas if I understand correctly you mean rather the role a family member might have played in a given Event/Activity. I think what I would suggest here is to add a second path between Person and Activity which is interpolated by another Activity of type 'Role that a person played in the Event/Activity', using the relations 'performs or performed' followed by 'is or was subevent of'. I.e. one ends up with a triangle in which the short way round is the arrow 'is or was participant in' that you already have, and the long way round consists of 'performs or performed' (with range Activity) followed by 'is or was subevent of'. 

That's all I think!  

As an aside, I am quite interested in exploring interactions between RiC and conservation; I have a friend who works in conservation at the London Archives, and there are a few themes we're interested in exploring. In case you would be interested in that, do let me know :-).

Thank you very much again for sharing this very nice modelling!

Best wishes,

Richard

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to Records_in_Context...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/Records_in_Contexts_users/CABbD7ju%3DKnAEjL5A7hvbvKLuqo2oL%2Bkw-wLgR27zsS8eEmrwtg%40mail.gmail.com.