PiCo

This is the repository for Persons in Context (PiCo), the intended successor to the Archive to Archive (A2A) data model. PiCo will be a new standard based on the principles of Linked Open Data.

Purpose

The CBG wants to achieve an applicable application profile for persons and events. For its own collections, but also as a new standard for WieWasWie.

What does the CBG want from the new standard?

• The primary goal is to be able to search for people. People must be uniquely identifiable and linked to one or more sources and events.
• It must also be possible to establish relationships between uniquely identifiable persons in a standardised way.

Starting points

The following starting points apply to the new standard to be developed:

• We use Linked Data technology. We will use existing ontologies as much as possible.
• The conversion from A2A to PiCo should be as automated as possible. Parties that are not yet able to generate PiCo must be able to (continue to) participate in WieWasWie.
• We distinguish between person records (a name of a person that appears in a source) and persons (a unique person that can be linked to several person records).
• It should be possible to record metadata about links between persons or person mentions. For example, "Based on source S1, we note that person observations PO1 and PO2 both belong to person P1.". Or: "Based on source S2, we state that person P1 is the father of person P2".
• The standard should be flexible. Suitable for 10 years. But not necessarily set in stone for that period.
• The standard must be extensible. The purpose of CBG (to find ancestors) should not be a limitation for other research purposes.

Improvements to the current A2A model

The current A2A model falls short in a number of ways. Some of the model's bottlenecks are

• A2A has no uniquely identifiable individuals, which makes it difficult to establish relationships between individuals:
• A2A is really about person identifiers, not people.
• A2A does have an identifier per person record, but this is intended to establish relationships between person records within a single source.
• A2A is not sufficiently standardised:
• For example, a person's place of residence, occupation and age are given. None of these are fixed (identifiable) characteristics of a person (but they are of the person record).
• A2A does not use existing thesauri. For example, for place names, event types or type relationships.
• A2A defines attributes for which widely accepted standards already exist. For example, the source element. This could well be replaced by elements from e.g. Records in Contexts.

Deliverables

• An elaboration of the conceptual data model for PiCo (in text form).
• A technical elaboration of the application profile in Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL).
• Examples of the application of the model.
• A plan for the roll-out of the application profile in the field, including
  • Communication strategy
  • Organisational structure for managing the application profile
  • Mode of publication

All deliverables will initially be produced in Dutch. If necessary, they can later be translated into English.

PiCo Documentation

More extensive documentation of the Persons in Context model can be found at: https://personsincontext.org and in the academic article (Woltjer et al. 2024, https://doi.org/10.51964/hlcs19312).

Acknowledgements

PiCo is inspired by the ROAR ontology for Reconstructions and Observations in Archival Resources. ROAR was developed by

• Menno den Engelse, (Islands of Meaning, The Netherlands)
• Leon van Wissen, (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

License

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