Simple class to refer to a database

Question

Does anyone know of an ontology I can use to describe a database (in this case, it is a bibliographic database); thus:

<#1233> a ex:ResearchDatabase .

Accepted Answer

Here are a couple of relevant class URIs:

http://rdfs.org/ns/void#Dataset ("A set of RDF triples that are published, maintained or aggregated by a single provider.")
http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Dataset ("Data encoded in a defined structure.")

As per the first definition, void:Dataset is only appropriate if the database you're describing is available as RDF. dcmitype:Dataset is a more general class which could be applied to RDF data, SQL databases and any other structured data.

Addition: you could further qualify it as a bibliographic database like this:

:my_database a dcmitype:Dataset ;
    dcterms:subject <http://purl.org/NET/decimalised#010> .

<http://purl.org/NET/decimalised#010> a skos:Concept ;
    skos:prefLabel "Bibliography"@en .

Answer 2

We use the following class URIs to model our (mostly) bibliographic databases:

void:Dataset - because (a subset of) the database content is mapped to RDF Triples and each record has its own URI
cdtype:CatalogueOrIndex - this concept best matches bibliographic databases. It is a subclass of dcmit:Collection
daia:Service - because our bibliographic databases are mostly library catalouges, which are provided by an Institution. The subclass daiaservice:Openaccess indicates that the database is freely available

I have not thought about dcmit:Dataset, as suggested by @tobyink, this makes sense too.

Have a look at the directory of some of our bibliographic databases: http://uri.gbv.de/database/.

Here is a nice visual example, including the connection of database and library institution:

http://uri.gbv.de/database/opac-de-89?format=svg (only the database)
http://uri.gbv.de/organization/isil/DE-89?format=svg (with institution)

Answer 3

0

The general case of an ontology to refer to a database is very... general. The D2RQ mapping language is designed to describe relational databases in RDF terms, and there is some work at the W3C (http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-rdb-direct-mapping-20110324/) toward a version of that that is not specific to D2RQ.

If you're really looking for a bibliography ontology, check out Frédérick Giasson and Bruce D'Arcus's Bibliographic Ontology at http://bibliontology.com.

link

answered 11 Sep '11, 20:44

bobdc
3.1k●7
accept rate: 12%

1

BIBO has no class for this purpose, since a bibliographic database isn't (oddly?) something that you'd cite.

From my own investigation void:Dataset is closest.

(12 Sep '11, 03:10) brinxmat

Simple class to refer to a database

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