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diff --git a/guide/src/entity_creator.md b/guide/src/entity_creator.md index fded9e8d..7448fa4d 100644 --- a/guide/src/entity_creator.md +++ b/guide/src/entity_creator.md @@ -11,3 +11,63 @@ - `wikidata_qid` (string): external linking identifier to a Wikidata entity. See also ["Human Names"](./style_guide.md##human-names) sub-section of style guide. + +#### `extra` Fields + +All are optional. + +- `also-known-as` (list of objects): additional names that this creator may be + known under. For example, previous names, aliases, or names in different + scripts. Can include any or all of `display_name`, `given_name`, or `surname` + as keys. + +## Human Names + +Representing names of human beings in databases is a fraught subject. For some +background reading, see: + +- [Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/) (blog post) +- [Personal names around the world](https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names) (W3C informational) +- [Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff Sr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Blaine_Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff_Sr.) (Wikipedia article) + +Particular difficult issues in the context of a bibliographic database include: + +- the non-universal concept of "family" vs. "given" names and their + relationship to first and last names +- the inclusion of honorary titles and other suffixes and prefixes to a name +- the distinction between "preferred", "legal", and "bibliographic" names, or + other situations where a person may not wish to be known under the name they + are commonly referred +- language and character set issues +- different conventions for sorting and indexing names +- the sprawling world of citation styles +- name changes +- pseudonyms, anonymous publications, and fake personas (perhaps representing a + group, like Bourbaki) + +The general guidance for Fatcat is to: + +- not be a "source of truth" for representing a persona or human being; ORCID + and Wikidata are better suited to this task +- represent author personas, not necessarily 1-to-1 with human beings +- balance the concerns of readers with those of the author +- enable basic interoperability with external databases, file formats, schemas, + and style guides +- when possible, respect the wishes of individual authors + +The data model for the `creator` entity has three name fields: + +- `surname` and `given_name`: needed for "aligning" with external databases, + and to export metadata to many standard formats +- `display_name`: the "preferred" representation for display of the entire name, + in the context of international attribution of authorship of a written work + +Names to not necessarily need to expressed in a Latin character set, but also +does not necessarily need to be in the native language of the creator or the +language of their notable works + +Ideally all three fields are populated for all creators. + +It seems likely that this schema and guidance will need review. + + |