Freebase: Discussion about spatialed

Columns: Promotion to commons?

2009-12-16T11:37:59.0033Z

Yes to promotion.

People: name changes...

2009-12-16T06:49:16.0015Z

I think Al made a type called Thing of Many Names for this purpose.

(We need to figure out what to do about a Names commons, really, for that and namesakes and a handful of other name-related things that are kicking around.)

Long Island Press: Long and storied history

2009-12-16T05:16:41.0005Z

I created a placeholder for the other newspaper, Long Island Press and added a link to the Library of Congress' description(s). I'm not sure that Wikipedia's description (cribbed from the current LI Press?) is all that accurate, so you might want to research it a bit more when fleshing things out.

People: name changes...

2009-12-16T05:12:24.0006Z

To delete an alias click "add an alias" (naturally).

There isn't a Name Change type, as far as I know, but you could certainly define one. Legally changing ones name via the courts is a relatively recent phenomenon. Until relatively recently, all one had to do was start using the new name.

Long Island Press: Long and storied history

2009-12-16T04:58:13.0000Z

So the first thing that's obvious here is that there are two different Long Island Presses. Although Wikipedia distinguishes things mainly by name (thus two separate newspapers covered in the same article), Freebase has no problem with having two different newspapers of the same name, one ending a long run in 1977 and the other adopting the name in the last few years. Conversely, I'd add the various names of the original newspaper as aliases, as long as it was nominally the same paper in continuous existence. There will always be grey areas, so just use your best judgement as to whether something is the same thing with a different name or two different things.

People: name changes...

2009-12-16T00:42:48.0008Z

I see...sounds pretty loose...is there a Name Change Type? If one legally changes their name there's a date and undoubtedly lots of documentation of this event.

on a related topic: How can I delete an alias; an alias I created?

Award category: Ties

2009-12-16T00:21:11.0006Z

Just enter two award honors, one for each winner. See Hugo Award for Best Novel for 1966 for an example.

Award category: Ties

2009-12-16T00:09:56.0015Z

Is there any special technique, or secret trick, that is to be employed when entering an award that is being given twice as a result of a tie?

General Support: Freebase-parallax as downloaded pops a JSON field cannot parse error. My intent is to have a timeline of a view of freebase. Anyone else experiencing similar error messages?

2009-12-15T23:56:35.0002Z

gone to the blogs and google this puppy. i am reduced to asking for your help.

People: name changes...

2009-12-15T23:55:58.0003Z

Freebase doesn't distinguish name types beyond "preferred name" (ie name) and "other names" (ie aliases or AKAs). Ideally you'd want to be able to match up the name variant with the event or the source (e.g. name as it appears on the birth certificate), but the name model isn't that sophisticated yet.

People: name changes...

2009-12-15T23:31:36.0001Z

What is the correct way to enter a person who changed their name from the birth name?

Looking @ Bob Dylan; I see he's got a whole mess 'o aliases, however, looking @ his mother Beatty Zimmerman she's listed as giving birth to Bob Dylan, when in fact her child was not known as Bob Dylan until sometimes after his parents named him Robert Zimmerman.

Yes, yes, people should be listed by the name of which they are known, but isn't there a type to note name change(s)--or is this "type" the alias?

Video Game: Games "based on" existing works (e.g. films)

2009-12-15T23:09:07.0000Z

I thought about using the Adaptation type too...it would require an uncommon if not unusual interpretation of the word "adaptation". The Lego Star Wars games do follow the films' plot line closely, so I suppose it would make sense. Definitely will cotype with Work of Fiction.

Column Genre: Column Genre...Showbusiness

2009-12-15T21:37:27.0015Z

One partial solution would be to make Media genre an included type of Column Genre; this would bring in the phylogeny (that is, parent/child) relationship we use for all other genres.

Column Genre: Column Genre...Showbusiness

2009-12-15T21:26:17.0019Z

As we've seen, in Mr. Solob's obit, there was a genre of column of: Broadway.

As the times put it: ''New York Cavalcade,'' a column that was a chronicle of show business in an era when Broadway still was the center of that industry.

Clearly we need some additional genres; how about, can these genres be hierarchical, or otherwise related?

How about: Showbusiness: Broadway or Showbusiness: Theater or Gossip: Showbusiness: Broadway

Columns: Promotion to commons?

2009-12-15T21:01:58.0007Z

I'd like to suggest this base for promotion to the publishing commons. If you're amenable, I'll ask the D-M list to review it.

Newspaper: Writers; Are writers also employees?

2009-12-15T20:58:40.0005Z

Using the "columnist" type from krsalis's base is a good way to separate columnists from other writers. Any writer (columnist or otherwise) employed by a newspaper can additionally use the Employer relationship.

Newspaper: Writers; Are writers also employees?

2009-12-15T20:58:40.0005Z

Newspaper Issue: Newspaper Columnist

2009-12-15T20:38:27.0027Z

That's a nice base -- I hadn't seen that before. It definitely fills a void in the publishing commons.

Newspaper Issue: Newspaper Columnist

2009-12-15T20:38:27.0027Z

That's a nice base -- I hadn't seen that before. It definitely fills a void in the publishing commons.

Column: Unsyndicated columns?

2009-12-15T20:10:39.0018Z

How should unsyndicated columns be connected to their newspapers? (I'm assuming that this type is for newspaper columns, since syndication is primarily a newspaper thing.)

Newspaper Issue: Newspaper Columnist

2009-12-15T19:52:29.0013Z

Hi Daniel,

The current publishing domain does not have a newspaper column type; however, I've started a Columns base, which may be what you're looking for. It will allow you to type a person as a columnist and then link the columnist to the name of his/her column. You may then link the column name to a syndication / wire service (Hearst Syndication?). Take a look at the Columns base at: http://www.freebase.com/view/user/krsalis/columns .You should go ahead and add New York Cavalcade as a new column and link that to Louis Sobol, the columnist. Please post a note if you have any further questions / suggestions. Thanks.

Chris

Newspaper Issue: Newspaper Columnist

2009-12-15T19:52:29.0013Z

Hi Daniel,

Chris

Author: Use enumerations for IDs?

2009-12-15T19:39:31.0018Z

I know the schema is still in its early stages, but you might want to consider switching the type of IDs from Text to Enumeration. That would allow you to a) make sure they're all unique and don't get reused and b) set up URI templates that use the ID to create an automatically generated web link so users can easily jump to the other web sites.

One example of how to set this up is the U.S. Congressperson schema that I did using the Library of Congress THOMAS IDs.

http://www.freebase.com/tools/explore/government/u_s_congressperson/thomas_id http://www.freebase.com/tools/explore/base/uspolitician/thomas_id http://www.freebase.com/tools/explore/common/foreign_key_property/uri_template

If you look at the topic page for Ted Kennedy you can see how they end up getting rendered.

Even if you decide not to use enumerations, the types should probably be switched to raw string/machine readable string (I forget exactly what it's called), since the IDs don't have an associated human language like the Text type implies.

Newspaper Issue: Newspaper Columnist

2009-12-15T08:21:30.0018Z

Louis Sobol was a newspaper columnist, Quoting from his New York Times obituary of February 10, 1986:

Louis Sobol, a Broadway columnist for Hearst newspapers for four decades, died yesterday at Roosevelt Hospital after a long illness. He was 90 years old and lived in Manhattan.
Mr. Sobol wrote ''New York Cavalcade,'' a column that was a chronicle of show business in an era when Broadway still was the center of that industry.

It seems to my (very inexperienced) eyes that the Author type hasn't been created with newspaper columnists in mind.

Is there an alternative type that should be used for Newspaper Columnists or should we Author be adjusted to accommodate newspaper columnists?

Newspaper Issue: Newspaper Columnist

2009-12-15T08:21:30.0018Z

Louis Sobol was a newspaper columnist, Quoting from his New York Times obituary of February 10, 1986:

Louis Sobol, a Broadway columnist for Hearst newspapers for four decades, died yesterday at Roosevelt Hospital after a long illness. He was 90 years old and lived in Manhattan.
Mr. Sobol wrote ''New York Cavalcade,'' a column that was a chronicle of show business in an era when Broadway still was the center of that industry.

It seems to my (very inexperienced) eyes that the Author type hasn't been created with newspaper columnists in mind.

Is there an alternative type that should be used for Newspaper Columnists or should we Author be adjusted to accommodate newspaper columnists?

Video Game: Games "based on" existing works (e.g. films)

2009-12-15T08:15:39.0013Z

I'd use adaptation: this game is an adaptation of Episodes I-III while this one is an adaptation of Episodes IV - VI, and they're both works of fiction set in the Star Wars Universe (without personally caring "which" Star Wars universe that is, but I appreciate other people might).

I'm not sure that the LEGO theme and the video game series should be the same topic.

Long Island Press: Long and storied history

2009-12-15T07:50:44.0018Z

The Long Island Press has a long and storied history that is missing here.

Any suggestions on how to record it?

Quoting the current wikipedia article: The Long Island Press was the name of a daily newspaper that lasted for 156 years. It was originally known as the Long Island Farmer which was founded in the 1840's. The paper changed its name to the The Long Island Daily Press in the 1920s, and then became simply Long Island Press in 1967. The Sunday edition bore the name Long Island Sunday Press. Both editions used a broadsheet format. It became known as the only New York paper to report on local government scandals until an extended strike by the Printing Pressmen's union forced the paper to go out of business on March 25, 1977[2]. Regular columnists included Walter Kaner.

How should this history, which includes multiple first issues be entered?

Newspaper: Writers; Are writers also employees?

2009-12-15T07:31:44.0018Z

Is there a standard way to add writers to a Newspaper Type?

Should I follow the instructions for Editors?

Should we also follow this methodology for columnists as well?

If I am correct when I say that a writer is someone who from time to time has articles published under their name, while a columnist is employed by the newspaper to produce a regular product, then should we make a distinction with another type?

Newspaper: Writers; Are writers also employees?

2009-12-15T07:31:44.0018Z

Is there a standard way to add writers to a Newspaper Type?

Should I follow the instructions for Editors?

Should we also follow this methodology for columnists as well?

Video Game: Games "based on" existing works (e.g. films)

2009-12-15T00:45:51.0005Z

Hi,

How should I use to link a video game that either exists within the realm of or extends that of an existing work, such as a film? For example, I would like to say that the Lego Star Wars game series is derived from the Star Wars films, and is a part of the Star Wars franchise. There are several Franchise types but none pertains to video games. There's also Consumer Product with property Product Line that can probably be used to link books and films and games and toys of the same theme together.

Another possibility is to use Fictional Universe to indicate that a game is defined within a fictional universe. However, some fandoms are quite sensitive about Canon vs. Expanded Universe. Video games can be problematic when it comes to continuity.

Suggestions?

Publishing: co-type as a book?

2009-12-07T23:51:34.0020Z

You're making some good points, and I'm not quite sure how to best address them right now. But I think we might need to reconsider the relationship between books and translations (and therefore between translations and other kinds of works) now that we have so much more data and can see how it's being created and used.

Publishing: co-type as a book?

2009-12-07T19:13:12.0021Z

hmmm - if a user is using filtered views based on books that won awards (because they aren't a programmer and don't write queries - or don't know to use literature) they won't find it.

It also just seems counter-intuitive for a book award winning work to to not be a book.

What about the 60 or so other Beowulfs currently typed as books - are they all unique books or are many of them also translations?

Publishing: co-type as a book?

2009-12-07T18:59:20.0006Z

It should show up in queries for awards -- use the award category "subject or discipline" property, and filter for "literature". One of the main reasons translations aren't books is that a Book Edition can only be an edition of one book; if Translations are Books, then the edition has to be an edition of two Books -- the original book and the translation.

There might be a case for making Translations also be Written Works, and delegating "Translator" from "Author"; there was a reason I didn't do it that way, but it might not pertain any more -- I'll have to see if I can find my notes.

Publishing: co-type as a book?

2009-12-07T01:49:45.0017Z

I would be inclined to type this translation as a book but haven't yet as that seems contrary to the use of the translation type. However, this particular translation has won several book awards but won't show up in any book award queries or views that are book based without adding the book type.

Thoughts from publishing admins or others?

Affiliation: display names for affiliations

2009-12-06T18:14:20.0015Z

They're CVTs so they shouldn't have names.

They're appearing in the base's topic list because /base/bibkn/affiliation has /base/bibkn/topic as an included type. I don't know if this is a necessary side-effect of the kludge that is "base topics" or an oversight in the client; an answer to that question will probably have to wait until some Metaweb staff get back into the office :-)

Affiliation: display names for affiliations

2009-12-05T21:41:20.0053Z

Should affiliations have display names? While it might be strange to give them names, it is stranger to see them listed as "No Display Name", which is currently how this displays at http://www.freebase.com/view/base/bibkn/views/topic