Declaring a "Show"/«Spectacle» class in Artsdata #133
Replies: 11 comments 27 replies
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Candidate classes for integrationThere are relatively few specialized classes matching the "Show" concept in RDF ontologies. Mid-Level Ontology for the Performing Artsmilopa:PERFORMANCE_WORK This class is a close (if not exact) match to the concepts used in Canadian industry platforms. However, I can think of several reasons that make it an ill-suited candidate for integration into Artsdata:
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records object oriented (FRBRoo) / Library Reference Material (LRMoo)FRBRoo is an extension of FRBR and is built on the same core Work-Expression-Manifestation-Item (WEMI) stack. FRBRoo was notably designed to represent endeavours of the performing arts and included three specialized classes. However, two classes that could have otherwise been useful to Artsdata have been deprecated by LRMoo, the latest harmonization effort led by IFLA (version 1.0 was released in May 2024).
One of FRBRoo's valuable contribution is the description of the relationships between performing arts works and other works that are 'incorporated' in them (see this paper), which is particularly relevant in the performing arts (any new performance work of Michel Tremblay's Les belles soeurs The deprecation of these class is both a challenge and an opportunity: we have the leisure of defining our own class subsuming F20 Performance Work and F25 Performance Plan, while representing this new class formally in relationship to FRBRoo and CIDOC-CRM classes and properties (in a similar fashion as the DOREMUS ontology). Wikidatawd:Q43099500 (performing arts production / production des arts de la scène) wd:Q17538722 (performance work / œuvre scénique) wd:Q43099500 was initially declared in the Swiss Model for the Performing Arts (SPA-E9 Performing Arts Production) and later implemented in Wikidata. This concept is ideally suited at describing works in the context of archives. However, since it conflates aspects of performances, we could run into issues if we integrated it into Artsdata. wd:Q17538722 was created as an exact match to F20 Performance Work. It could be a good short term solution, while a more formal representation is defined. There are no equivalent Wikidata classes to F25 Performance Plan or F2 Expression. Music Ontologymo:Show While the label suggests a "Show" concept, the class is defined and modeled as an event series: it is a subclass of event:Event, not a subclass of a work-related concept. |
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Attributes of the "Show" class"Show" attributes in Arts Touring Connector
"Show" attribute-value pairs that could be inherited to Event entitiesOne of the anticipated benefits of integrating Show data into Artsdata is ability to infer a lot of triples to Event entities. Here are common attributes of the "Show" class along with a proposed inheritance schema in Schema:
Other key attributesHere are some other fundamental attributes of the "Show" class in different data models (along with notes and sources):
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dc11:contributor and dcterms:contributor (subProperty of the latter) are external properties we should consider in the modelling of the proposed class to represent contributor relationships. The Theatralia Working Group has been basing their conceptual model on Dublin Core. Using either property as a preferred URI or as a mapped It's not clear whether |
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Other contributor properties could be considered, including ebucore:hasContributor and schema:contributor. |
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Finally, we may also want to consider whether some |
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L'Association québécoise des marionnettistes (Quebec's Puppetry Association) is the province's section of
Here are the attributes for our œuvre-spectacle concept (in french)
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Merci beaucoup ! |
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Afin de faire avancer la discussion, voici des définitions proposées inspirées de LRMoo et de MiLOPA : FrançaisSpectacle (ou Œuvre spectacle) : Œuvre composée d'un ensemble d'éléments créatifs, de conceptions (intangibles et tangibles) et de plans destinée à être exécutée pour un public. EnglishShow (or Performance work): Work containing an ensemble of creative elements, design elements (intangible and tangible), and plans intended to be performed in front of an audience. Note: The English description originally read "Work comprised of an ensemble of creative elements, design elements (intangible and tangible), and plans intended to be performed in front of an audience." However, further to discussion with Dessa, we agreed that "containing" was a better verb. |
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Regarding my above rationale, a performance work is not unlike a frbroo:F19 Publication Work in which an editor would commission chapters to different authors: the editor provides an editorial vision and defines a plan for how the different chapters should support one another. Cette Œuvre du publication est donc « composée » d'un ensemble d'œuvres littéraires. But one could also say that this publication work is a "container" for a selection of closely aligned chapters. All in all, "containing" may be the best option: it follows the logic behind FRBRoo and it's a simple, plain language word. |
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I agree. I like the idea of providing a through line from other ontologies |
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@fjjulien The note at the end suggests that the English description didn't originally use the word "containing", but it's quoted using just that – "Work containing of an ensemble of (...)" – and thus reads identical to the suggested description for "Show". – Was this quote meant to include a different verb? |
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@keikoro My bad. The note was meant to document that initial verb was "comprised of". I will fix this. |
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@fjjulien No worries, and thank you! Also, sorry for the "drive-by comment"; I stumbled onto/into this discussion while researching ontologies/solutions for these sorts of data types. Happy I found this! |
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Here is sample Event structured data with a nested entity of the proposed "Show"/"Spectacle" class (named |
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Note: The same modelling could be used for other performances of this work at Carré 150 (Victoriaville), on March 26, 2025, and at La Rotonde (Québec), April 8, 2025. |
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Is a "Show/Spectacle" a subclass of Work?Since this question keeps popping up, I researched the matter and I arrived at the conclusion that, from a legal standpoint, the answer to this question is yes: a "Show/Spectacle" is a Work. Summary: According to international law and case law, a show is a collective work that incorporates other original works (dramatic work, musical work, designs, etc.).
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@tammy-culture Do my research findings concur with your work experience in the domain? |
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Hi @fjjulien, Even though our labeling may be different, I agree whether it is a show, spectacle, performing arts production or a performance work they are all a "work". Here are some of our notes at Culture Creates: notes |
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This article also purports that a performance work is a Work: Skaug, J., & Aalberg, T. (2024). The Concept of Work in Theater Performances. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 62(3–4), 280–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2024.2357208 |
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Relationships to other conceptsThe proposed class should be described in relationship to similar concepts in other ontologies. Here are some relationships that come to mind. rdfs:subClassOf
owl:equivalentClass
Notes:
owl:disjointWith
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I agree that a disjointWith statement would be useful. Other ontologies might not see the need for a distinction between aspects of a Work and Event to meet their modelling goals (which is completely fine), but for our purposes, it's important to keep that distinction. Even if in the past we did not create a distinction through the LDF modelling work, our needs have evolved and I think it's completely okay to "change our minds". |
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What should the ID of the proposed class be?A class's preferred labels can easily be changed, but its URI shouldn't change. We must therefore choose the URI path and the URI's ID (the string at the end of the URI path) very carefully. Here are potential names for the URI ID:
Does anyone have any thoughts? Are you in favor of or in opposition with any of the above? |
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"PerformingArtsWork" may be a bit too vague. It sounds like it could equally refer to a written work, like a play, or a choreographic work. Dans le secteur francophone, est-ce qu'il y a un consensus général que le mot « spectacle » est utilisé afin de décrire un oeuvre plutôt qu'un événement ? Si oui, peut être « spectacle » peut être un bon candidat (car en anglais, il y a beaucoup de conflation avec le mot « show » entre un oeuvre et un événement). |
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Reading about the definition of F20 PerformanceWork in FRBRoo is confusing me, ontologically. Here it says: "This class comprises the sets of concepts for rendering a particular or a series of like performances." [Emphasis added] But then for examples it gives: To me, this example describes something different than what the definition is describing. What's tripping me up is this: Does PerformanceWork describe a single conceptualization by an individual choreographer/set designer/director/etc.? Or does it describe a set of conceptualizations by all the creators of a given entity? The latter would, to me, represent a second-order classification when compared to the former, like a basket concept that all the creators can put all their individual contributions in, as opposed to a concept for an individual contribution to a collective undertaking. It was my understanding that this basket description is more what we were trying to get at with our new Artsdata class. |
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Pas du tout. La confusion est toute aussi présente que dans la langue anglaise. Par analogie, le terme « spectacle » est très souvent employé pour désigner une « représentation », soit un événement. Même au sein de l'industrie, ce n'est pas tout le monde qui a conscience qu'un spectacle est une œuvre. |
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This is correct. We are indeed seeking to define a concept that contains all individual creative contributions to a show. I think FRBRoo also attempted to convey this idea, but they might have gotten hung up by the rigidity of the WEMI stack. In FRBRoo, a
Along with this division between the intangible and the material comes a logic that a work cannot incorporate another work: incorporation of a creative idea with another creative idea is modelled at the Expression level. I'm not sure why that is. My assumption is that this modelling is based on copyright law. In copyright law, a few conditions must be met for a work to be copyrighted, notably:
If you add a strict linear chronologic logic on top of this - i.e. that the realization of the Expression comes after the creation of the Work - and you that contributors can only put their creative inputs together when these have been realized in a fixed format, then whom do we credit for the original idea of the performance work? One might be tempted to attribute the original idea to "Pina Bausch", "Sergei Radlov" or "Bruno Walter", as per the examples provided in the notes to frbroo:F20 Performance work. It's simple, convenient, and follows the same logic used in work attributions in most other artistic endeavours where there is usually a single creator. In truth, the creative process is always an iterative process - and particularly so in the performing arts. As contributor are invited to contribute design elements to performance work, they give a different shape to the original idea of the performance work. The performance work continues to involve right until the premiere (and even after the premiere). Considering this iterative and collective creation process, the performance work must be construed as a collective work with multiple creators. |
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Dans ce cas, peut être qu'oeuvre scénique serait le meilleur choix comme libellé français |
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Preferred Label / Libellé préféréVoici quelques suggestion de libellés pour le concept.
Notes :
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I like the idea of "live performance work" as an English label. To me, adding the "live" makes it extra clear that the concept is referring to the work as it is being performed on stage, as opposed to a written work it may be based on. |
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En présumant que l'on retient "live performance work" pour le libellé anglais, il faudrait choisir un libellé français qui constituerait une bonne traduction. Si je me réfère au Cadre conceptuel pour les statistiques de la culture 2011 de Statistique Canada, le domaine "Live performance" est traduit en français par « Spectacles sur scène ». Dans une logique de parallélisme avec ce cadre macro-économique, la traduction littérale du libellé donnerait « Œuvre spectacle sur scène », ce qui serait à mon avis un très mauvais choix. Nous pourrions cependant choisir un libellé qui reprendrait soit le lexème « spectacle » soit le lexème « scène ». Nos deux meilleures options de traduction seraient donc « Œuvre scénique » et « Œuvre spectacle ». |
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Je suis ambivalent quant au choix du libellé en français. D'une part, sur le plan terminologique, « Œuvre scénique » me semble une meilleure traduction de "live performance work" que « Œuvre spectacle ». Le terme "performance" se traduisant par « représentation », c'est plutôt le qualificatif "live" que nous devrions tâcher de mettre de l'avant dans le libellé français, ce qui est traduit par « sur scène » dans la terminologie du cadre du Cadre conceptuel pour les statistiques de la culture. D'autre part, je crains que, par glissement sémantique, le terme « Œuvre scénique » soit compris comme référant à toute œuvre destinée à la scène, comme par exemple une pièce de théâtre. Cependant, c'est le rôle de la définition et des notes que de clarifier quels individus appartiennent à une classe et lesquels n'en font pas partie. Enfin, on doit s'assurer de signaler l'équivalence entre la classe d'Artsdata et la classe « spectacle » dans Datascène. À bien y penser, j'ai une légère préférence pour "live performance work" et « œuvre scénique » en tant que |
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Equivalent class proposed in Schema.org@Liverace @tammy-culture @keikoro @GaryMan1968 Please note that a proposal for a similar class was proposed to the Schema.org community: Proposal (Performing Arts 1) - New sub-class of CreativeWork: PerformanceWork #4467 |
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The concept Here is the initial version of the class, in Turtle: |
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Note: This initial version does not use the definitions agreed upon in this discussion. It does not either include the proposed subClassOf statements in relationship to LRMoo. An issue was created to improve the class: |
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Background
CAPACOA commissioned a report Enhancing and Connecting Performing Arts Information Systems. This report found that four Canadian industry platforms have a similar concept designating "works intended to be performed on stage". This concept (or "class" in ontology terminology) is commonly named "show" in the industry. In the performing arts value chain, there is a "touring market", in which instances of shows are offered by creators/producers (or their representative) to presenting organizations who purchase the right of presenting one or several performances of the show. This business process is supported in various ways in each of these industry platforms:
Similar classes also exists in two conceptual models developed in Canada.
Datascene – Référentiel des métadonnées descriptives du spectacle:
Mid-Level Ontology for the Performing Arts:
Authors of the report Enhancing and Connecting Performing Arts Information Systems performed an ontology alignment exercise and concluded that the above classes (except MiLOPA:Performance_Work, which was out of scope for the project) were exact matches. Authors however found a relatively small number of common attributes for the class:
Specific use case
The Arts Touring Connector (ATC) is a platform designed to facilitate the planning of Show tours. This process, known as "block programming", is carried out by presenting organizations and the networks that support them. Two key classes closely associated with the Tour concept in the ATC data model are: Artist and Show. ATC would like their users to be able to autocomplete Artist and Show names against Artsdata entities and, when a match is found by the user, to import the matching data record.
Artsdata does currently not have a dedicated class for the Show concept. The closest class in Artsdata is schema:CreativeWork, which could be deemed superclass to the Show concept.
Solution
Artsdata should either integrate an existing class or else declare a new class. Then, this class should be tested with entities from Wikidata or from one of the industry platforms.
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