EAD REVISION
PROGRESS REPORT
EAD Roundtable, SAA 2012, 2012-08-08
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
TIMELINE TO DATE
Comments
Funding
Revision Forum
• 2010-10 to 201102
• Spring 2011
• SAA 2011
Conference calls
TS-EAD Working
Meeting
Share Essential
Documentation
• March 2012
• Winter 2012
• Spring/Summer
2012
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
SUPPORT




Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
National Endowment for the Humanities
Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale
University
GET BACK
POINTS OF EMPHASIS


Achieving greater conceptual and semantic
consistency in the use of EAD.
Exploring mechanisms whereby EAD-encoded
information might more seamlessly and
effectively connect with, exchange, or incorporate
data maintained according to other protocols.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS


Improving the functionality of EAD for
representing descriptive information created in
international and particularly in multilingual
environments.
Being mindful that a new version will affect
current users.
DRIVE MY CAR
COMMUNITY COMMENTS

Non-Descriptive
 Schema
and documentation
 General nature and purpose
 Relationships to related resources and entities
 EAD Header
COMMUNITY COMMENTS

Descriptive
 Hierarchy
elements
 Wrapper elements
 Controlled terms
 Digital Archival Objects
 Date encoding
 Languages and scripts
 Other elements
HELLO GOODBYE
GENERAL PROCEDURES

Elimination of elements deprecated in EAD2002
 <add>
 <admininfo>
 <dentry>
 <drow>
 <organization>
 <tspec>
 @langmaterial,

@legalstatus, @otherlegalstatus
Deprecation as a blanket rule for new removals
2011 QUALIFIERS
Preliminary
Provisional
Contingent
Possible
Potential
2012 QUALIFIERS
Likely
Highly Likely
But nothing is final.
HELTER SKELTER
DISENTANGLE DESCRIPTIVE ELEMENTS





Remove <arrangement> from <scopecontent>
Remove <acqinfo> from <custodhist>
Remove <legalstatus> from <accessrestrict> [and
promote it to a sibling]
Remove <unitdate> from <unittitle>
Eliminate recursion
 bioghist/bioghist
 controlaccess/controlaccess
 Provide
alternative using <div>
REDUCE SEMANTIC OVERLOAD

<note>
8
distinct uses in EAD:
 <notestmt>
 <titlepage>
or <div> [in <frontmatter>
 <did>
 <did>
sibling
 Within <did> siblings [as a block element]
 Recursively within <note>
 Within block elements like <p> [as mixed content]
 <namegrp>
UPDATE ACCESS TERMS

Split mixed content and block uses of access term
elements into separate elements
 Separate
semantics of the following:
 <p>Includes
correspondence from
<persname>John Lennon.</persname></p>
 <controlaccess>
<persname>Lennon, John.</persname>
</controlaccess>
UPDATE ACCESS TERMS

Enable <part>
 <controlaccess>
<persname>
<part>Lennon, John, </part>
<part>1940-1980</part>
</persname>
</controlaccess>
ALIGN WITH XHTML




Minor tweaks to <table>
Minor tweaks to <list>
Remove <table>, <list>, and <chronlist> from
within <p>
Limit <blockquote> to a block element, add
<quote> for inline use.
SIMPLIFY LINKS



Consolidate <extref>, <extptr>, <ref>, and <ptr>
to just <ref>
Remove linking attributes from assorted elements,
e.g. <title>
Deprecate extended links
 <daogrp>
 <linkgrp>

Remove XLINK namespace, but implement linking
attributes isomorphic with XLINK
SUPPORT MULTIPLE LANGUAGES

Add language code and script code attributes to
each non-empty element
REDUCE MIXED CONTENT


Reduce mixed content by more carefully considering
what elements are appropriate within a given
element
Examples:
 Limit
available children of <container> to <emph>
and <ref>
 Limit available children of <langmaterial> to
<languagef>, <emph>, and <ref>
COME TOGETHER
RECONCILIATION WITH EAC-CPF

Replace <eadheader> with <control>
 Keeping



<filedesc> but replacing the rest
Add <relations> at all levels *
Improve data model for dates *
Improve <chronlist> *
* Pending discussion
ELEANOR RIGBY
DEPRECATED ELEMENTS









<frontmatter>
<eadgrp>, <archdescgrp>, <dscgrp>
<descgrp>
<fileplan>
<abbr> + <expan>
<runner>
<daogrp> + <linkgrp>
<note>*
<dsc>
SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE
BATHROOM WINDOW
ADDITIONS






Structured <physdesc>
<formsavailable>
container/@containerId
<didnote>
unittitle/@normal
<relations>
STRUCTURED PHYSDESC

<physdesc> will remain
 Unstructured
and textual
 Provides migration path

<physdescstruct> [provisional name] will be added
 Fully
encoded
 Machine actionable
STRUCTURED PHYSDESC

<physdescstuct>
 @physdesctype
 carrier
 space
[space occupied]
 matttype [material type]
 Specified
Materials <specmat>
 Physical Type <phystype>
 Physical Details <physdetail>
STRUCTURED PHYSDESC
<physdesc type="carrier">
<specmat>Diaries</specmat>
<num>52</num>
<phystype>volumes</phystype>
<dimensions>25 cm.</dimensions>
</physdesc>
STRUCTURED PHYSDESC
<physdesc type="space">
<specmat>Collection</specmat>
<num>39</num>
<phystype>linear feet</phystype>
</physdesc>
STRUCTURED PHYSDESC
<physdesc type="mattype">
<num>27</num>
<phystype>architectural drawings</phystype>
<physdetail>blueprints</physdetail>
<dimensions> 28 x 36 inches</dimensions>
</physdesc>
FORMS AVAILABLE
<did>
<unittitle>Photograph</unittitle>
<formsavailable>
<container type=“Box”>1</container>
<dao href=“url”/>
</formsavailable>
</did>
CONTAINER ID
<container type=“Box” containerid=“1234”>
1
</container>
represents the same container as
<container type=“Box” containerid=“1234”>
1
</container>
CONTAINER ID
<container type=“Box” containerid=“1234”>
1
</container>
represents a different container from
<container type=“Box” containerid=“5678”>
1
</container>
DID NOTE

<didnote>
 Contain
PCDATA, mixed content elements (<emph>,
<ref>, etc.)
 Will not contain <p>, <table>, <list>
<did>
<didnote @label=“Note”>Mean Mr. Mustard sleeps in
the park.</didnote>
</did>
ADDITIONS






Structured <physdesc>
<formsavailable>
container/@containerId
<didnote>
unittitle/@normal
<relations>
LET IT BE
REJECTED PROPOSALS






Eliminate <did>
Eliminate <head>
Eliminate <abstract>
Eliminate numbered components
Make <archdesc> a wrapper tag for components
alone
Make @level required for all components
I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
RELATED TOOLS


Migration stylesheet(s)
External validation tools to
 Validate
ISO code lists, etc.
 Establishing subset profiles

Encoding manipulation tools
 Stylesheet
to change between numbered and
unnumbered components
MAXWELL’S SILVER HAMMER
TESTING AND COMMENTS
Changes
Github
Review
Testing
Comments
SDT GITHUB REPOSITORY
http://github.com/SAA-SDT/EAD-Revision
REVISED SCHEMA




Currently pre-Alpha
Hacked version of existing schema
Comprehensive re-write pending
http://github.com/SAA-SDT/EADRevision/blob/master/ead_revised.rng
MIGRATION STYLESHEET



Draft conversion of existing EAD 2002 instances to
new EAD
Intended to be developed alonside schema, but
lagging behind
http://github.com/SAA-SDT/EADRevision/blob/master/ead2002toEADx.xsl
ISSUE TRACKER

Three tags for issues
 “Bugs”
 (TS-EAD)
“Feature Requests”
 “Comments”

http://github.com/SAA-SDT/EADRevision/issues
TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
REMAINING TIMELINE
Progress Report
• 2012 EAD
Roundtable
Alpha Schema
Release
• Fall 2012
• Comments begin
Schema
Development Team
Meeting
• October 2012
Final comment
period ends
Beta Schema
Release
• 15 February 2013
• 15 January 2013
• Final comments begin
REMAINING TIMELINE
Tag Library
Editorial Meeting
• March 2013
Finalize schema
requirements and
tag library
• 1 April 2013
Schema and tag
library release
• 1 July 2013
YOU KNOW MY NAME
(LOOK UP THE NUMBER)
FURTHER INFORMATION

SAA Standards Portal
 http://www2.archivists.org/standards

Schema Development Team Github Repository



http://github.com/SAA-SDT/EAD-Revision
Library of Congress EAD List
EAD Roundtable List
CONTACT
Michael Rush
michael.rush@yale.edu
twitter.com/mike_rush