An Introduction to the LIPARM Project
Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries
Conference
24 September 2012
The Parliamentary Record in the UK
Eight centuries of the Parliamentary record, most of which has been digitized
The need for integrated metadata
Cross-searching these collections is time-consuming
and hit-and-miss
Some problems:Inconsistent approaches to metadata, and particularly naming conventions
Identifying the same person, in different resources, different names etc
Inconsistency of naming: Bills, Acts etc
Different methods for identifying the same person, Bill, Act, session etc in
different collections
No methods for linking across collections, so bringing the parliamentary
record together
What an integrated metadata strategy
would allow..
Tracing an individual's career in-depth across the entire record:All speeches and contributions to debates
Every vote cast
Membership of all committees
Links back to the context in which each of these contributions takes
place
The passage of all legislation and all contributions to it at all stages
The ability to analyse all divisions and other votes across the entire
record
Linking all of these components to any other bibliographic information,
for instance subject indexes, allowing automated analyses of the content
of speeches etc.
XML Schema (PML)
Controlled Vocabularies
For example...
Sir James Craig
Referred to as:
UK Parliament 1906-21
MP for Down East 1906-18
MP for Down Mid 1918-21
Lieut. Col. James Craig
Capt. Craig
Col. Craig
Sir James Craig
Viscount Craigavon
Offices at Westminster
Treasurer of the Royal Household 1916 - 1918
Parliamentary Secretary 1919 - 1920
Parliamentary Secretary 1920 - 1921
1441 contributions to debates at Westminster
Stormont Parliament 1921-40
MP for County Down 1921-29
MP for North Down 1929-1940
Offices at Stormont
Prime Minister of Northern
Ireland 1921-40
1163 contributions to debates at
Some questions PML records can answer..
 What is the voting record for a given MP?
 What contributions did an MP make throughout his/her career?
To what Bills/Acts?
What form of contributions?
What committees did he/she serve on?
What offices did he/she hold?
What proceedings led to a given Act?
What Bills were debated in a given session?
How often was an MP interrupted during speeches in his/her career?
The major project components
An XML schema to link components of the record
Controlled vocabularies, with unique URIs to support the
schema
Two collections converted to the schema
A prototype union catalogue for these collections, with links
to the originals
The schema and controlled
vocabularies
Controlled vocabularies
<mads>
<authority>
<topic
valueURI="http://liparm.ac.uk/id/proceedingsoutcometype/primarylegislation/actofparliament/publicgeneralact" >Public General Act</topic>
</authority>
<related type="broader">
<topic>Primary legislation</topic>
</related>
<related type="broader">
<topic>Act of Parliament</topic>
</related>
<note type="effectiveDraft">Effective</note>
<note type="jurisdiction">UK</note>
<note type="issuingAuthority">UK Parliament</note>
</mads>
MADS=Metadata Authority Description Schema
http://liparm.ac.uk/id/proceedingsoutcometype/primarylegislation/actofparliament/publicgeneralact
Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs)
http://liparm.ac.uk/id/proceedingsoutcometype/primarylegislation/actofparliament/publicgeneralact
URIs have been specified for every item in controlled vocabularies,
including:Persons
Administrative units (eg. House of Commons)
Types of administrative unit (eg. 'chamber', 'committee')
Roles/functions (eg. 'Prime Minister')
Outcomes of proceedings (eg. Acts, Bills etc)
Votes (ie. divisions)
The PML (Parliamentary Metadata Language) file
Units
House of Commons, Treasury Select Committee, Standing Committee
Functions
Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Member of Parliament
Calendar
Objects
Parliament 1979-1983, Session 1/9/79-1/6/80, Sitting 15/1/80
Persons
James Callaghan, 1912-2005
Proceedings
Groups
European Communities Act (Amendment) Act
Proceedings
Objects
Preamble, Debates, Readings of bills
Vote Events
Divisions
The PML (Parliamentary Metadata Language) file
Units
Type
"chamber"
TypeURI
"http://liparm.ac.uk/unittypes/chambers"
Label
"House of Commons"
RegURI
"http://liparm.ac.uk/units/houseOfCommons"
ID
"hh-1980015-units-001"
Some sample linkages - persons
Unit
Function
Person
House of Commons
Standing Committee
Parliamentary Secretary 1919 - 1920
MP 1906-1921
Sir James Craig
Proceedings
Object
Military Service Bill debate 10 April 1918
Vote Event
"That the Question be now put." Division on
Military Service Bill 10 April 1918 - aye
Links between records
Colonel Sir JAMES CRAIG I listened with the greatest possible regret to the speech of the hon. Member for Mayo (Mr.
Dillon) both yesterday and to-day and I did so because I hoped that when the mantle of the leadership of the Nationalist
party fell upon him it would be possible for him to take rather a different view than he had done in the past with regard
to Ireland's share in the War.
Westminster Hansard
http://liparm.ac.uk/id/person/person/craigavonjamescraigviscount18711940
Stormont Hansard
The PRIME MINISTER: Certainly, and that control, I think, is exercised very judiciously. But, after all, we cannot take from
these duly elected boards a duty which has been carried out?
Links to sources
Contributions
Proceedings
Objects
Persons
Vote Events
Source
Label
HC Deb 15 January 1980 vol 976 cc1437
SourceRef
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1980/jan/15/european-communities-act-amendment#column_1437
SourceType
URL
Project webpage
http://liparm.cerch.kcl.ac.uk
richard.gartner@kcl.ac.uk