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0.03 SEKO Data Model and ideas about Knowledge Graphs

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Jarmo Saarikko edited this page Jul 9, 2026 · 1 revision

If an ontology would work on a base for a music knowledge graph, many more relationships should be added than just the hierarchy or organology of the instruments. Someone must have solved this puzzle of information already, but I will spell this out so that it would not haunt me in my head all the time...

Top concepts and hierarchy

This subject is now handled in the ISSUE https://github.com/NatLibFi/SEKO/issues/174

Concept minimum content

For any concept the minimum set of properties is:

  • rdfs:type
  • skos:prefLabel
  • dct:identifier
  • skos:broader (or skos:topConeptOf)
  • skos:exactMatch

Namespaces

@prefix adms: <http://www.w3.org/ns/adms#> .
@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dct: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix rdau: <http://rdaregistry.info/Elements/u/> .
@prefix rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix skos: <http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#> .
@prefix skos-thes <http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes> .
@prefix voaf <http://purl.org/vocommons/voaf#> .
@prefix xl <http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos-xl#> .
@prefix xsd <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
@prefix xml: <http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace> .

@prefix bf: <http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/> .
@prefix lcmpt: <http://id.loc.gov/authorities/performanceMediums/> .
@prefix mimo: <http://www.mimo-db.eu/InstrumentsKeywords/> .
@prefix mstatus: <https://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/mstatus/> .
@prefix seko: <http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:au:seko:> .
@prefix seko-meta: <http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:au:seko-meta/> .
@prefix seko-issue: <https://github.com/NatLibFi/SEKO/issues/> .
@prefix yso: <http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/> .

Classes and properties to be used

owl:

  • owl:Class, owl:ObjectProperty, owl:DatatypePropety, owl:AnnotationProperty, owl:TransitiveProperty, owl:inverseOf, owl:Ontology, owl:Thing owl:differentFrom, owl:imports, owl:sameAs, owl:versionInfo, owl:versionIRI,

rdf: rdfs:

  • rdf:langString, rdf:Property, rdf:PlainLiteral
  • rdf:type, rdf:subject, rdf:object, rdf:language
  • rdfs:Datatype, rdfs:Resource, rdfs:Class, rdfs:Label, rdfs:Literal
  • rdfs:domain, rdfs:range, rdfs:comment, rdfs:subClassOf, rdfs:subPropertyOf, rdfs:comment, rdfs:identifedBy
  • rdfs:seeAlso (read more at https://www.w3.org/wiki/UsingSeeAlso)

dc: dct:

for the ConceptScheme

  • dc:coverage, dc:creator, dc:format, dc:publisher, dc:title, dc:type
  • dct:accessRights, dct:rights, dct:abstract, dct:accrualMethod, dct:accrualPeriodicity, dct:accrualPolicy, dct:audience, dct:available, dct:bibliographicCitation, dct:conformsTo, dct:contributor, dct:coverage, dct:creator, dct:language, dct:license, dct:mediator, dct:publisher, dct:subject, dct:title, dct:type

for a Concept

  • dct:created, dct:issued, dct:modified, dct:dateAccepted, dct:dateSubitted, dct:date, dct:valid
  • dc:source, dct:relation, dct:isReplacedBy, dct:replaces, dct:refernces, dct:description, dct:identifier, dct:spatial, dct:temporal

skos:

Classes:

  • skos:Concept, skos:ConceptScheme

Object Properties:

  • skos:hasTopConcept, skos:member, skos:inScheme, skos:topConceptOf, skos:broader, skos:narrower, skos:related, skos:memberList

Datatype properties:

  • skos:notation

Annotation properties:

  • skos:altLabel, skos:hiddenLabel, skos:prefLabel
  • skos:note, skos:changeNote, skos:definition, skos:editorialNote, skos:example, skos:historyNote, skos:scopeNote

Mapping properties:

  • skos:mappingRelation, skos:closeMatch, skos:exactMatch, skos:broadMatch, skos:narrowMatch, skos:relatedMatch

skos-thes: - for the thesaurus / ontology metadata

skos-xl, xl:

  • Still considered. Is used by YSO Ontology.

xsd

xsd:integer, xsd:date

voaf

  • voaf:Vocabulary, voaf:VocabularySpace
  • voaf:extends, voaf:propertyNumber, voaf:classNumber, voaf:specializes, voaf:similar, voaf:toDoList

SEKO

Note! will add to seko-metadata.ttl a new annotation property: seko:statusNote as a subProperty of skos:note .

seko:statusNote a owl:AnnotationProperty ;
    rdfs:subPropertyOf skos:note ;
    rdfs:label "Tietueen tila"@fi, "Seko concept status"@en ;
    rdfs:range rdfs:Literal ;
    ddfs:domain rdfs:Resource ;
    skos:definition "A note intended strictly for Seko internal use."@en ;
    skos:scopeNote "Select value from: submitted, accepted, valid, deprecated, superceded, retired" ;
    skos:editorialNote "Only one value per record at any time.",
                       "Change and its reason should be registered in a skos:editorialNote" ;
    dct:source  https://dd.eionet.europa.eu/vocabulary/datadictionary/status/view  .

Value definitions

  • these are subject to change, this is a preliminary suggestion for usage in the masterdata table.
  • Proposal for definitions of the "status" values for SEKO3.
  • The values may be need the simultaneous addition of a dct:date or one of its subProperties.

Select one value of:

  • submitted
    • for a submitted new concept, or a concept requiring a modification or a decision by MUUSA etc (dct:dateSubmitted - for a new concept)
  • stable
    • the item is "valid" and "stable" and ok to be issued and published.
    • The entry is "live", but not specificly gone through the expert group decision process. (dct:created, dct:issued, dct:available, dct:modified)
  • accepted
    • the concept or a change to it was accepted to be entered into the dataset by the expert group decision process (dct:dateAccepted)
  • deprecated
    • The item is deprecated but the follow-up is undecided (dct:modified)
  • superceded
    • The item is deprecated and redirected to another item (dct:modified)
  • retired
    • The item is deprecated and deleted from use, no redirection. (dct:modified)
  • valid
    • The value "valid" usually means the time range when a value is valid and true. E.g. for a time range. (dct:valid)

A second option could be to use the MARC Status codes

  • Codes and term sources to indicate the status of a resource.

Groupings for medium of performance - top concepts and hierarcy

Mappings

To create interoperability, each conept should be mapped to at least one other international vocabulary which provides PIDs for its concepts by using a skos:mappingRelation property (one of skos:closeMatch, skos:exactMatch, skos:broadMatch, skos:narrowMatch and skos:relatedMatch).

The mapped international "standard" instrument vocabularies would be according to the current plans:

Additional relationships

Several of these properties would need an external vocabulary to have more controlled entries.

  • Pitch and tuning of the instrument
  • Wikipedia page of the instrument (Wikidata)
    • skos:related
  • common names of the instrument
    • schema:name
  • type of playing, e.g. solo or in an ensemble
    • bf:ensemble (bf:Ensemble which inculde components), bf:ensembleType(range: rdfs:Literal), bf:ensembleSize (range:bf:EnsembleSize)
  • links to other instruments often played with in an ensemble
    • skos:related
  • Geospatial information - original location of the instrument if possible (YSO-places)
  • Images of the instrument (Wikidata or Wikimedia commons)
  • Sound of the instrument (Wikimedia commons, major open access recordings)
    • dct:relation - or a new specified property
  • Cultural connection - types of music where the instrument is used - (From Wikidata)
  • Material from which the instrument is made (wood, plant, tissue, metal, plastic etc.)
    • schema:material
  • major features of the instrument if not available from the classification.
  • Manufacturer of the instrument
    • schema:manufacturer
  • Name of artists or profession playing the instrument (Wikidata)
    • schema:agent (range: schema:Person)
  • Users of the instrument - identified players or performers with the instrument (Wikipedia)
    • schema:performer (domain: Event)

Other sources for relationships

As the ontology would be used primarily in library contect (for the moment) there are no relationships to musical works or notation as the relationship would be saved in the opposite direction.

Add possibly more mapped vocabularies:

  • MARC Relators - e.g. actor, artist, coductor, dancer, musician, singer, speaker, vocalist, voice actor

The monolingual SEKO vocabulary at Finto.fi : SEKO - Suomalainen esityskokoonpanosanasto

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