An Introduction to the LIPARM Project

Theory and Practice of Digital LibrariesConference

24 September 2012

The Parliamentary Record in the UKEight 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

placeThe passage of all legislation and all contributions to it at all stagesThe ability to analyse all divisions and other votes across the entire recordLinking 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:Lieut. Col. James Craig

Capt. CraigCol. Craig

Sir James CraigViscount Craigavon

UK Parliament 1906-21MP for Down East 1906-18MP for Down Mid 1918-21

Stormont Parliament 1921-40MP for County Down 1921-29MP for North Down 1929-1940

1441 contributions to debates at Westminster

Offices at StormontPrime Minister of NorthernIreland 1921-40

Offices at WestminsterTreasurer of the Royal Household 1916 - 1918Parliamentary Secretary 1919 - 1920Parliamentary Secretary 1920 - 1921

1163 contributions to debates at Stormont

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 recordControlled vocabularies, with unique URIs to support the schemaTwo collections converted to the schemaA 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)

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)

http://liparm.ac.uk/id/proceedingsoutcometype/primarylegislation/actofparliament/publicgeneralact

The PML (Parliamentary Metadata Language) fileUnits

Functions

Persons

Proceedings Groups

Proceedings Objects

Vote Events

House of Commons, Treasury Select Committee, Standing Committee

Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Member of Parliament

James Callaghan, 1912-2005

European Communities Act (Amendment) Act

Calendar Objects

Parliament 1979-1983, Session 1/9/79-1/6/80, Sitting 15/1/80

Preamble, Debates, Readings of bills

Divisions

The PML (Parliamentary Metadata Language) fileUnits

ID "hh-1980015-units-001"

TypeType "chamber" "chamber"

TypeURI "http://liparm.ac.uk/unittypes/chambers"

Label "House of Commons"

RegURI "http://liparm.ac.uk/units/houseOfCommons"

Some sample linkages - persons

Person Sir James Craig

Function Parliamentary Secretary 1919 - 1920MP 1906-1921

Unit House of CommonsStanding Committee

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

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.

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 between records

Westminster Hansard

Stormont Hansard

http://liparm.ac.uk/id/person/person/craigavonjamescraigviscount1871-1940

Links to sources

Persons Proceedings Objects Vote EventsContributions

Source

LabelHC Deb 15 January 1980 vol 976 cc1437

SourceRef

SourceType URL

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1980/jan/15/european-communities-act-amendment#column_1437

Project webpage

http://liparm.cerch.kcl.ac.uk

richard.gartner@kcl.ac.uk