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book

vr.tr.book · thing-q571

Let an agent keep the work, the edition and the copy apart, so that rights, citations and availability attach to the right one.

Thing Registry Information and virtual systems INF.MED
Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions

Work, edition and copy Which level a statement is about.

The three levels

What belongs to the work, the edition and the copy.

Level assignment

Which facts hold at which level.

  1. For this book, which facts belong to the work, which to the edition, and which to a single copy? boundary
  2. Which identifier names each level, and which is being cited? definition

Editions and variants

How editions differ and which is authoritative.

Edition differences

Substantive differences and who treats which as canonical.

  1. Which editions of this book exist and how do they differ substantively? definition
  2. Who treats which edition as authoritative, and for what purpose? provenance
Content and structure What is in it and how it is organised.

Internal structure

Chapters, sections, apparatus and pagination.

Structure and citation units

The units a reader and a citation can address.

  1. How is this book structured, and what unit can a citation address? definition
  2. What happens to that unit in a format without fixed pages? boundary

Language and subject

What it is about and in what language.

Subject and language

Classification and language of the text.

  1. What is the language of this text, and which classification schemes place its subject? definition
  2. Where do classification schemes disagree about it? boundary
Rights and permission Who may do what with it.

Rights status

What subsists, where, and until when.

Subsisting rights

The regime in force and its term.

  1. What rights subsist in this book, in which jurisdictions, until when? definition
  2. Who holds them now, and how is that established? provenance

Permitted acts

Copying, quoting, translating, lending.

What is permitted without asking

Acts allowed by exception or licence.

  1. Which acts are permitted without further permission, and under which exception? action
  2. Which acts must an agent refuse or escalate? action
Availability and holding Where a copy can be got and who has one.

Availability

In print, licensed, borrowable or unavailable.

Current availability

How a copy can be obtained now.

  1. How can a copy of this book be obtained, and on what terms? definition
  2. What changes when it goes out of print or a licence lapses? boundary

Holdings and preservation

Who holds copies and how they are kept.

Holdings and durability

Where copies are and what preserves them.

  1. Which institutions hold this book, and under what deposit or preservation duty? provenance
  2. What is the preservation risk for the format it is held in? measurement

Classifiers Filled

Family
Thing Registry
Category
Information and virtual systems
Entry kind
thing
Plane
INF
Domain
INF.MED
Other names and narrower kinds
book of remembrance, DAISY disc, online book, directory service, comic book, Official Directory of the Principality of Monaco, metadirectory, face book, comic book issue, Tomb Raider comics, 24-hour comic, Star Trek comic

What it is Filled

A medium for recording information as a bounded whole of words or images, typically on bound pages or, more abstractly, in electronic or audio form, whether published or unpublished.

Why it exists Filled

Let an agent keep the work, the edition and the copy apart, so that rights, citations and availability attach to the right one.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • A book is a bounded whole with an editorial identity, which separates it from a periodical issue or a loose collection.
  • The work, the edition and the copy are three things, and each has different rights and different identifiers.
  • A book may be published or unpublished, including a manuscript book.

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • Copy or distribute a book in breach of copyright.
  • Misattribute authorship or alter the text while presenting it as the original.
  • Discard or alter a rare or unique copy without the holder's consent.

Only with a human decision

  • Removing a book from a public collection.
  • Publishing a translation or adaptation.

May

  • Catalogue a book by its identifiers and bibliographic data.
  • Read, summarize or quote it within copyright and licence terms.

Moral aspects Filled

  • Books carry knowledge and culture; removing or censoring them affects everyone's access.
  • Authors' rights and readers' privacy both matter.

Who is affected

  • Authors and rights holders
  • Readers
  • Libraries and archives

Owners Filled

Steward

The rights holder for the work; the owner of each copy for the physical volume.

Master systems

  • National library catalogues
  • ISBN agencies

Links to other meta-models Filled

parent

  • Q17537576 - registry parent class
  • Q2424752 - registry parent class
  • Q340169 - registry parent class
  • Q47461344 - registry parent class
  • Q49848 - registry parent class
  • Q732577 - registry parent class

related

  • work, medium or creative form - inherits the work-version-copy distinction
  • edition - ISBNs, prices and availability belong to the edition
  • copyright regime - decides who may copy, translate and adapt it, and until when

contains

  • text - the content is separable from the carrier and can be reissued in another

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • Vercy registry: vr.tr.book
  • Wikidata: Q571 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q571)
  • ISBN: 13 digits identifies an edition and format, not the work
  • ISNI or authority record: library authority identifies the author, which is how works are gathered
  • DOI: 10.xxxx/... used for scholarly books and chapters

Direct properties not applicable Not applicable

  • extent: 32-1000 pages - below about 48 pages it is usually catalogued as a pamphlet
  • mass: 150-1500 g - physical copies only
  • file size: 0.3-50 MB - text against illustrated

Plane INF: no invented physical properties.

Recognition optional Filled

  • A physical copy carries the edition on its title page and its imprint, and the cover often disagrees with both
  • The ISBN identifies the edition, not the work, and a work with many editions has many
  • For a file, the only reliable identification is metadata and a checksum, not what it looks like on screen
  • As a physical object, a bound block of pages between covers, from pocket size to folio. As a file, nothing to see: the appearance belongs to the reader software.

Capabilities and actions required Filled

  • read it
  • cite it, which requires the edition rather than the work
  • lend, sell or give a copy, which is not the same as licensing the work
  • copy it, within limits set by rights
  • annotate a copy, which changes that copy and nothing else

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Edition confusion, where a citation points at content that differs from what the reader has
  • Out of print and unavailable, which is a supply failure rather than a rights one
  • Orphan works, where the rights holder cannot be found and use stays unlawful
  • Format obsolescence for files, where the carrier outlives the software that reads it

Standards and interfaces required Filled

  • ISBN standard, administered nationally under an international agency
  • Copyright law, whose term and exceptions differ by jurisdiction
  • Legal deposit requirements, which oblige publishers to lodge copies
  • Library cataloguing rules, which define what counts as a new edition

Context of use required Filled

  • Carrying a bounded body of content from an author to readers, in a form that can be cited, lent, sold and kept.
  • by content: fiction, non-fiction, reference, textbook, children
  • by form: hardback, paperback, ebook, audiobook, print-on-demand
  • by status: in print, out of print, public domain, orphan work

Sources Filled

  1. Wikidata item Q571: book - identity and sense of the item
  2. Wikipedia: Book - general description of the item

Open questions

  • Should the registry model the work, the edition and the copy as three entries or as one with levels?
  • How should translations be represented - as editions of one work or as works of their own?
  • What identifies a digital copy well enough to cite it when there is no page and no fixed layout?

Machine files

Card as JSON Specification Card backlog vercy.card/1

Provenance

thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed

Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q571/spec.json