Part 1. Transforming a catalogue into structured data
Nomisma.org and the OGC project aim to provide a ready-made controlled, multingual vocabulary for the expression of numismatic data. The aim of these projects is partly to save numismatic authors from ‘reinventing the wheel’. But they also serve as a means of allowing numismatic authors to contribute their work to a growing pool of common resources online.
The controlled vocabulary used is provided in the form of URIs. This page is designed to provide some basic guidance on how to use nomisma.org and other URIs to control the data structure and contents of a coin catalogue, with the ultimate aim of contributing that data to the OGC project. If you are working on a die or mint study, or are interested in converting an existing one into a format that can become part of a greater effort to establish an overall typology of Greek coinage, this is where to start.
This page is intended primarily as an overview and for reference purposes. Before you begin work on converting your data, we strongly recommend you contact a member of the OGC team to discuss the coinage you are working on. As we all know, no two coinages are quite the same.
The basic principles are simple. For many coinages it is only possible to obtain a clear idea of their taxonomy and typology by assembling as large a body of material as possible, and surveying its complexities and boundaries. So we would suggest the following steps:
The controlled vocabulary used is provided in the form of URIs. This page is designed to provide some basic guidance on how to use nomisma.org and other URIs to control the data structure and contents of a coin catalogue, with the ultimate aim of contributing that data to the OGC project. If you are working on a die or mint study, or are interested in converting an existing one into a format that can become part of a greater effort to establish an overall typology of Greek coinage, this is where to start.
This page is intended primarily as an overview and for reference purposes. Before you begin work on converting your data, we strongly recommend you contact a member of the OGC team to discuss the coinage you are working on. As we all know, no two coinages are quite the same.
The basic principles are simple. For many coinages it is only possible to obtain a clear idea of their taxonomy and typology by assembling as large a body of material as possible, and surveying its complexities and boundaries. So we would suggest the following steps:
- Use a spreadsheet to provide a basic list of specimens in the catalogue, arranged according to the classification of the output of the mint
- Use nomisma standard fields for numismatic concepts (see the Table here).
- Provide a separate spreadsheet with the list of what you consider to be the basic types of the coinage in question
- For a more complete overview of the data structure used by OGC, take a look at NUDS here.
Help us to improve nomisma.org and OGC
It may well be that the spelling of field names or concepts in your language doesn’t suit you or that certain important identities or concepts are missing from nomisma.org. If so, please let us know. Our aim is to facilitate, not dictate, and we will do our best to provide all resources necessary.
A list of currently available nomisma IDs in major categories can be found here. We are working to build it further. If data appear to be missing from our lists, please tell us about it.
A list of currently available nomisma IDs in major categories can be found here. We are working to build it further. If data appear to be missing from our lists, please tell us about it.