[OLAC-credits] Coding cast members identified only by role

[Kelley McGrath]

Hi Alex,

We decided not to record character names as roles. The reasoning is that it is likely to be too complex for the computer to interpret and it is also unclear what we would ultimately be able to do with the data since it's relatively uncommon. It would also make the form more complex that it already is. I have actually been surprised by how often character names do appear.

This question is covered in the longer examples link (upper right corner orv http://olac-annotator.org/examples.pdf), although I realize based on another comment someone made that the example in this document is misleading. The example credit is "Ringo Starr (Merlin)" and the role is given as "cast," which doesn't actually work unless the word "cast" is in the credit. The role here should really be blank.

When you have John Doe (Jim Smith), it can be a little less obvious which is the actor's name if the actor doesn't appear in the match name dropdown list. However, the convention seems to be to give the character's name in parentheses so I would stick with that assumption barring evidence otherwise.

What are we going to do with all the credits with "no role specified?" Basically, we're going to have to come up with some heuristics. If it's a name in a 511 that doesn't have a cast indicator (and it's surprised me how many don't) then we can at least assume the name is a performer of some sort. Corporate bodies in 245$c are usually production companies or studios. Of course, some do have to do with the expression (Janus Films) or the manifestation (if it's the name of the publisher or distributor). A personal name with no role in 245$c of an opera or other musical work is probably the composer.

If you have a guess as to what the role is, you're welcome to put it in the comments box, but it's not necessary. We will be doing post-processing of all the data and one of the things that we'll look at are credits with no roles.

Kelley
________________________________
From: olac-credits-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu [olac-credits-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu] on behalf of Kyrios, Alex (akyrios at uidaho.edu) [akyrios at uidaho.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 1:54 PM
To: olac-credits at lists.uoregon.edu
Subject: [OLAC-credits] Coding cast members identified only by role

Hi all,

A few times now I’ve come across a credit in the form of:

John Doe (Jim Smith)

In this case, should I code this as no role specified? If not, should I be as literal as possible and give the role as “Jim Smith,” or should I make an educated guess and say cast? If I am considering this to be a role specified, which language should I choose? A name like “Hans Werner” may look pretty German, but for all I know he’s an American.

Alex Kyrios
Metadata and Catalog Librarian
University of Idaho
208-885-2513
akyrios at uidaho.edu

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