[uf-discuss] Re: Work-of-art/Tim Gambell

[Toby A Inkster]

Ted Drake wrote:

> Could the Dublin core be converted into a microformat.

<h1>New Additions to the Museum Collection</h1>
<ul>
 <li class="objet">
  <h2 class="dc:title">Comb</h2>
  <ul>
   <li class="dc:date:created">circa 3200 BCE; Predynastic period</li>
   <li class="geo">Egypt (<span class="latitude" title="30">N
    30&deg;</span>, <span class="latitude" title="31.2">E
    31&deg;12'</span>)
   </li>
   <li>
    <span class="dc:type scheme:dcmitype" title="PhysicalObject"></span>
    <span class="dc:format">Ivory; 5.7 cm</span>
   </li>
   <li class="dc:publisher vcard">
    <span class="fn">The Metropolitan Museum of Art</span>
    <span class="adr">
     <span class="locality">New York</span>,
     <span class="country-name">USA</span>
    </span>
   </li>
  </ul>
  <p class="dc:description">
   Finely carved ivory combs and knife handles produced toward the end of
   Egypt's prehistory demonstrate the high standards Egyptian artists had
   achieved, even before the Old Kingdom. This comb may have been part of
   the funeral equipment of an elite person who lived about 5,200 years
   ago. Parts of the comb's teeth, now missing, can be seen along the
   bottom edge. The detailed decoration suggests that it was a ceremonial
   object, not just an instrument for arranging the hair. On both sides are
   figures of animals in horizontal rows, a spatial organization familiar
   from later Egyptian art. The animals include elephants and snakes;
   wading birds and a giraffe; hyenas; cattle; and perhaps boars. Similar
   arrangements of these creatures on other carved ivory implements suggest
   that the arrangement and choice of animals were not haphazard. Elephants
   treading on snakes suggest that this part of the scene was symbolic. The
   mythologies of many African peoples associate elephants and serpents
   with the creation of the universe. The uppermost row of this comb may
   symbolize a creative deity to whom the rest of the animals owe their
   existence.
  </p>
 </li>
 <li class="objet"><!-- another objet --></li>
</ul>

Notes:

1. An object's class is intentionally "objet", from "objet d'art" to avoid
collisions with existing use of class="object". 
2. I'm not 100% sure about the best use of "geo" here. Should it be used
to markup where the object was created (as I have done here); where the
object currently is; or both?
3. Note the empty span to represent the dc:type metadata. Virtually all
items in museums are physical objects, so I didn't think it necessary to
show this information to human users. 
4. I'm not sure about scheme:dcmitype. Are schemes necessary, or is that
going too far?
5. Could somehow integrate with XOXO?

-- 
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
[Geek of HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux]
[OS: Linux 2.6.12-12mdksmp, up 104 days, 16:20.]

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