History Microformat (was Re: [uf-discuss] Dated currency examples?)

[Jeremy Boggs]

Hi List,

On Sep 24, 2006, at 10:45 PM, Tantek Çelik wrote:

> Another thought is that the space of "historical data" is probably  
> a more
> relevant way to discuss this than just currency.  People assert all  
> kinds of
> facts about the past (not just currency), and rather than having  
> something
> that is specific to currency, perhaps this implies a need for a  
> simpler
> "history" microformat which can then contain any kind of data which is
> asserted to be true/accurate as of that point in history.

i would be very interested in helping to explore a "history"  
microformat. In my spare time, I've been collecting examples of  
history timelines, after discussions a few months ago on this list  
about the inability of using hCalendar to mark up before common era  
dates, and other considerations for marking up historical dates and  
spans of time.[1] I've collected examples of uses of BCE dates and  
timelines in general, but I could easily expand the scope of my inquiry.

Like Tantek says, a history microformat might help address the issue  
of past currency values, as well as help markup a host of other  
historical information: both secondary sources (biographies,  
timelines, articles, genealogy) and primary sources (census records,  
newspapers, letters, diaries, probate records, etc...). I may be  
biased about this (I'm a history PhD student. And, I understand that  
we would need to collect real-world examples first before moving on.  
I'd be happy to share what I've collected so far, and help out any  
way I can, if the community thinks it is worthwhile.

Thanks!
Jeremy

[1] http://microformats.org/discuss/mail/microformats-discuss/2006- 
June/004453.html