BIO: A vocabulary for biographical information
This document describes a vocabulary for describing biographical information about people, both living and dead.
The BIO vocabulary contains terms useful for finding out more about people and their backgrounds and has some cross-over into genealogical information. The approach taken is to describe a person's life as a series of interconnected key events, around which other information can be woven. This vocabulary defines the event framework and supplies a set of core event types that cover many use cases, but it is expected that it will be extended in other vocabularies to suit their needs. The intention of this vocabulary is to describe biographical events of people and this intention carries through to the definitions of the properties and classes which are person-centric rather than neutral. For example the Employment event puts the person being employed as the principal agent in the event rather than the employer. The BIO vocabulary defines a number of core classes and properties for describing biographical information: Figure: Biography Vocabulary Core Classes (PNG version, SVG version) At its heart the BIO vocabulary is concerned with people, their relationships and the events in their lives. Together these can be used to build up a narrative of a person's life and their interactions with other people, organizations and the world around them. Events bound intervals of time that may be associated with particular relationships between people and groups or organisations. Many different types of life event are defined in this vocabulary including the obvious Birth, Marriage and Death but also Coronation, Performance and even Murder. These events are not intended to be fully comprehensive but are representative of the types of events associated with biographical material. Currently the relationship segment of the vocabulary is underspecified with only a generic Relationship class available. It is envisaged that many types of relationship such as families, employments and ownerships will be specified in the future. The sequence of events and intervals build a timeline of history against which people and their relationships can be placed. The aim is to enable simple forms of genealogical reasoning such as determining whether a child was born out of wedlock or the location of a family given the fact one of their children was attending a particular school. Events are ordered in time by relating them to one another and to abstract intervals of time: Figure: Biography Vocabulary Timelines(PNG version, SVG version) Please see https://github.com/iand/vocab-bio for the master version of this vocabulary.
Copyright © 2002-2010 Ian Davis and David Galbraith
Minor changes to improve publishing process
Major expansion of properties and classes
Batch of revisions based on community feedback
Added subproperty and equivalent property relations for bio:father, bio:mother and bio:child
Added bio:Formation and bio:Disbanding events
Added bio:Relationship class and properties
Added properties for Birth and Death Event types, motivated by JSON serialisations of RDF
Event
An event is an occurrence that brings about a change in the state of affairs for one or more people and/or other agents. Events are assumed to occur over a period of time and may not have precise start and end points.
This class is intended to describe biographical events, i.e. events in the life of a person.
Removed subclass of owl-time ProperInteval
Individual Event
A type of event that is principally about a single person, group or organization. Other agents may be involved but the event is most significant for the principal agent.
Group Event
A type of event that is principally about one or more agents and their partnership. Other agents may be involved but the event is most significant for the partner agent.
Birth
The event of a person entering into life.
_:e a bio:Birth ; dc:date "1879-03-14" ; bio:principal <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Albert_Einstein> ; bio:parent <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Pauline_Koch> ; bio:parent <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Hermann_Einstein> ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Ulm> .
Marriage
The event of creating uniting the participants into a new family unit, sometimes accompanied by a formal wedding ceremony. This is intended to cover a broad range of marriages including those given formal legal standing, common-law, or by convention. It is not restricted to marriages of two people of the opposite gender, but also includes polygamous and same-sex unions.
Made equivalent to cyc:WeddingEvent_Generic
The marriage of Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić
_:e a bio:Marriage ; dc:date "1903" ; bio:partner <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Albert_Einstein> ; bio:partner <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Mileva_Mari%C4%87> ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Bern> .
Death
The event of a person's life ending.
_:e a bio:Death ; dc:date "1955-04-18" ; bio:principal <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Albert_Einstein> ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Princeton,_New_Jersey> .
Annulment
The event of declaring a marriage void from the beginning as though it never existed.
Divorce
The event of legally dissolving a marriage.
The divorce of Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić
_:e a bio:Divorce ; dc:date "1919-02-14" ; bio:partner <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Albert_Einstein> ; bio:partner <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Mileva_Mari%C4%87> ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Zurich> .
Funeral
The event of marking a person's death with a ceremony.
Burial
The event of interring the remains of a person's body into the ground.
Cremation
The event of disposing of the remains of a person's body by fire.
_:e a bio:Cremation ; dc:date "1955-04-18" ; bio:principal <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Albert_Einstein> ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Princeton,_New_Jersey> .
Adoption
The event of creating of a legal parent/child relationship that does not exist biologically.
Baptism
The ceremonial event held to admit a person to membership of a Christian church.
Revised comment, replacing 'the Christian church' with 'a Christian church'
BarMitzvah
The ceremonial event held when a Jewish boy reaches age 13.
BasMitzvah
The ceremonial event held when a Jewish girl reaching age 13, also known as "Bat Mitzvah."
Execution
The event of a person being deliberately killed as punishment.
Assassination
The event of a person being deliberately targeted and killed.
Murder
The event of a person being killed unlawfully with intent by the killer.
Ordination
The ceremonial event held when a person receives authority to act in religious matters.
Naturalization
The event of a person obtaining citizenship. Note that the place the naturalization event occurs at may be different from the state the person is obtaining citizenship of.
Albert Einstein becoming a citizen of the United States
_:e a bio:Emigration ; dc:date "1940" ; bio:principal <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Albert_Einstein> ; bio:state <http://dbpedia.org/resource/United_States> .
Emigration
The event of a person leaving their homeland with the intent of residing elsewhere.
Albert Einstein emigrating to the United States
_:e a bio:Emigration ; dc:date "1933"^^xsd:gYear ; bio:principal <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Albert_Einstein> ; bio:state <http://dbpedia.org/resource/United_States> .
Enrolment
The event of a person initiating attendence to a school or other place of learning.
Graduation
The event of a person being awarded educational diplomas or degrees.
Albert Einstein receiving his Doctorate from the University of Zurich
_:e a bio:Graduation ; dc:date "1905"^^xsd:gYear ; bio:principal <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Albert_Einstein> ; bio:organization <http://dbpedia.org/resource/University_of_Zurich> .
Imprisonment
The event of a person being detained in a jail or prison.
Employment
The event of a person entering an occupational relationship with an employer.
Change of Position
The event of a person changing the position they hold with an employer.
Change of Name
The event of a person changing their name.
Promotion
The event of a person changing the position they hold with an employer to one with more importance or responsibility.
Demotion
The event of a person changing the position they hold with an employer to one with less importance or responsibility.
Retirement
The event of a person exiting an occupational relationship with an employer after a qualifying time period. In many cultures retirement is expected and even required once the person reaches a particular age.
Resignation
The event of a person voluntarily giving up or quitting their office or position.
Dismissal
The event of a person involuntarily giving up their office or position. Dismissal is often perceived to be the employee's fault and may be considered disgraceful.
Redundancy
The event of a person involuntarily giving up an office or position that is no longer needed. Redundancy is usually perceived to be the employer's fault and is usually due to conditions outside of the employee's control.
Investiture
The ceremonial event of a person taking a public office or honour.
Inauguration
The ceremonial event marking the beginning of a person's term of office as a leader.
Accession
The event of a person succeeding to the right to hold regal power. This event is often automatic on the death of the previous monarch and is usually followed by a coronation event.
Coronation
The ceremonial event of a person being invested with regal power to become a monarch.
Formation
The event of a group or organization coming into being.
Disbanding
The event of a group or organization being disbanded.
Performance
The event of an individual or a group of performers performing. Examples include concerts, plays, recitals, recordings, busking etc.
Interval
A extended interval of time related to a particular state of affairs, such as the lifespan of a person or a period of employment.
Agent Relationship
A particular type of connection existing between people, groups or organizations related to or having dealings with each other.
One-line bio
A one-line biography of the person.
Declared that this is a datatype property
Key Words
A comma delimited list of key words that describe a person.
Biography
An extended description or account of someone's life.
It is expected that the value of this property is either a literal formatted with HTML markup or a pointer to an HTML document.
Date
Dates
The date at which an event occurred.
The date should be formatted as specified in ISO8601. For example: 2003-03-15 corresponds to the 15th March 2003, and 2003-03-15T13:21-05:00 corresponds to 15th March 2003, 8:21 am, US Eastern Standard Time.
Place
Places
The place at which an event occurred.
Position
Positions
The employment position or public office involved in an event.
Event Interval
The interval during which the event occurs. This interval represents the exact interval of occurence for an event, it starts at the moment the event commences and finishes when the event concludes. In other words both the event and the interval start at the same instant of time and extend for the same duration.
Father
The biological father of a person, also known as the genitor.
Note that this is a strict definition of father that does not include non-biological relationships. The Relationship vocabulary may be more suitable for broader types of parent/child relation.
Made subproperty of rel:childOf on suggestion of Gautier Poupeau
Mother
The biological mother of a person, also known as the genetrix.
Note that this is a strict definition of mother that does not include non-biological relationships. The Relationship vocabulary may be more suitable for broader types of parent/child relation.
Child
Children
A biological child of a person.
Note that this is a strict definition of child that does not include adopted children, step-children or similar non-biological relationships. The Relationship vocabulary may be more suitable for broader types of parent/child relation.
Made equivalent to rel:parentOf on suggestion of Gautier Poupeau
Preceding Event
Preceding Events
An event that occurs and concludes at some time before this event.
Immediately Preceding Event
Immediately Preceding Events
An event that occurs and concludes immediately before this event.
Following Event
Following Events
An event that starts at some time after this event.
Immediately Following Event
Immediately Following Events
An event that starts immediately after this event.
Concurrent Event
Concurrent Events
An event that occurs while this event is occurring. The events need not start or conclude at the same times.
Initiating Event
An event that marks the start of an interval and/or relationship. The event contributes to and/or causes of the state of affairs that hold during the interval. For example a period of study may be initiated by an Enrolment event.
Concluding Event
An event that marks the end of an interval and/or relationship. The event changes of the state of affairs that held during the interval. For example a period of study may be concluded by a Graduation event.
Agent
Agents
A person, organization or group that plays a role in an event.
Employer
Employers
An agent that is involved in an event as an employer.
State
States
A country or independent territory that is involved in an event.
Parent
Parents
A person that takes the parent role in an event.
Principal
Principals
A person that takes the primary and most important role in an event. For example the principal in a Birth event would be the child being born and the principal in a Burial event would be the deceased person.
Partner
Partners
A person that is involved in a event as a partner in a relationship.
Officiator
Officiators
A person that officiates at a ceremonial event.
Witness
Witnesses
A person that witnesses and can bear testimony to the occurrence of an event.
Spectator
Spectators
A person that is present at and observes the occurrence of at least part of an event.
Organization
Organizations
An organization that plays a role in an event.
Life Event
Life Events
An event associated with a person, group or organization.
Birth Event
Birth Events
An birth event associated with a person, group or organization.
Death Event
Death Events
An death event associated with a person, group or organization.
Participant
Participants
A person, group or organization that participates in a relationship for some time.
Relationship
Relationships
A relationship that a person, group or organization participates in for some time.
Relationship Interval
The interval during which the relationship persists.
Properties of a person
Types of event
Properties of an event
Properties that relate an event to an agent
Properties that relate an event to another event
A Biography of Henry VIII, King of England
Based on information at Wikipedia and Hull University @prefix bio: <http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/> . @prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> . @prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> . _:henryviii a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Henry VIII, King of England" ; bio:father _:henryvii ; bio:mother _:elizplantagenet ; bio:child _:child1, _:child2, _:child3, _:child4, _:child5, _:child6, _:child7, _:child8 ; bio:birth _:birth ; bio:death _:death ; bio:event _:burial, _:accession, _:coronation, _:marriage1 , _:marriage2, _:marriage3, _:marriage4, _:marriage5, _:marriage6 . _:henryvii a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Henry VII Tudor, King of England" ; bio:child _:henryviii . _:elizplantagenet a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Elizabeth of York" ; bio:child _:henryviii . _:birth a bio:Birth ; rdfs:label "The birth of Henry VIII to Henry VII and Elizabeth Plantagenet on 28 June 1491" ; bio:date "1491-06-28" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Palace_of_Placentia> ; bio:parent _:henryvii, _:elizplantagenet ; bio:principal _:henryviii . _:death a bio:Death ; rdfs:label "The death of Henry VIII on 28 January 1547" ; bio:date "1547-01-28" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Palace_of_Whitehall> ; bio:principal _:henryviii . _:accession a bio:Accession ; rdfs:label "The accession of Henry VIII to the throne of England on 21 April 1509" ; bio:date "1509-06-24" ; bio:principal _:henryviii ; bio:state <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Kingdom_of_England> ; bio:immediatelyPrecedingEvent [ a bio:Death ; rdfs:label "The death of Henry VII on 9 May 1509" ; bio:date "1509-05-09" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Richmond_Palace> ; bio:principal _:henryvii ] . _:coronation a bio:Coronation ; rdfs:label "The coronation of Henry VIII as King of England on 24 June 1509" ; bio:date "1509-06-24" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/page/Westminster_Abbey> ; bio:principal _:henryviii ; bio:precedingEvent _:accession . _:burial a bio:Burial ; rdfs:label "The burial of Henry VII at St.George's Chapel, Windsor Castle,England" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/St_George%E2%80%99s_Chapel%2C_Windsor> ; bio:principal _:henryviii ; bio:precedingEvent _:death . _:marriage1 a bio:Marriage ; rdfs:label "The marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon" ; bio:date "1509-06-11" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Palace_of_Placentia> ; bio:partner _:henryvii, _:catharagon . _:annulment1 a bio:Annulment ; rdfs:label "The annulment of the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon" ; bio:date "1533-05-23" ; bio:partner _:henryvii, _:catharagon ; bio:officiator <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Thomas_Cranmer> . _:catharagon a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Anne Boleyn" ; bio:child _:child1, _:child2, _:child3, _:child4, _:child5 ; bio:event _:marriage1, _:annulment1 . _:child1 a foaf:Person ; rdfs:label "Unnamed daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon" ; bio:event [ a bio:Birth ; bio:date "1510-01-31" ; bio:principal _:child1 ; bio:parent _:henryviii, _:catharagon ] ; bio:event [ a bio:Death ; bio:date "1510-02-02" ; bio:principal _:child1 ] . _:child2 a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Henry" ; bio:event [ a bio:Birth ; bio:date "1511-01-01" ; bio:principal _:child2 ; bio:parent _:henryviii, _:catharagon ] ; bio:event [ a bio:Death ; bio:date "1511-02-22" ; bio:principal _:child2 ] . _:child3 a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Henry" ; bio:event [ a bio:Birth ; bio:date "1514-12" ; bio:principal _:child3 ; bio:parent _:henryviii, _:catharagon ] ; bio:event [ a bio:Death ; bio:principal _:child3 ] . _:child4 a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Mary" ; bio:event [ a bio:Birth ; bio:date "1516-02-18" ; bio:principal _:child4 ; bio:parent _:henryviii, _:catharagon ] ; bio:event [ a bio:Death ; bio:date "1558-11-17" ; bio:principal _:child4 ] . _:child5 a foaf:Person ; rdfs:label "Unnamed daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon" ; bio:event [ a bio:Birth ; bio:date "1518-11" ; bio:principal _:child5 ; bio:parent _:henryviii, _:catharagon ] ; bio:event [ a bio:Death ; bio:principal _:child5 ] . _:marriage2 a bio:Marriage ; rdfs:label "The marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn" ; bio:date "1533-01-25" ; bio:partner _:henryvii, _:anneboleyn ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Westminster_Abbey> . _:anneboleyn a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Anne Boleyn" ; bio:child _:child6 ; bio:event _:marriage2, _:annulment2, _:anneboleyn-death . _:annulment2 a bio:Annulment ; rdfs:label "The annulment of the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn" ; bio:date "1536-05-17" ; bio:partner _:henryvii, _:anneboleyn . _:anneboleyn-death a bio:Execution ; rdfs:label "The beheading of Anne Boleyn" ; bio:date "1536-05-19" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Tower_of_London> ; bio:principal _:anneboleyn . _:child6 a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Elizabeth" ; bio:event [ a bio:Birth ; bio:date "1533-09-07" ; bio:principal _:child6 ; bio:parent _:henryviii, _:anneboleyn ] ; bio:event [ a bio:Death ; bio:date "1603-03-24" ; bio:principal _:child6 ] . _:marriage3 a bio:Marriage ; bio:date "1536-05-20" ; bio:partner _:henryviii, _:janeseymour ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/York_Place> . _:janeseymour a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Jane Seymour" ; bio:event _:marriage3, _:janeseymour-death ; bio:child _:child7 . _:janeseymour-death a bio:Death ; rdfs:label "The death of Jane Seymour on 24 October 1537" ; bio:date "1537-10-24" ; bio:principal _:janeseymour ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Hampton_Court_Palace> . _:child7 a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Edward" ; bio:event [ a bio:Birth ; bio:date "1537-10-12" ; bio:principal _:child7 ; bio:parent _:henryviii, _:janeseymour ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Hampton_Court_Palace> ] ; bio:event [ a bio:Accession ; bio:immediatelyPrecedingEvent _:death ] ; bio:event [ a bio:Death ; bio:date "1553-07-06" ; bio:principal _:child7 ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Palace_of_Placentia> ] . _:marriage4 a bio:Marriage ; bio:date "1540-01-06" ; bio:partner _:henryvii, _:annecleves ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Palace_of_Placentia> ; bio:officiator <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Thomas_Cranmer> . _:annulment3 a bio:Annulment ; rdfs:label "The annulment of the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves" ; bio:date "1540-07-09" ; bio:partner _:henryviii, _:annecleves . _:annecleves a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Anne of Cleves" ; bio:event _:marriage4, _:annulment3 . _:marriage5 a bio:Marriage ; bio:date "1540-07-28" ; bio:partner _:henryviii, _:cathhoward ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Oatlands_Palace> . _:cathhoward a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Catherine Howard" ; bio:event _:marriage5, _:cathhoward-death . _:cathhoward-death a bio:Execution ; rdfs:label "The beheading of Catherine Howard" ; bio:date "1542-02-13" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Tower_of_London> ; bio:principal _:cathhoward . _:marriage6 a bio:Marriage ; rdfs:label "The marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine Parr" ; bio:date "1543-07-12" ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Hampton_Court_Palace> ; bio:partner _:henryviii, _:cathparr . _:cathparr a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Catherine Parr" ; bio:event _:marriage6 . _:elizblount a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Elizabeth Blount" ; bio:child _:child8 . _:child8 a foaf:Person ; foaf:name "Henry FitzRoy" ; foaf:mother _:elizblount ; foaf:father _:henryviii ; bio:event [ a bio:Birth ; bio:principal _:child8 ; bio:date "1519-06-15" ; bio:parent _:henryviii, _:elizblount ; bio:place <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Blackmore> ] . _:marriage1-interval a bio:Interval ; rdfs:label "The period of time during which Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were married" ; bio:initiatingEvent _:marriage1 ; bio:concludingEvent _:annulment1 . _:marriage2-interval a bio:Interval ; rdfs:label "The period of time during which Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were married" ; bio:initiatingEvent _:marriage2 ; bio:concludingEvent _:annulment2 . _:marriage3-interval a bio:Interval ; rdfs:label "The period of time during which Henry VIII and Jane Seymour were married" ; bio:initiatingEvent _:marriage3 ; bio:concludingEvent _:janeseymour-death . _:marriage4-interval a bio:Interval ; rdfs:label "The period of time during which Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves were married" ; bio:initiatingEvent _:marriage4 ; bio:concludingEvent _:annulment3 . _:marriage5-interval a bio:Interval ; rdfs:label "The period of time during which Henry VIII and Catherine Howard were married" ; bio:initiatingEvent _:marriage5 ; bio:terminatingEvent _:cathhoward-death . _:marriage6-interval a bio:Interval ; rdfs:label "The period of time during which Henry VIII and Catherine Parr were married" ; bio:initiatingEvent _:marriage6 ; bio:terminatingEvent _:henryviii-death .