name-dropper

Scripts and utilities for identifying and tagging names and named entities (persons, places, organizations) in XML.

Developed as part of the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (previously Digital Scholarship Commons) project Networking the Belfast Group.

Components

Currently name-dropper consists of two distinct code bases, which are stored in separate git repositories and linked here as submodules:

• namedropper-py contains a Python module with code for interacting with DBpedia Spotlight and VIAF (Virtual International Authority File), and a command line script for identifying names in text or xml (EAD or TEI) content using those services.

  

• namedropper-oxygen contains Java code for a plugin for the Oxygen XML editor to expedite the process of tagging names and linking them to authoritative identifiers in EAD or TEI XML documents.

  

See README files in the individual modules for more details about dependencies and installation.

XML conventions

Both the Java and Python code bases assume the following XML encoding conventions for tagging personal, corporate, and geogaphic names:

In EAD documents, names will be tagged with persname, orgname, or corpname and linked to VIAF records using the source and authfilenumber attributes, as follows:

• personal names:

  <persname source="viaf" authfilenumber="39398205">Michael Longley</persname>
  

• corporate or organizational name:

  <corpname source="viaf" authfilenumber="129928623">Arts Council of Northern Ireland</corpname>
  

• geographic names:

  <geogname source="viaf" authfilenumber="179000908">Belfast</geogname>
  

In TEI documents, names will be tagged with name; the type attribute will be used to differentiate the type of name, and the ref attribute will be used to link to an authority record, for example:

• personal names:

  <name type="person" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/39398205">Michael Longley</name>
  

• corporate or organizational name:

  <name type="org" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/129928623">Arts Council of Northern Ireland</name>
  

• geographic names:

  <name type="place" ref="http://viaf.org/viaf/179000908">Belfast</name>
  

Note that the ref value could also be a DBpedia resource or other appropriate URI.

License

NameDropper Python scripts and Oxygen plugin are distributed under the Apache 2.0 License.