A Linked Open Data model for describing comic book sequences: Exploring semantic enrichment opportunities with graphic medicine

• Published in: Art libraries journal Vol. 48; no. 3; pp. 74 - 79
• Main Author: Petiya, Sean
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.07.2023
• Subjects: Comic books; Data models; Graphic novels; Iconography; Layouts; Medicine; Metadata; Open data; Resource Description Framework-RDF; Semantic web; Semantics
• ISSN: 0307-4722; 2059-7525
• DOI: 10.1017/alj.2023.13

Applying a Linked Open Data (LOD) approach to modeling the visual structure and content of comic books and graphic novels enables the description of these works to be enhanced through the process of semantic enrichment. This strategy may be particularly impactful for graphic medicine, a non-exclusive genre of comics that communicate medical and healthcare information, including personal stories of illness. However, the metadata for these works may lack references to healthcare-related vocabulary, thesauri or ontology that would more precisely describe their contents. This material may include pages and panels that illustrate specific medical topics, such as symptoms, side-effects or treatments — subjects that often overlap with other healthcare challenges, including mental health and illness. Exploring an LOD approach for describing comics content may potentially enhance the discoverability of this material and its ability to be remixed and reused, and better connected to other information resources.