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LINCS-hosted Vocabularies

Introduction​

LINCS-hosted vocabularies are created collaboratively by data stewards and LINCS when existing vocabulary terms cannot provide the semantic specificity a dataset requires. They support the linking of data related to cultural identities and activities, broadly defined, to complement other linked data vocabularies, and they aim to support diversity, inclusivity, and context in the representation of human culture online. These SKOS vocabularies are open for use by others, and LINCS welcomes further contributions, collaboration, and reuse.

Current Vocabularies​

VocabularyDescription
BiographyBiographical description, from naming conventions and education to human reproduction, places, and spatial relationships.
Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory (CWRC)The lives and careers of writers. A legacy vocabulary: it has been broken into the component vocabularies listed here, which should be used instead.
ContextThe discursive context of an assertion, statement, or description, used for instance to type web annotations. Ranges from birth to politics to intimate relationships.
Early Modern London Place TypePlace types for described locations in early modern London.
EditingDigital editing, covering both born-digital content and digital scholarly editions.
EventEvents classified by type and significance, many of them biographical.
GenreThe form, medium, and genre of cultural objects, particularly but not exclusively written ones.
IdentitySocial identities such as race or colour, ethnicity, gender, language, sexuality, politics, and religion, treated as shifting and culturally constructed categories.
Injuries and IllnessesHealth problems and causes of death, for historical or cultural analysis where specific information is often unavailable.
OccupationVocational, career, employment, professional, and leisure activities that people habitually engage in or have engaged in.
Personal RelationsRelationships between people, and the roles that go with them, for biographical and prosopographical description.
WritingWriting and writing careers: production context, reception, and textual features. Still in progress and largely incomplete.

Where LINCS-hosted vocabularies live, and who is responsible for maintaining them, is set out in Accessibility & Persistence and Responsibilities in the policy.

Contributing to LINCS-hosted Vocabularies​

Anyone may propose an addition or a change to a LINCS-hosted vocabulary, whether that means adding a single term, revising an existing one, deprecating one, or proposing an entirely new vocabulary. The sections below describe each of these routes in turn, and set out what LINCS undertakes to maintain over the long term.

Two conditions govern whether LINCS can undertake new vocabulary work. The first is eligibility: LINCS hosts vocabularies only for datasets it has already agreed to convert, and will not host vocabularies from researchers who are not working with LINCS on a conversion. This is stated in Updating LINCS-hosted Vocabularies in the policy.

The second is the set of conditions a proposal must satisfy, given in that same policy section: that you have searched existing vocabularies without success, that you are willing to undertake the labour of developing terms, labels, and definitions, and that both you and LINCS staff have the resources to support the work.

Larger vocabularies may require additional project funding, and creation, implementation, and maintenance are all contingent on LINCS resources. Where LINCS cannot host proposed terms, LINCS suggests adding them to Wikidata instead.

Submitting a New Term to an Existing Vocabulary​

  1. Fill out the feedback form on the Vocabulary Browser. Select the vocabulary you want to contribute to and describe the term you would like to add.
  2. The LINCS ontology and vocabulary team assesses the form contents to gauge whether the addition is within the scope of LINCS.
  3. If the request concerns a vocabulary owned by a project the requester is not affiliated with, LINCS notifies the affiliated project before accepting or rejecting it. If no response arrives within three months, LINCS decides.
  4. The LINCS ontology and vocabulary team communicates the approval or rejection by email.
  5. If approved, you declare the term following the SKOS Vocabulary Guidelines. LINCS will advise on defining the term and determining the relevant properties.
  6. The new term is added to the Vocabulary Browser.

Requesting Changes to an Existing Term​

Any change to a LINCS-hosted vocabulary, whether a new term, an edit to an existing one, or any other modification, should be communicated through the feedback form or by email. LINCS staff review all feedback and respond in a timely manner. Anyone may propose changes, whether or not they are affiliated with LINCS; the three-month notification rule described above applies.

Changes to labels and definitions are welcome, including changes that make existing terms more inclusive. LINCS-hosted vocabularies are intended as living vocabularies, and LINCS is committed to growing and improving them as capacity allows.

Deprecating a Term​

Outdated vocabulary terms are never deleted; they are deprecated, in line with the persistence requirements in the policy. Deprecation is possible under certain circumstances, depending on available LINCS resources. To request it, contact LINCS through the feedback form; LINCS will follow up with information on the process and its requirements.

Proposing a New LINCS-hosted Vocabulary​

Submit the request through the same feedback form, including a description of the proposed vocabulary and an explanation of why it is needed. LINCS will contact you to advise on next steps. The need for a new vocabulary is reviewed case by case. Any vocabulary you create must meet the requirements in the SKOS Vocabulary Guidelines.

If your project also wants to publish the vocabulary elsewhere for increased visibility or alternative navigation, you bear the responsibility of creating, maintaining, and synchronizing the additional site.

For an account of how one of these vocabularies came together, see The Ship of Theseus: Representing Nuance in Humanities Data, which describes how the Early Modern London place types were developed with REED London, MoEML, and the Digital Ark, and the modelling decisions behind the four categories.

Long-Term Support​

LINCS-hosted vocabularies will be kept online and dereferenceable as Linked Open Data. They will remain available through the SPARQL endpoints, and LINCS will take all possible measures to keep them dereferenceable, including through a sustainable static website if necessary. A vocabulary may eventually become static, but it will remain available.

LINCS maintains its vocabularies with limited resources. LINCS welcomes collaboration with projects wishing to create a new vocabulary, but such work requires resources from both the project and LINCS. In the absence of dedicated resources, LINCS will consider new terms and make changes as capacity allows.

References and Resources​

Document Details​

Version: 0.1 (draft)

Authors: [To be named]

Contributors: the LINCS Project team

Last Updated: 2026-08-15

Released: [Unreleased]