Data model for PIPDI

The PIPDI data model is mostly identical with the ISMI data model.

It has a more elaborate subject hierarchy.

Conceptual objects in the database:

• (abstract-) TEXT
• ALIAS (title for text or name for person or place)
• WITNESS (aka manuscript)
• CODEX (of one or more witnesses)
• COLLECTION
• REPOSITORY (aka library)
• PERSON
• PLACE
• SUBJECT
• SECTION

We need:

• linking chapters from the table of contents of the TEXT to folio pages of the WITNESS
• chapters/sections at the TEXT level are tagged with subject keywords
• sections at the WITNESS level have folio and line number information

Objects

SECTION

Attributes:

• title name or title of section (arabic)
• title_translit
• ord_no ordinal number for ordering same-level sections (used internally)

Relations:

• SECTION is_part_of SECTION
• SECTION is_found_in TEXT
• SECTION is_found_in WITNESS (relation attributes:)
  • begins_on_folio
  • begins_on_folio_url (URL to folio image)
  • begins_on_line
  • ends_on_folio
  • ends_on_folio_url
  • ends_on_line

SUBJECT

subjects are subject matters that are treated in a text.

Attributes:

• name subject name or description (English?)
• name_arabic
• notes

Relations:

• SUBJECT is_part_of SUBJECT
• TEXT has_subject SUBJECT

Examples:

• ASTROLOGY
• ASTRONOMY
  • hay’a (4-part division)
  • hay’a (general astronomy)
  • mīqāt
  • qibla determination
  • taqwīm
• ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS
  • astrolabes
  • celestial globes/armillary spheres
  • equatoria
  • observational
  • quadrants
    • sundials
• ASTRONOMICAL TABLES (ZĪJES)
• CHRONOLOGY
• COSMOLOGY-philosophical
• COSMOLOGY-religious
• GEOGRAPHY-mathematical
• GEOGRAPHY-terrestrial phenomena (hay’at al-arḍ)
• MATHEMATICS
  • algebra
  • arithmetic
    • arithmetic tables
    • basic arithmetic
    • number theory
  • geometry
    • conic sections
    • Euclidean constructions
    • general geometry
  • mensuration
  • inheritance (farā’iḍ)
  • magic squares
  • spherics
  • trigonometry
• OPTICS
• TECHNOLOGY
  • mechanical devices
  • military
  • navigation
• PHILOSOPHY
  • metaphysics/ilâhiyyât
  • natural philosophy/tabî‘iyyât
  • epistemology/tasawwur and tasdîq
  • philosophy of mind/‘ilm al-nafs
  • ethics/akhlâq
  • politics/siyâsa
  • logic/mantiq
  • dialectic/âdâb al-bahth, ‘ilm al-munâzara
  • philosophy of language/‘ilm al-wad‘, ‘ilm al-balâgha, usûl al-fiqh
  • multiple subjects
  • other