Controlled Vocabulary
The Roberson Project Team decided to build the Locating Slavery’s Legacies database (LSLdb) with Omeka S web platform because of its ability to interconnect or group items of information about memorials or people using controlled vocabularies.
A controlled vocabulary is an organized and preset arrangement of words and phrases that enable the database content to be indexed. Once indexed, for instance, memorials that are added to the database can be retrieved by browsing or searching the database.
The LSLdb controlled vocabulary is unique to it. We at the Roberson Project worked with the team from Omeka to design its specialized word arrangements, phrases, and menus of drop-boxes to fit the purposes of the database and to insure uniform organization and categorization of its information.
Here is how it works for RESEARCHERS. Using a controlled vocabulary, researchers at different college and university campuses enter information about memorials on their respective campuses or the people they memorialize into the database in the exact same way. That uniformity allows the sets of data about memorials for one campus to “speak the same language” as all the other campuses’ sets of data. That consistency across all campus researchers also allows the database to aggregate or bring together all the information submitted by each individual campus into a single master database.
If everyone follows the guidelines and uses the same words and phrases of the controlled vocabulary, we end up with two different, but interconnected databases: 1) an aggregate database collecting all information from all campuses, and 2) a smaller database for each individual campus’s memorials.
Here is how it works for USERS who discover the LSLdb on the web. They can search for information about memorials or memorialized people in two general ways: 1) across all the campuses, or 2) across an individual campus. They also can narrow their search for all memorials on all campuses or on an individual campus by specifying those
- >erected during an historical period (such as the era of the Lost Cause, from 1890 to 1940),
- >or featuring a particular figure (such as the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee),
- >or made in a specific form or medium (such as a “sculptural item” or “visual work of art”),
- >or honoring a person espousing particular ideas (such as a “defender of racial hierarchies supporting white supremacy”).
To see a full list of our controlled vocabularies including in-depth definitions, please see the LSLdb Data Dictionary. Scroll down further to see highlights of some of our controlled vocabularies that allow for better interconnected research among items. We use a “tagging” system. Tagging each item, whether a memorial or a person, enables effective searching that retrieves commonly tagged entries.
The memorial context
The MEMORIAL CONTEXT tag is included in every memorial item. It tells the user how this memorial meets the scope of the database. In the case of the example depicted on the left, this memorial is included in the database because it is named for a person who supported the Lost Cause. Tagged in this way, this memorial would appear in a site-wide search of “Lost Cause” memorials.
Connection to the LSLdb
The CONNECTION tag appears in items describing persons whose memorials are in the database. In the example on the left, the person was a “contributor to the Lost Cause.” They may have delivered speeches at memorial dedication services or led chapters of organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Tagged in this way, this person would appear in a site-wide search for people who contributed substantially to the Lost Cause.
Historical Period
The HISTORICAL PERIOD tag is important and not just because it designates the era in which a memorial was installed or moved. You also can search the database by HISTORICAL PERIOD, retrieving all memorials inaugurated in those years. Some memorial items will be tagged with more than one period. For instance, a memorial dedicated in the “Era of the Lost Cause” may have been moved or destroyed in the last 5 years, in which case it would also be tagged for the era from 2000 to the present.
Memorial Status Tags
In the cases of memorials that have been deliberately altered in any way from their original condition or location, MEMORIAL STATUS TAGS are attached. These tags capture the dynamism of the memorials on college and university campuses, especially over the last 10 to 20 years. Other MEMORIAL STATUS TAGS may denote those that were designed or planned to challenge or refute the Lost Cause or Confederate memorialization. Another denotes “ghost sites,” which apply to the original sites of colleges and universities that have moved to new locations.
Memorialized Subject
The MEMORIALIZED SUBJECT tag identifies the person represented in the memorial. Tagged in this way, the memorial would appear in searches of the honored person’s name.
Learn More About This Subject
The LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS SUBJECT category links the user to sources related to the memorial or memorialized person that supplement the information in the database. Such links include primary source materials related to the item or person, or published articles and public websites that provide more robust information about the person or memorial.