| Date: | 2006-10-11 |
|---|---|
| Status: | Adopted Registry. This registry is adopted by the HIS Stewards and ready for use by members of the HIS community. |
| Abstract: | Documents the Registry of Ministry Resources (RMR) of the Harvest Information System (HIS). This registry defines standardized codes for classifying resources used in ministry with respect to scope of scripture, type of scripture material, nature of content, mode of expression, and format of delivery. |
| Editor: | Wycliffe International, Scripture Promotion Section ( HIS-admin@wycliffe.org) |
| Changes since previous version: | Minor changes of wording in the explanatory sections of each of the registries. No changes to the code sets were made. |
The function of the Registry of Ministry Resources (RMR) is to provide standardized codes for classifying resources used in ministry in various ways.
The registry contains five code tables:
A code in this code set represents a book of the Bible or a major block of books (a testament) of which the resource is an instance (or to which its subject is related).
A code in this code set represents the genre or comprehensiveness of a resource that is (or is related to) some or all of the Bible.
A code in this code set represents the genre or topic of a resource other than a Scripture-related resource.
A code in this code set represents the mode in which the content of the resource is expressed, perceived, or interacted with.
A code in this code set represents the means of delivery to the audience or user.
In addition there is a change history table for each code set that has been changed since its initial release. There are no foreign key relationships among these code sets nor between these code sets and those of other registries. Thus there is no need for an entity-relationship diagram for this registry.
A Note addressing frequently asked questions regarding the use of the RMR has also been written and is included in the RMR distribution package.
The registry contains five code tables: RMR_ScriptureScope, RMR_ScriptureType, RMR_Content, RMR_Mode, and RMR_Format.
The domain of the categories for this code set is the set of all books of the Bible (encompassing the Judeo-Christian canonical and deuterocanonical Scripture). Each code provides a standardized three-letter string for uniquely referring to a particular book. In addition, there are codes for the entire Bible, for the the Old and New Testaments, and the Old Testament Apocrypha. Smaller groups of books (such as the Torah or the Gospels) are not addressed in this list; instead, the recommendation is to repeat this element for resources that encompass multiple books.
See the complete code set for the reference table in HTML format.
Using a code from this set asserts that a resource pertains to the given book or section of the Bible. It might be the complete text, a translation of selected portions, an abridgement, a commentary, or a study aid. Use a code from RMR_ScriptureType to indicate the genre or comprehensiveness of the resource. For database use, it is recommended that each application of a code from RMR_ScriptureScope be paired directly with a code from RMR_ScriptureType. This will enable unambiguous identification of a resource that includes, for example, the complete New Testament, as well as a summary of the Old Testament.
The decision not to include common groupings of books, such as the Major Prophets, the Gospels, or the Pastoral Epistles, was made in order to avoid ambiguity regarding how to categorize a work that relates to multiple books of the Bible, but less than a testament. A resource that includes some but not all books from one or more groupings would ambiguously indicate a scope wider than intended if codes for groupings were applied. This ambiguity should be avoided in the exchange of data between systems. It may be appropriate for a given application used by an organization to offer groupings of books in an interface for its users, if that serves their needs more effectively. However, "behind the scenes" in the data structures, a requirement should be that use of a group designation will map unabiguously to specific books of the Bible in order to facilitate data sharing among HIS registered user organizations.
These codes are based on the set already in widespread use within the Bible translation community due to their incorporation into the United Bible Socities' Paratext Software. Another standard for identifying books of the Bible (developed as part of the Open Scripture Information Standard) is the OSIS Normative Abbreviations for canonical and deutero-canonical books; these are based on the abbreviations specified in the Society of Biblical Literature's SBL Handbook of Style. This standard provides abbreviations that range in length from 2 to 7 characters. The mapping from Paratext codes to OSIS abbreviations is unambiguous and thus the code table for the RMR_ScriptureScope code set contains a column that gives the mapping of the RMR code onto the corresponding OSIS abbreviation. (Note that this mapping exists only for RMR_ScriptureScope codes that represent a single book.)
The RMR_ScriptureScope code set contains another supplementary column named order. It gives a three-digit string that can be sorted to put the books in canonical order. In this sequence, codes for the entire Bible or an entire testament are in the 000s, the Old Testament books are in the 100s, the New Testament books are in the 200s, and the dueterocanonical books are in the 300s.
The code table for RMR_ScriptureScope contains the following five columns:
| Column | Format | Description |
| Code | char(3) | The three-letter code for the Bible book or section. |
| Name | varchar(30) | The name of the book or section denoted by the code. |
| Description | varchar(255) | A description of the book or section denoted by the code. |
| Order | char(3) | A digit string that can be sorted to put the books in canonical order. |
| OSIS | varchar(7) | The corresponding OSIS abbreviation. |
The SQL statement for creating this table is as follows:
CREATE TABLE RMR_ScriptureScope ( Code char(3) NOT NULL, Name varchar(30) NOT NULL, Description varchar(255) NOT NULL, Order char(3) NOT NULL, OSIS varchar(7) NULL)
The domain of the categories of this code set is the genre of the resource (such as translated text or commentary or concordance) or comprehensiveness of the resource (such as complete text or abridgement or selected portions) as it relates specifically to Judeo-Christian canonical or deuterocanonical Scripture. Each code provides a standardized two-letter string for uniquely referring to a particular type of Scripture-related resource. One or more codes from RMR_ScriptureScope may be used in conjunction with a code from this set in order to indicate the exact books of the Bible to which the resource is related.
See the complete code set reference table in HTML format.
The code table for RMR_ScriptureType contains the following three columns:
| Column | Format | Description |
| Code | char(2) | The two-letter code for the type of the Scripture-related resource. |
| Name | varchar(30) | The name of the resource type denoted by the code. |
| Description | varchar(255) | A description of the resource type denoted by the code. |
The SQL statement for creating this table is as follows:
CREATE TABLE RMR_ScriptureType ( Code char(2) NOT NULL, Name varchar(30) NOT NULL, Description varchar(255) NOT NULL)
The domain of the categories for this code set is the genre or topic of a resource other than a Scripture-related resource. Devotional, theological, and religious instruction resources are described here, rather than in Scripture Type. The distinction of Scripture Type versus Content is whether the material is drawn quite directly from scripture (as text or adapted story), or simply contains concepts that are drawn from scripture but are part of other material. In addition, other common resource types related to work in general education, literacy, health and development are also included in this code set. Each code provides a standardized two-letter string for uniquely referring to a particular type of non-Scripture-related content.
See the complete code set as a reference table in HTML format.
The code table for RMR_Content contains the following three columns:
| Column | Format | Description |
| Code | char(2) | The two-letter code for the content type of the resource. |
| Name | varchar(30) | The name of the content type denoted by the code. |
| Description | varchar(255) | A description of the content type denoted by the code. |
The SQL statement for creating this table is as follows:
CREATE TABLE RMR_Content ( Code char(2) NOT NULL, Name varchar(30) NOT NULL, Description varchar(255) NOT NULL)
The domain of the categories for this code set is the mode by which the content of the resource is expressed, perceived, or interacted with. Distinctions of mode involve sensory experience (as in auditory versus visual), time experience (as in full-motion versus still image), method of creation (as in photographic versus graphic), potential or actual nature of resource (as in recording versus live performance). Each code provides a standardized two-letter string for uniquely referring to a particular mode of expression.
See the complete code set as a reference table in HTML format.
The domain of RMR_Mode is comparable to the domain for the DCMI Type vocabulary of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, but makes some finer distinctions. The categories of RMR_Mode have been designed not to overlap with multiple DCMI Type categories (that is, an RMR_Mode category is either the same as a DCMI Type category or is a subset of one). Note that two DCMI Type categories do not have counterparts in RMR_Mode: Collection is not a mode (rather multiple modes may be identified if the resource is a collection involving multiple modes), and Event is treated as "Live performance" in RMR_Format. The code table for RMR_Mode has a column indicating the mapping to DCMI Type categories.
The code table for RMR_Mode contains the following five columns:
| Column | Format | Description |
| Code | char(2) | The two-letter code for the mode of the resource. |
| Name | varchar(30) | The name of the mode denoted by the code. |
| Description | varchar(400) | A description of the mode denoted by the code. |
| DCMI_Type | varchar(20) | The corresponding code from the DCMI Type vocabulary. |
| Examples | varchar(100) | Examples of resources characterized by this mode. vocabulary. |
The SQL statement for creating this table is as follows:
CREATE TABLE RMR_Mode ( Code char(2) NOT NULL, Name varchar(30) NOT NULL, Description varchar(400) NOT NULL, DCMI_Type varchar(20) NULL, Examples varchar(100) NULL)
The domain of the categories for this code set is the format used as the means for delivering the resource to the audience or user, whether it be tangible (such as paper or cassette or disc) or intangible (such as broadcast or internet or live performance). Alternatively, it may be considered the medium of storage of a resource within a collection such as a library, or archives. Each code provides a standardized two-letter string for uniquely referring to a particular format for distribution.
The aim of this code set is to provide codes for commonly used distribution formats (to consumers or perhaps to libraries). As new formats are created and come into wide use for the kinds of ministry resources that HIS users need to describe, new format codes can be suggested and reviewed by the HIS community. The intent is not to include all possible formats that may have been used either for distribution in the past or for storage in a specialized collection (such as original recording media or specialized preservation media). The recommended data model would be to allow for both a coded value and text entry. The text field can be used to identify a format for which no code is provided, or to refine a code that groups uncommon, but related format types, as with AT (Audio tape other) or VT (Video tape other).
See the complete code set as a reference table in HTML format.
The code table for RMR_Format contains the following three columns:
| Column | Format | Description |
| Code | char(2) | The two-letter code for the format of resource. |
| Name | varchar(30) | The name of the format denoted by the code. |
| Description | varchar(255) | A description of the format denoted by the code. |
The SQL statement for creating this table is as follows:
CREATE TABLE RMR_Format ( Code char(2) NOT NULL, Name varchar(30) NOT NULL, Description varchar(255) NOT NULL)
The registry contains no supplementary tables at this point.
This section defines the process that the registry steward will follow to maintain the registry.
The basic philosophy of the code sets in this registry is not to give exhaustively detailed lists, but to provide ways of classifying instances into categories that are both broadly useful and non-overlapping. (The exception to this is RMR_ScriptureScope which does aim to be a complete list.) A change will be made when it can be shown to correct an error, or to improve the coverage and usefulness of a code set (in keeping with the philosophy of non-overlapping broad classification).
If you believe any of the information in the Registry of Ministry Resources is in error, or if you have an improvement or addition to suggest, send your proposed change with rationale by e-mail to HIS-admin@wycliffe.org.
The RMR Steward will review the proposal and acknowledge receipt with initial comment or request for clarification. RMR users (including the RMR Steward) are encouraged to discuss possible changes and their impacts informally before making a formal change proposal. If the change appears to be in line with the philosophy of the registry, the RMR Steward will formally propose the change. Proposed changes will be batched for review on an annual cycle by the HIS Community. The RMR Steward will compile all the proposed changes of the previous 12 months and send the set of proposed changes (which includes the complete code table(s) and the corresponding change table(s) documenting the proposed changes) to the HIS Registrar. The HIS Registrar will notify the Registered Users of the posting of proposed changes and the review period for comment.
On evaluating the feedback from the review period, the RMR Steward need not treat the set of proposed code changes as a single package—it may be concluded that some should be adopted, while others should be rejected or should be deferred for further processing with the next set of proposed changes. Given the nature of the code sets in the RMR, it is anticipated that code set changes will be few and infrequent, but it is also recognized that a single code change could have a significant impact on one or more users, and so should be carefully considered before adoption by the HIS Community.
The registry will be updated when candidate updates are adopted by the HIS Registered Users. The most recent version will always be available for download from this page.
Codes beginning with the letter X are reserved for local use. That is, no codes in any of the RMR code sets begin with X, and no new codes beginning with X will be created. Thus, when users feel the need for a code that is not yet part of a code set, they may freely assign a meaning to a code in the range of local use (XA - XZ or XAA - XZZ, depending on the standard length of the code for the registry in question) and use it temporarily until the outcome of a request to add a code is known.
The change history tables of this registry are constructed as follows:
| Code | The code that is affected by the change reported in this record. | ||||||||
| Change | A one-letter code indicating the type of change. These are the possible
values:
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| Date | The date the change was formally proposed, i.e., included in a batch of proposed code changes sent to the HIS Registrar. | ||||||||
| Description | Brief description of the change. In the case of changes of type R (retired), this will include instructions on what should be done to existing uses of the code in a database in order to update them. |
Each change history table for all code sets in this registry has an identical structure (though the width of the Code column varies, being either 2 or 3 characters wide, depending on the code set). The SQL statement for creating a change history table is as follows:
CREATE TABLE <code>ChangeHistory ( Code char(3) NOT NULL, Change char(1) NOT NULL, Date date NOT NULL, Description varchar(255) )
By performing a SQL JOIN between a coded column in a user's database and the Code column of the change history table, it is possible to automatically detect all database records that may need to be updated. The Description column will then describe the needed change.
The code table always holds the most current version of the complete set of active coded values. Thus when a code is retired, it is removed from the code table. The change history table, however, always holds the complete history of all changes. That is, rows are never removed from the change history table; they are only added as codes are created or changed. The change history table may thus be queried to learn the complete history of a given code, or to learn all the changes that have been made since a given date.
At this time, the change history tables document the creation of the codes in the initial Proposed Registry, with a very few changes. They are named as follows:
A complete distribution of the Registry of Ministry Resources includes:
These are all available in a single zip file: