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Records in Contexts: An Introduction --- Understanding the New International Standard for Archival DescriptionA free textbook that introduces Records in Contexts to readers meeting it for the first time. The primary sources are written for implementers; this book is written for the first encounter, and works throughout from RiC-FAD 1.0, RiC-CM 1.0, RiC-O 1.1 and RiC-AG 0.1 — the text, the OWL source, the official documentation, the official crosswalks and the sample data.
It covers what the move from multilevel to multidimensional description means, how to read entities, attributes and relations, an introduction to RDF, Turtle, OWL, description logic and SPARQL, six situations in which inference does useful work, the steps of converting from EAD, and how much computer science the work requires. Each chapter ends with exercises. The appendices hold reference tables and a glossary of words that shift meaning between archival science, library science and computer science.
Sample data accompanies the book and is published separately: four Turtle datasets, the fourteen SPARQL queries that appear in the text, SHACL shapes with data that violates them, and a script that checks every file against RiC-O. All of it is fictional and carries the same CC BY 4.0 licence, so it may be adapted for teaching.
The Japanese edition came first, in July 2026. The English edition replaces the Japanese records, institutions and legislation used in the examples rather than translating them, so that they can be followed without knowledge of Japanese archival practice. (English)
国際文書館評議会(ICA)の記述専門家グループ EGAD が策定した Records in Contexts の入門テキスト。RiC-FAD 1.0・RiC-CM 1.0・RiC-O 1.1・RiC-AG 0.1 の一次資料に基づき、ISAD(G) の多段階記述から RiC の多次元記述への移行の意味、実体・属性・関係の読み方、RDF・OWL・記述論理・SPARQL の入門、推論の具体例、EAD からの変換の手順を扱う。作例を実行できるサンプルデータを併せて配布している。CC BY 4.0。 (Japanese)
Freely available under CC BY 4.0. The Japanese edition is revised periodically; the English edition follows it. Both are published on the author's site with the accompanying sample data.
