Using THEMA for Divina publications

[HadrienGardeur]

RWPM provides a generic way of indicating a subject but it doesn't recommend a good way of identifying them or which subject scheme should be used.

In the case of Divina, I think that among subject schemes used in the industry, there's a clear winner: THEMA.

While the hierarchy of THEMA tends to be a little too convoluted for its own good, it has the benefit of having a list that organizations from all over the world can contribute to with extensive support for comics/manga/BD already.

Let's take manga for example: https://ns.editeur.org/thema/en/XAM

If we agree on a common way of identifying THEMA (such as https://ns.editeur.org/thema/ for example) this would look like this in a Divina:

"subject": [
  {
    "name": "Shonen",
    "scheme": "https://ns.editeur.org/thema/",
    "code": "XAMG" 
  }
]

I've exchanged a few emails with Chris at EDItEUR and he's very interested in getting more feedback from the community regarding ways that THEMA could be improved for comics/manga/BD as well, so we have a direct line available when/if needed.

[majora2007]

From the brief look, I do like what THEMA brings to the table. It's very well structured and would be great to cover both traditional books as well as comics/manga. However, one interesting issue is the name.

Many manga sites would capture manga with Vampires as "Vampire", however for Thema, the name would be Mythical creatures: Vampires, werewolves and other shapeshifters, which is quite verbose and makes rendering on devices very tedious.

Does THEMA offer a shorthand or could we provide a shorthand name in the subject schema?

[HadrienGardeur]

THEMA doesn't provide a shorthand but most retailers using it tend to remap the terms to something more suitable for their audience.

For comic reading app and self-hosting solutions, this might mean reworking some of the labels listed under https://ns.editeur.org/thema/en/X

[HadrienGardeur]

To continue the discussion from our last Anansi/Readium call: I think that comics reading app and self-hosting solutions could limit themselves to every code under X in THEMA.

This doesn't even have to be as-is since the X branch in THEMA is divided into:

• styles/traditions
• and genres

To go back to @majora2007 on having a shorthand expression, this could be exposed to users as two separate fields:

Styles/traditions

Code	Label
XAB	Graphic novels
XAD	European style (Bande dessinée)
XAK	American style (Comics)
XAK	Asian style (Manga and manhwa)
XAX	Other styles/traditions

I'm not sure why THEMA doesn't have comic strips (XY) below the XA code, but it would make more sense to have it here IMO.
Among potential additions we mentioned:

• Webtoons
• Web comics

Under XAK, THEMA also provides specialized codes for manga:

Code	Label
XAMC	Kodomo
XAMF	Shōjo
XAMG	Shōnen
XAML	Seinen
XAMR	Josei
XAMT	Yaoi
XAMV	Bara
XAMX	Adult (erotic, extreme violence)
XAMY	Yuri

During the call, the group was surprised by the presence of Kodomo, which they never saw elsewhere before.

Genres

Code	Label
XQA	Memoirs, true stories and non-fiction
XQB	Literary adaptations
XQC	Inspired by or adapted from other media
XQD	Crime, mystery and thrillers
XQE	Society / Culture
XQF	Modern and contemporary fiction / literature
XQG	Action and adventure
XQH	Horror / supernatural
XQJ	Sports
XQK	Superheroes and super-villains
XQL	Science fiction
XQM	Fantasy, esoteric
XQN	Anthropomorphic / animal stories
XQP	Traditional stories, myths, legends
XQR	Romance
XQS	School / college life
XQT	Humorous
XQV	Historical
XQW	Religious, spiritual, inspirational
XQX	Adult

We didn't had time to discuss these genres during the call.