I'm working on metadata for GITenberg. Documentation in progress:
https://github.com/gitenberg-dev/documentation/tree/master/metadata <https://github.com/gitenberg-dev/documentation/tree/master/metadata>

At least the linking-works-to-Gutenberg aspects of this problem should be a lot easier by the end of June.

Eric


> On Apr 23, 2015, at 11:46 PM, davesgonechina <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hey thanks everybody, I've been too busy to dig into any of your
> suggestions but hugely appreciated. This group is awesome.
> 
> @Amanda, I actually remember signing up for Small Demons in beta and it
> died before I got a chance to really explore it.
> @Thomas, LibraryThing's charactername field looks very promising if the
> list consistently gives main characters first billing.
> @Shaun Trajectory is definitely interesting, though I've not thought of a
> use case yet.
> @Karen true about the authority problem - unless publishers wrap this sort
> of info in ebook metadata?
> @Joshua Like LibraryThing, its unclear if the character lists are actually
> prioritized by significance.
> @Joel Shame those resources look rather dusty. As for an IMDB for books, I
> think LibraryThing or Amazon are better positioned than anyone.
> @Brooke I'm absolutely certain its doable, but as @Amy points out its a
> pain in the ass. Even if I simply take @Alexander's suggestion of the Le
> Monde list, I have to scrape and scan and scrub for something that, in a
> world where we can have nice things, this already exists in a
> rough-and-ready incomplete but off-the-shelf dataset. It kinda blows my
> mind it doesn't.
> 
> Not to mention there's the other step I mentioned, which is matching them
> up with Gutenberg.org pages.
> 
> I'll keep you guys updated as I dig into all your ideas. Cheers!
> 
> Dave
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 4:17 AM, Thomas Guignard <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> 
>> The LibraryThing API could also be used to retrieve what they call "Common
>> Knowledge" tags, including character names but also place names etc.
>> 
>> Example:
>> 
>> https://www.librarything.com/services/rest/1.1/?method=librarything.ck.getwork&id=2773690&apikey=d231aa37c9b4f5d304a60a3d0ad1dad4
>> (using the example API key)
>> Look for the "characternames" field.
>> 
>> As far as I can tell, however, there is no way to determine which of the
>> characters are the "lead male" and "lead female" character short of
>> assuming that the top listed characters are in effect the lead ones. Also,
>> the API calls are limited to 1000 a day. But maybe an avenue to consider.
>> 
>> t.
>> 
>> On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 2:15 PM, Shaun Ellis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>> Another interesting startup in this area is Trajectory.
>>> 
>>> Here's a list of Classics/Fiction via their JSON API (doc=isbn):
>>> http://api.trajectory.com/api/v1/search/?q=&c=Fiction%20%2F%
>>> 20Classics&limit=568
>>> 
>>> Here's a "human readable" view:
>>> http://www.trajectory.com/search/?q=&facets&c=Fiction%
>>> 20%2F%20Classics&limit=568
>>> 
>>> -Shaun
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 4/14/15 11:07 AM, Amanda French wrote:
>>> 
>>>> What you *did* need for this interesting project was Small Demons, which
>>>> was a for-profit company that was creating linked data from books --
>> here's
>>>> an article about it: http://www.theverge.com/2013/
>>>> 3/1/4043298/building-an-atlas-for-books-with-small-demons
>>>> 
>>>> But it shut down in 2013, and I have no idea what happened to the data.
>>>> It might all have been commercial and proprietary, anyway. Article on
>> its
>>>> closure: http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-small-
>>>> demons-to-close-unless-buyer-appears-20131106-story.html
>>>> 
>>>> Amanda
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 4/13/15 10:12 PM, davesgonechina wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> So I have this idea I'd like to do for a hobby project, but it requires
>>>>> finding a table that lists a classic novel, a Gutenberg.org link to an
>>>>> 
>>>>> <snip>
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>