Upgrade StorageFilm/Video/Multimedia reference data model concerns
So far, I am quite impressed with zotero's potential as the academic reference tool of the future. However, in its data model and citation styles, there seems to be an implicit prejudice towards print and online materials. As someone who works in film and media studies, the ability to cite/import films, TV shows, videos, and new media needs more work for the final release version. I'm sure musicologists and video game scholars would have similar concerns.
Specifically for films, most citation styles require the author to cite the original release date of the film and the release date of the media support that was consulted. So for a film like Singin' in the Rain, I would need to cite both the 1952 theatrical release date, and the 2002 release date for the DVD that I consulted. However, in the Video Recording reference type, there is only a single date field. From what I've been able to determine, zotero sometimes imports both dates into the date field "2002, 1952", other times it imports only the DVD/VHS release date and relegates the theatrical release date to the Extras field. In both cases, I don't think zotero's CSL implementation allows one to parse data fields in order to separate or extract information from them for a citation. Could zotero 2.0 add a field for original release date mapped to say the event CSL date field? Or better still, is there a way to add some user-defined extra fields to each of zotero's record types that we could reference in XML stylesheets? This choice would allow zotero to respond more quickly to changes in citation styles. Many competing bibliography software programs already have this functionality for the intrepid user who wants to customize stylesheets.
To return to the film example, as far as I'm able to tell, some of the popular style sheets that come pre-installed with zotero 2.0 treat films and videos as books. The default MLA stylesheet in particular needs to be updated to reflect the latest changes that the MLA has made for all print and multimedia materials.
A related problem that bdarcus raised elsewhere a few years ago is the issue of citing supplementary materials on DVD editions of movies. As these increase in quality, so does the demand to cite them. Taking book chapters as an example, it doesn't seem that zotero allows one to link book chapter references to their corresponding book reference. However, the book chapter reference does have the data fields needed to input the book information. Perhaps a similar reference type needs to be added in the final release for supplementary DVD materials like interviews, featurettes, and the like.
I've tried editing the XML style sheets myself to achieve the desired film and video citations, but if there's not even a way to describe or access the needed data in the zotero reference record, it won't do much good.
Related discussions:
MLA Style and Film
Incorrect APA Style Film Citing
DVD Supplementary Materials
Specifically for films, most citation styles require the author to cite the original release date of the film and the release date of the media support that was consulted. So for a film like Singin' in the Rain, I would need to cite both the 1952 theatrical release date, and the 2002 release date for the DVD that I consulted. However, in the Video Recording reference type, there is only a single date field. From what I've been able to determine, zotero sometimes imports both dates into the date field "2002, 1952", other times it imports only the DVD/VHS release date and relegates the theatrical release date to the Extras field. In both cases, I don't think zotero's CSL implementation allows one to parse data fields in order to separate or extract information from them for a citation. Could zotero 2.0 add a field for original release date mapped to say the event CSL date field? Or better still, is there a way to add some user-defined extra fields to each of zotero's record types that we could reference in XML stylesheets? This choice would allow zotero to respond more quickly to changes in citation styles. Many competing bibliography software programs already have this functionality for the intrepid user who wants to customize stylesheets.
To return to the film example, as far as I'm able to tell, some of the popular style sheets that come pre-installed with zotero 2.0 treat films and videos as books. The default MLA stylesheet in particular needs to be updated to reflect the latest changes that the MLA has made for all print and multimedia materials.
A related problem that bdarcus raised elsewhere a few years ago is the issue of citing supplementary materials on DVD editions of movies. As these increase in quality, so does the demand to cite them. Taking book chapters as an example, it doesn't seem that zotero allows one to link book chapter references to their corresponding book reference. However, the book chapter reference does have the data fields needed to input the book information. Perhaps a similar reference type needs to be added in the final release for supplementary DVD materials like interviews, featurettes, and the like.
I've tried editing the XML style sheets myself to achieve the desired film and video citations, but if there's not even a way to describe or access the needed data in the zotero reference record, it won't do much good.
Related discussions:
MLA Style and Film
Incorrect APA Style Film Citing
DVD Supplementary Materials
MLA Style
The 7th edition of the MLA Handbook came out in March 2009. They don't allow online access if you haven't purchased the book, so for the latest on changes, see:http://www.writingsimplified.com/2009/04/mla-citation-format-changes-in-2009.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/15/
For info specifically only films and different release dates, see this information at Purdue's OWL project. The following is from that page.
Movies in Theaters
The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, and Benecio del Toro. Polygram, 1995.
If you refer to the film in terms of the role or contribution of a director, writer, or performer, begin the entry with that person's name, last name first, follwed by role.
Lucas, George, dir. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. 1977. Twentieth Century Fox, 1997.
(MLA allows two variants, director first and title first. For Star Wars, the citation above lists the original release date and the modified, released version in 1997.)
Recorded Movies
Include format names; "Videocassette" for VHS or Betamax, DVD for Digital Video Disc. Also list originalrelease year after director, performers, etc.
(Here, the citation lists the original release date and the DVD release date.)
Ed Wood. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette. 1994. DVD. Touchstone, 2004.
Chicago Style
The style manual is online, so the following is quoted from http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/ch17/ch17_sec273.html17.273 DVDs and videocassettes
Facts of publication for video recordings generally follow that of books, with the addition of the type of medium. Scenes (individually accessible in DVDs) are treated as chapters and cited by title or by number. Ancillary material, such as critical commentary, is cited by author and title. Note that in the second example, the citation is to material original to the 2001 edition, so the original release date of the film is omitted.
(This citation includes the original release date, the DVD release date, and the DVD chapter title, an additional detail that I didn't mention in my original post.)
Note: 7. “Crop Duster Attack,” North by Northwest, DVD, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1959; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2000).
(Here's an example of a special feature citation)
Bibliography: Cleese, John, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. “Commentaries.” Disc 2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail, special ed. DVD. Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. Culver City, CA: Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment, 2001.
APA Style
I don't use this style regularly, so I don't have the publication manual handy. From what I've seen online, the example sites at libraries list the original release date of the film, not the DVD or VHS version. Since zotero defaults to the DVD release date, the distinction is still important.See (among others): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/11, http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/resources/apa/APAREShome.html#movie, or http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/apa.pdf There are two reasons why I think the extra field is suboptimal. The first is that the documentation was ambiguous on whether or not it's actually mapped to a variable. See http://www.zotero.org/support/dev/csl_syntax_summary#variables for this entry "note - maps to extra?". The second is that I tend to import my bibliographic information from WorldCat, and zetero imports a bunch of information into the extra field that I would rather keep where it is. Since the extra field is a large text area, it doesn't seem optimal to use it for a piece of information that is four characters long. For examples of inconsistencies, go to amazon.com and Worldcat (which I access through firstsearch).
At amazon.com La Règle du jeu, Pépé le Moko, and Singin' in the Rain all import the DVD release date. Quai des brumes imports the original release date (1938).
At worldcat, films import as books. La Règle du jeu and Pépé le moko imports the DVD release date only, while Quai des brumes and Singin' in the Rain import the original and DVD release date into the date field ("2004, 1938" and "2002, 1951" respectively). At least in the case of the MLA stylesheet, generic happens to be book. Films (and probably other multimedia materials) do require a "typed" citation format. See the summary at OWL The new style guide requires that all citations give their media (print, web, DVD, etc.) along with an access date, or n.d. for books where access date is not important. Awesome, can't wait!
Also, on the data model, you might want to take a look at BIBO, which is where Zotero is headed. That allows links between different versions, media info, etc. Those of us that developed it aren't experts in the area, but we tried ;-)