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Canonical Markdown source · Jul 6, 2026

Linked Art API: Shared Statements

linked-art/api/shared-statements.md · 53 lines · SHA-256 f26889987779

Last refreshed: 2026-07-06

Source: Statements shared structure, part of Linked Art API 1.0, published under CC BY 4.0. This is a project summary; the upstream page is authoritative.

Purpose

Statements are embedded human-readable descriptions or notes about the entity being described. They are useful for end-user display even when structured data exists for the same subject.

Statements are represented as `LinguisticObject` structures embedded within the resource, usually through `referred_to_by`, rather than as separate long-form textual records.

Required Shape

A statement structure includes:

  • `type`: required. Must be `LinguisticObject`.
  • `content`: required string value of the statement.
  • `id`: optional URI identifying the statement.
  • `_complete`: optional completeness signal. If an `id` URI has richer dereferenceable information, `_complete: false` must be present.
  • `classified_as`: classifications following the `Type` structure, such as description, note, or brief text.
  • `language`: languages present in the statement content, following the `Language` concept reference pattern.
  • `identified_by`: labels or names for the statement, following the `Name` pattern.

Optional Fields

  • `_label`: developer-facing label.
  • `referred_to_by`: references to textual works about this statement, or embedded statements about this statement.
  • `format`: media type when `content` is not plain text.
  • `assigned_by`: statement assignment evidence following the `AttributeAssignment` pattern.
  • `subject_to`: rights held over the statement.
  • `created_by`: `Creation` event for the statement.

Common Incoming Relationships

  • `referred_to_by`: used by all endpoint records for statements about the described entity.

Meta Museum Notes

Meta Museum already preserves `LinguisticObject` statement structures across object, concept, activity, rights, and dataset projections. Existing coverage includes descriptions, notes, abstracts, statement-level rights, AI-generated statement creation metadata, and provenance/citation notes. The important project rule is to keep statements as structured Linked Art `LinguisticObject` entries rather than flattening them into anonymous prose strings.

Test Ideas

  • Preserve `LinguisticObject.content`, `classified_as`, `language`, and `identified_by` on statements.
  • Preserve nested `referred_to_by` statements about statements.
  • Preserve `format` when statement content is not plain text.
  • Preserve `subject_to` rights on statements.
  • Preserve `created_by` `Creation` evidence, including AI/tool technique metadata when supplied.
  • Add a dereferenceable statement `id` with richer detail available and verify `_complete: false`.