RVW module for syndicating and aggregating reviews

Specification Version: 0.2 (draft)

June 2004

http://purl.org/NET/RVW/0.2/

Author

Alf Eaton <a@pmbrowser.info>

Abstract

This specification defines the Review (RVW) Module. RVW is intended to allow machine-readable reviews to be integrated into feeds, thus allowing reviews to be automatically compiled from distributed sources.

Usage

Many individuals and organisations publish reviews on their own websites, but it is currently difficult to take all these opinions into account when making a decision. Individual reviews may have their own rating scheme, may lack a definite description of the subject of the review, and may be of books, music, films, restaurants, beaches, politicians, or any other subject. As online product reviews become increasingly widespread, it is important to make these critical opinions easily accessible on demand.

The inclusion of RVW, and other, metadata in feeds where appropriate will enable the building of aggregators that can collate reviews in particular topic areas, aggregate rating scores, and summarise the opinions of a large number of contributors, with the aim of providing informed collective analysis.

Main changes in this version

rvw:rating (a percentage score) has replaced rvw:value, rvw:minimum and rvw:maximum.

dc:subject has replaced ENT as a topic designator.

The use of RVW has been extended to the Atom feed format and RDF.

Feedback

Please leave your comments, suggestions and corrections on this QuickTopic discussion list.


Example formats

in Atom:


<entry>
    <author> <!-- author of the review -->
        <name>your name</name>
    </author>
    <title>title of the review</title>
    <content>content of the review</content>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html">http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/review_of_some_books.htm</link>
    <link rel="related" type="text/html" title="buy Stephen King: The Shining">http://isbn.nu/0743424425</link> <!-- example -->
    <link rel="related" type="text/html" title="Stephen King: The Shining in paperback">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/asin/0743424425/associd-20</link>
    <link rel="related" type="text/html" title="Stanley Kubrick: The Shining on DVD">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/asin/B00005ATQJ/associd-20</link>
    <rvw:item>
        <dc:type>book</dc:type>
        <dc:subject>horror</dc:subject>
        <dc:creator>Stephen King</dc:creator>
        <dc:title>The Shining</dc:title>
        <dc:identifier>ISBN:0743424425</dc:identifier>
        <rvw:rating>60</rvw:rating>
        <rvw:buylink>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743424425/associatesid-20</rvw:buylink>
    </rvw:item>
    <rvw:item>
        <dc:type>video</dc:type>
        <dc:subject>horror</dc:subject>
        <dc:creator>Stanley Kubrick</dc:creator>
        <dc:title>The Shining</dc:title>
        <dc:identifier>UPC:085391736929</dc:identifier>
        <dc:identifier>IMDB:tt0081505</dc:identifier> <!-- alternative -->
        <dc:identifier>ASIN:B00005ATQJ</dc:identifier> <!-- alternative -->
        <rvw:rating>80</rvw:rating>
        <rvw:buylink>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005ATQJ/associatesid-20</rvw:buylink>
    </rvw:item>
</entry>

in RSS2:



<item>
    <title>title of the review</title>
    <description>excerpt of the review, or the full text</description>
    <author>your email address</author>
    <link>http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/review_of_some_books.htm</link>
    <rvw:item>
        <dc:type>book</dc:type>
        <dc:subject>horror</dc:subject>
        <dc:creator>Stephen King</dc:creator>
        <dc:title>The Shining</dc:title>
        <dc:identifier>ISBN:0743424425</dc:identifier>
        <rvw:rating>60</rvw:rating>
        <rvw:buylink>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743424425/associatesid-20</rvw:buylink>
    </rvw:item>
    <rvw:item>
        <dc:type>video</dc:type>
        <dc:subject>horror</dc:subject>
        <dc:creator>Stanley Kubrick</dc:creator>
        <dc:title>The Shining</dc:title>
        <dc:identifier>UPC:085391736929</dc:identifier>
        <dc:identifier>IMDB:tt0081505</dc:identifier> <!-- alternative -->
        <dc:identifier>ASIN:B00005ATQJ</dc:identifier> <!-- alternative -->
        <rvw:rating>80</rvw:rating>
        <rvw:buylink>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005ATQJ/associatesid-20</rvw:buylink>
    </rvw:item>
</item>

in RSS1 (a list of reviews, in RDF):


<item rdf:about="http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/album_review.htm">
    <dc:creator>your name</dc:creator>
    <link>http://www.musicbrainz.org/album/98a627c2-190f-4bcc-a90c-459462dbf67b.html</link> <!-- can only link to one reviewed item? -->
    <description>description of the content of the review</description>
    <rvw:sections>
        <rdf:Seq>
            <rvw:section rdf:resource="http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/album_reviews.htm#album01" />
            <rvw:section rdf:resource="http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/album_reviews.htm#album02" />
        </rdf:Seq>
    </rvw:sections>
</item>

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/album_reviews.htm#album01">
    <rvw:subject rdf:resource="http://mm.musicbrainz.org/album/767ee61d-6395-4ba9-bf79-ab0bf6701669" />
    <rvw:content parseType="literal">content of the review</rvw:content> <!-- optional -->
    <rvw:rating>60</rvw:rating>
    <rvw:buylink>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00001OH7M/associatesid-20</rvw:buylink>
</rdf:Description>

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/album_reviews.htm#album02">
    <rvw:subject rdf:resource="http://mm.musicbrainz.org/album/a755977c-6265-4db1-9100-50e71b5ffa73" />
    <rvw:content parseType="literal">content of the review</rvw:content> <!-- optional -->
    <rvw:rating>80</rvw:rating>
    <rvw:buylink>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00001OH7N/associatesid-20</rvw:buylink>
</rdf:Description>

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://mm.musicbrainz.org/album/767ee61d-6395-4ba9-bf79-ab0bf6701669">
    <dc:identifier>MBID:767ee61d-6395-4ba9-bf79-ab0bf6701669</dc:identifier>
    <dc:creator>David Bowie</dc:creator>
    <dc:title>Space Oddity</dc:title>
    <dc:type>audio</dc:type>
    <dc:subject>rock</dc:subject>
</rdf:Description>

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://mm.musicbrainz.org/album/a755977c-6265-4db1-9100-50e71b5ffa73">
    <dc:identifier>MBID:5441c29d-3602-4898-b1a1-b77fa23b8e50</dc:identifier>
    <dc:creator>David Bowie</dc:creator>
    <dc:title>The Man Who Sold The World</dc:title>
    <dc:type>audio</dc:type>
    <dc:subject>rock</dc:subject>
</rdf:Description>

in non-RSS RDF (a list of items being reviewed):



<item rdf:about="http://www.example.com/music/track01.mp3">
    <dc:creator>artist name</dc:creator>
    <dc:title>track title</dc:title>
    <dc:type>audio</dc:type>
    <rvw:reviews>
        <rdf:Bag>
            <rvw:review rdf:resource="http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/review_of_tracks.htm#1" />
        </rdf:Bag>
    </rvw:reviews>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.example.com/music/track02.mp3">
    <dc:creator>artist name</dc:creator>
    <dc:title>track title</dc:title>
    <dc:type>audio</dc:type>
    <rvw:reviews>
        <rdf:Bag>
            <rvw:review rdf:resource="http://www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/review_of_tracks.htm#2" />
            <rvw:review rdf:resource="http://www.foo.com/reviews/2004/06/04/review_of_a_track.htm" />
        </rdf:Bag>
    </rvw:reviews>
</item>
	
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http:www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/review_of_tracks.htm#1">
    <dc:creator>your name</dc:creator>
    <rvw:subject rdf:resource="http://www.example.com/music/track01.mp3" />
    <rvw:content parseType="literal">content of the review</rvw:content>
    <rvw:rating>80</rvw:rating>
</rdf:Description>

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http:www.example.com/reviews/2004/06/02/review_of_tracks.htm#2">
    <dc:creator>your name</dc:creator>
    <rvw:subject rdf:resource="http://www.example.com/music/track02.mp3" />
    <rvw:content parseType="literal">content of the review</rvw:content>
    <rvw:rating>60</rvw:rating>
</rdf:Description>

in TypeList (based on Atom, can only review one thing at once, uses its own namespaces for many fields):



<entry>
  <book:isbn>0375412808</book:isbn>
  <title>Jeffrey Steingarten: It Must've Been Something I Ate: The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything</title>
  <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:listitem-201</id>
  <content>This is a funny book.</content>
  <rvw:rating>80</rvw:rating>
  <rvw:buylink>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375412808/associatesid-20</rvw:buylink>
  <book:title>It Must've Been Something I Ate: The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything</book:title>
  <book:author>Jeffrey Steingarten</book:author>
  <book:thumbnail>http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0375412808.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg</book:thumbnail>
</entry>