List of versions

[JuergenGrupp]

Very often a work is derived into a set of versions. While isVersionOf can describe the relation that exactly two EditorialObjects have, we also need a list of derived versions from a source in everyday's work. This list is hard to extract from a set of isVersionOf relations, that might even be hierarchichal. You need to "follow" a chain of versions in the worst case. It would be practical to identify a source version and then link all derived content to it, even if the versions have evolved over several generations of intermediate versions.
Therefore, I propose to introduce a class EditorialVersions that is referenced from the source with hasVersions´ and from the targets with isEditorialVersionOf. Individual EditorialObjects can still be linked with isVersionOf to point to the direct ancestor.

Please comment!

[JuergenGrupp]

EBUCorePlus Editorial Committee: a more generic approach to version control is recommended. Replace the isVersionOf relation by a generic VersionControl-Class that describes, eg. the source, the target, the version number, the editor, the editing date, the applied changes ... for any type of class, not only EditorialObjects.
But we need to obeye the idea of business impact. If the change is not the reason for different handling in the business process then it does not need to be documented and no new instance has to be created. Always ask ourselves, whether the source object needs to "survive" or not.
The desired list of versions from a source could then be generated with a SPARQL-Query, even spanning multiple version steps.
Have a look at the ontology of "variants". It is similar to branches in a source versioning system. Check out this link for further exploration:
https://support.isan.org/hc/en-us/articles/360002783131-Records-relations-and-hierarchies-in-the-ISAN-Registry