Developing Sinopia’s Linked-Data Editor with React and Redux

Abstract

An important software product for the Linked-Data for Production phase 2 grant from the Mellon foundation was the creation of a linked-data editor that professional cataloging staff would use to create original RDF descriptions of their collections. Using the Bibframe Editor from the Library of Congress as inspiration, the Stanford University Library-based software development team are actively building a React/Redux linked-data editor for use by a cohort of national, academic, and special libraries. A very popular combination for front-end Javascript applications, this article will explain how React and Redux are used with great success in the editor's implementation of a domain-specific-language (DSL) called Profiles containing one or more resource templates that specify an HTML form-based user interface for cataloging using RDF.