Enriching comic book and graphic novel metadata using Linked Open Data; a pilot study for comics about mental health

Comic books and graphic novels represent a narrative format that is both easily understandable and accessible, making the medium a great form of “graphic medicine” for communicating healthcare information. However, metadata describing comics publications have not been well-connected with subject headings or descriptors for the narrative content itself by using the health-related knowledge organization systems (including taxonomies, classification systems, thesauri, subject headings, and ontologies) which often define and explain specific symptoms, treatment side-effects, etc. Enriching existing comics metadata with Linked Open Data (LOD) vocabularies offers an opportunity to enhance the discoverability of relevant comics material and content for patients, care givers, and providers. This pilot study presents an example of creating LOD for States of Mind, a graphic novel about bipolar disorder.