I hesitate to venture into this discussion, since it's very complex, but two things occur to me:
(1) As Barbara Tillett has observed, there is a continuum among bibliographic entities, and the break between expression and work is necessarily somewhat arbitrarily defined within a given cataloging community. Having said that, a play provides a useful object for examining the nastier parts of this continuum, moving first from a manuscript to a printed text, then perhaps a digital text that can be read by a text-to-speech reader; from this to a recording for the hearing impaired, where the text is read aloud by a volunteer, to an audiobook read by a professional reader or actor, to a recording of a radio version of the play, with sound effects and perhaps a bit of narration (maybe several iterations, one with an American cast, another with British, Australian, etc.); from this to a full-blown performance before an audience, with all the complexity that entails, to a videotaping of that performance, and maybe another videotaping of the next night's performance (and of the various regional and traveling productions), to a formal recording of the performance in a studio, to a motion picture version filmed on location (and maybe several versions by different besotted directors). At what point do we cross from an expression to a new work? I'm not sure, but I suspect that as long as the underlying text remains relatively intact, we never do. (2) Another argument for relating performers to the expression rather than the work can be found in the recording of a musical performance. Presumably one wouldn't consider the recording of a performance of a given piece by one orchestra to be a different work from the recording of a different performance of the same piece by another orchestra? If not, then what about the recording of an opera, where we've introduced a degree of acting to the performance (ignoring for the moment our more flamboyant conductors)? Of a Broadway musical (where the acting predominates)? Except in those rare instances where the work is incapable of being performed by anyone other than those who originally performed it, I think performance (including acting) must be considered an expression-level activity. Since RDA is being organized in terms of the FRBR user tasks and entities, I'm not sure these are academic questions. Each bibliographic element in RDA will presumably be related to a given FRBR Group 1 entity? Ed Jones ________________________________ From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Martha Yee Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 12:35 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [RDA-L] New works and new expressions (was Cataloger scenarios added to wiki) Creider's asks, "One question I have for Martha is why a change in actors results in a different work?" I would argue that moving images are essentially visual works, not textual ones; in order to change a textual work into a visual work, adaptation is inherently necessary. The situation is complicated by the fact that it is possible to use moving image as a mere recording medium. I don't mind identifying a stage performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as a work by Shakespeare when the stage performance has been recorded by a stationary video camera. When Shakespeare's play is transformed into a moving image (visual) work by the contributions of screenwriters, cinematographers, editors and directors, however, I believe a new related work has been created. Anglo-American practice hitherto has agreed with me, as does FRBR in the Zeffirelli example... Hope that clarifies my position? Martha %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Martha M. Yee Cataloging Supervisor UCLA Film & Television Archive 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038-2616 323-462-4921 x27 323-469-9055 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Email at work) Campus mail: 302 E. Melnitz 132306 1413 Quintero St. Los Angeles, CA 90026-3417 213-250-3018 213-250-3018 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Email at home) http://myee.bol.ucla.edu <http://myee.bol.ucla.edu/> (Web page) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% "You have a dollar. I have a dollar. We swap. Now you have my dollar and I have your dollar. We are not better off. You have an idea. I have an idea. We swap. Now you have two ideas and I have two ideas. Both are richer. When you gave, you have. What I got, you did not lose. That's cooperation"-Jimmy Durante quoted in Schnozzola, by Gene Fowler, 1951, p. 207-208.
