Overview
There are a lot of back-stories and alternate versions of characters in the comic book mythology and few people are able to keep track of everything. There is also a growth in the number of movies based on comic books and fans may be interested in learning about their favorite superhero or villain. DC Entertainment decides that they want to create a database that both their creative teams and fans can use to find information on prominent DC characters.
What resources are being used?
The resources being organized are the characters within the DC comic book universe and their descriptions. Other companies and characters from independent are not included because they’re not a part of the DC universe. The size and scope of the organizing system will be limited to only characters that have a lasting or important impact in the DC universe of characters. This will allow DC to focus its efforts on characters that draw more attention from fans. What is considered important or impactful can be ambiguous because many fans have biases about what is important or impactful. The definition used here will be the number of sales and number of years in print. So a character that was a commercial failure and has only been in print within a short time is outside the scope of the organizing system.
A relational standard will also be used to determine who is important and impactful. This means that characters with a significant relationship to these characters will also be included. So even though Damien Wayne is a relatively new character, he is included because he is Bruce Wayne’s son. Characters who have been a part of pivotal plots are also considered, such as Doomsday. Even though Doomsday does not have a long print history, he is included because he is famous for killing Superman. Since the organizing system is not to create an archive but to record prominent characters, there will be a significant number of characters that will be left out. All this information will be stored on DC Entertainment’s web servers and can be accessed online through the DC Entertainment website.
Why are the resources organized?
The resources are being organized because it is difficult keeping track of all the mythologies. Writers and artists need to remember what was done in the past in order to not repeat certain facts or get them wrong. DC Entertainment is creating the organizing system so that their creative teams can keep track of these facts. It also provides information for curious fans that want to read more about a character, which fosters interests and new customers for DC.
The goal does not include archiving or providing its own critique of characters or even providing the critiques from notable writers and artists. The organizing system is also not meant to sell books either. Doing so would make the organizing system a store rather than a database, and DC has their own online store available.
How much are the resources organized?
A basic biography with background, family names, first appearance, how each person achieved their hero or villain status, or their contribution to the comic book universe. A character’s importance includes the relationship the character has with another prominent character. The varying details between different interpretations are also included, such as changes in super powers, secret identity, or back-story. This will put more constraints in granularity, as many details that appear important to devoted fans will be left out. Some may argue that extensive biographical information is necessary for each character, but the purpose is to help with the basic facts of characters rather than creating extensive biographies. It may also be necessary to create family trees in order to show relationship between characters.
When are the resource organized?
The database would be created long before it is launched but would start as soon as DC Entertainment approves of the project. There would also be scheduled updates and maintenance as new characters and plot developments are made with each new issue. Much of the organizing may already be done as DC Entertainment most likely has its own historical archives. Organizers will also need to filter out information that does not fit the scope of the organizing system.
Who does the organizing?
Employees of DC Entertainment’s historians and web team will be involved in creating the online database. Members from marketing may need to help to distinguish what should be considered a financial success and what titles are have been more consistently popular over the years. If needed, DC Entertainment may also allow fans to help organize the resources. This itself would require much organization to ensure that volunteer contribution fits the scope of the organizing system. This may have some drawbacks, as control over the organizing process would be harder to maintain depending on the number of volunteers involved. But once the database is finished, DC’s web team and historians would be in charge of maintaining it.
Other considerations
The organizing system may grow and DC may change the scope of the database to include unknown characters or more extensive biographies. So the system must be implemented to allow flexibility. DC may also think about adding an API so that fans and its web developers can use the information for other purposes. Other interactions may also be considered such as allowing fans to make specific queries. For instance, a user might be curious about the number of LGBT characters in the DC universe. Doing so will requiring tagging each character to allow easier searches, which allows another interaction for users—tagging. This will also require a controlled tagging vocabulary to ensure that resources are properly tagged. The database might also be so popular that it may merge with its online store in order to sell more comics. Doing so would then change the organizing system from being a database to more of a store.