Data Standards
This page contains most if not all the standards pertaining to the SIGS data structures ranging from name of a SIG to obtaining its source. This should be read as a rule book rather than a guide as most of these are setting stone to maintain SIGS data standards. There are of course some exceptions to this set standard as some rules may be too difficult to implement with the current system, though it may be a rare case when this exception is applied. Hence, any deviation from the set standards should be noted in SIGSStandardsException.
Index
SIG Information
SIG information refers to the attributes of a SIG such as name, addresses, website address description etc. and can be found in sections on a SIG page on Vote Smart Admin. Some attributes will not be covered as they are objective and self-explanatory; the ones covered below were known to have had discrepancies and inconsistencies derived from past experience.
Name
The name of the SIG refers to what the SIG is commonly known as, so this may be its full legal name or an acronym. If an SIG is known by both its full name and acronym, it shall be appended within a parentheses. If however, the SIG is much better known for its acronym than its full name, the acronym shall take precedence over the full name and the full name shall be mentioned in the description instead. Acronym shall by no means be appended to its name leisurely without prior acknowledgement by the SIG.Appending acronyms examples:
- National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)
- National Rifle Association (NRA)
Acronym as name example
- NARAL Pro-choice America - In the description, mention"...(National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) Pro-Choice America"
- EMILY's List - In the description, mention "...(Early Money Is Like Yeast) List"
Addresses
This may be the physical location of the SIG or their post office box. The address shall be written in full form even if the stated address is abbreviated. For example, 'P.O. Box' should be written as 'Post Office Box'. In the event that SIG have multiple addresses, the address that appears most frequently or if it is the SIG headquarters shall be taken.URL
URL refers to the web address of the SIG, most of these websites are hosted by SIGs themselves. At this time of writing, the URL section may also be a social media platform where the SIG is most active in given that they do not host a website themselves. This may subject to changes in the future with additional sections for social media URLs.URL should always remain within its domain name without additional paths after it. Path in this case refers to a single forward slash followed by some letters such as 'https://humanevotersofwa.net/about/' where '/about' is the first path to the domain 'humanevotersofwa.net'.
