Overview

This section provides some Read Me-type information to orient prospective implementers on the composition of and conventions used by the NSPA lists.

Hierarchy

Most lists include a hierarchy of categories and subcategories. For example, “Acting” is categorized under “Activities > Performing Arts > Theater Arts > Acting.”

The hierarchy is provided for informational purposes, and as a resource for search, filtering, and matching engines. For example, if a student has indicated an Activity of “Acting,” most end-user-facing search engines will, ideally, return any programs requiring an Acting activity as well as programs intended for the more general categories of Theater Arts and Performing Arts.

However, the hierarchy values are semantic, categorization metadata and are not used in or required for data exchange between systems.

Synonyms

Most lists suggest synonyms for some entries. For example, in the Activities list, Philately is a synonym for Stamp Collecting and Numismatics is a synonym for Coin Collecting. In the Affiliation Entity List, synonyms often contain acronyms and formal names of organizations. Synonyms are provided for informational purposes and may be useful for display or search hinting.

Similar to the Hierarchy, the Synonyms suggested are not intended for use as a value in data exchange between systems. Rather, implementers can use the Synonym values for searching and matching algorithms, and to reduce data entry inconsistencies.

Otherness

Each list contains an “Other” value so that new information can be captured.

Allowing a free-form “Other” field makes structured or keyword-based search difficult for systems that rely on a static list of values. Further, this capability risks consistency problems in large datasets. However, “Other” support has proven valuable for the NSPA Exchange in informing future versions about missing values encountered on actual programs, so the NSPA Data Standard generally supports inclusion for data exchange purposes.

Language

Values are in U.S. English and generally align with U.S. usage (as will be immediately obvious to anyone who plays football/fútbol/soccer). However, the code lists do not put any restrictions on how sending or receiving systems represent these values to an end-user. The values are simply those used to convey a precise meaning for information exchange.

Sources & References for Lists

Multiple sources were consulted to ensure the completeness of these lists for the purposes of coding scholarships in the geographies that the NSPA Exchange currently serves. In general, the NSPA defined these lists because suitable lists were nonexistent, too detailed, or not detailed enough. In addition, some sources overlap with information that the Exchange seeks to capture differently.

In every case, the NSPA relied on data values actually seen in its members' programs combined with external research. References are provided for each list.

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All NSPA lists: