Meeting on Semantic Web and Archives, Libraries and MuseumsFundacion Ramon Areces, Madrid, Spain. 10th April 2014

Adrian StevensonSenior Technical Innovations Coordinator

Mimas, University of Manchester, UK@adrianstevenson

“Il n’y a pas de hors-texte” – Challenges for Archival Linked Data

“Il n’y a pas de hors-texte”‘Of Grammatology’

Jacques Derrida, 1967

“There is nothing outside the text”

“There is nothing outside context”

http://archiveshub.ac.uk

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/locah/

Deconstruction / Context

• Archives Hub data in ‘Encoded Archival Description’ EAD XML form

• Need to think about:– knowing what we want to say about our ‘things’– data modelling– defining relationships– selecting vocabularies – deciding on identifiers – HTTP URIs– creating RDF XML– linking to external resources

ArchivalResource

Finding Aid

EAD Document

Biographical History

Agent

Family Person Place

Concept

Genre Function

Organisation

maintainedBy/maintains

origination

associatedWith

accessProvidedBy/providesAccessTo

topic/page

hasPart/partOf

hasPart/partOf

encodedAs/encodes

Repository(Agent)

Book

Place

topic/page

Language

Level

administeredBy/administers

hasBiogHist/isBiogHistFor

foaf:focus Is-a associatedWith

level

Is-a

language

ConceptScheme

inScheme

ObjectrepresentedBy

PostcodeUnit

Extent

Creation

Birth Death

extent

participates in

TemporalEntity

TemporalEntity

at time

at time

product of

in

Archives Hub Model

http://data.archiveshub.ac.uk

Visualisation Prototype• Using Timemap –

– Googlemaps and Simile

– http://code.google.com/p/timemap/

• Early stages with this• Will give location and

‘extent’ of archive.• Will link through to

Archives Hub

wraggelabs.com/shed/presentations/anzsi

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/linkinglives/

Linking Lives

• Linking Lives is a project to create an end-user interface based on Linked Data

• A biographical interface, providing information about individuals that is taken from a variety of sources

• Aim is to place archival descriptions within a much broader context

Martha Beatrice Webb

 Place of birth: Gloucester, EnglandPlace of death: Liphook, Hampshire, England

Life dates: 1858-1943Epithet: social reformer and historianFamily name: Webb

Image

from: Beatrice Webb lettersBeatrice Webb (1858 - 1943). Fabian Socialist, social reformer, writer, historian, diarist. Wife, collaborator and assistant of Sidney Webb, later Lord Passfield. Together they contributed to the radical ideology first of the Liberal Party and later of the Labour Party. from: Beatrice Webb, A summer holiday in Scotland, 1884.Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), nee Potter, social reformer and diarist. Married to Sidney Webb, pioneers of social science. She was involved in many spheres of political and social activity including the Labour Party, Fabianism, social observation, investigations into poverty, development of socialism, the foundation of the National Health Service and post war welfare state, the London School of

Biographical Notes

Works

Our PartnershipMy ApprenticeshipThe case for the factory actsBeatrice Webb’s diaries; edited by Margaret ColeThe Diary

Knows

http://dbpedia.org/page/George_Bernard_Shaw

http://dbpedia.org/page/Sidney_Webb,_1st_Baron_Passfield

http://data.archiveshub.ac.uk/linkinglives/

Why?

• Telling stories• Placing archives in a global information space• External data forms part of the user interface

– moving away from the silo approach• Dynamic links to other content• Extensible• An exemplar – shows what can be done

Some Challenges / Lessons Learnt

• Steep learning curve• Difficult data, URI persistence• Linking data not straightforward• Keeping data up to date• How sustainable are the data sources?• Can you track the provenance of data sources?• Are data licensing issues covered?

Data Modelling

• Steep learning curve– RDF terminology “confusing”– Lack of archival examples

• Complexity– Archival description is hierarchical and

multi-level– RDF may be at odds with ISAD(G)

Hub data inconsistencies

• Winston Leonard Churchill• Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill• Churchill, Sir, Winston Leonard Spencer, 1874-

1965, knight, prime minister and historian• Churchill, Winston Leonard, 1874-1965, prime

minister• Churchill, Sir Winston, 1874-1965, knight,

statesman and historian

Understanding Vocabs & Ontologies

Linking Names

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/blog/2013/08/hub-viaf-namematching/

Linking Subjects

Thoughts on What Next?

• We still need more convincing use / business cases– Clear articulation of what researchers actually gain

by bringing diverse data together• We still need more and better tools

– But this depends on use cases• Cultural heritage not working together enough

– better collaboration on things like name URIs• Coordinated consistent approach for vocabs

Adrian Stevensonadrian.stevenson@manchester.ac.uk@adrianstevenson

More on Linked Data at:

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/linkinglives/

http://data.archiveshub.ac.uk/

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/locah/

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