Working with data.open.ac.uk, the Linked Data Platform of the Open University

Working with data.open.ac.uk,
the linked data platform of the OU
Mathieu d’Aquin and the LUCERO team
@mdaquin
Knowledge Media Institute, the Open University
LUCERO project
lucero-project.info – data.open.ac.uk

Linked Data
As set of principles and technologies for a Web of Data
Putting the “raw” data online in a standard, web enabled representation (RDF)
Make the data Web addressable (URIs)
Link with other data

Graph (up to date)

So Linked Data for the OU?
RAE
DBPedia
Data from
Research
Outputs
OpenLearn
Content
ORO
Exposed as linked data, our data interlink with each other and the external world: become part of the “global data space” on the Web
Archive of
Course
Material
Library’s
Catalogue
Of Digital
Content
geonames
data.gov.uk
Currently: OU public data sit in different systems – hard to discover, obtain, integrate by users.
A/V Material
Podcasts
iTunesU
BBC
DBLP

Why is it important?
The OU has been the first University to expose its data as linked data: http://data.open.ac.uk
Now widely recognized as a critical step forward for the HE sector in the UK (and worldwide)
Favor transparency and reuse of data, both externally and internally
Reduces cost of dealing with our own public data: integration and reuse by design
Enable both new kinds of applications, and to make the ones that are already feasible more cost effective
At least 3 other UK universities have now followed our example:
http://data.online.lincoln.ac.uk/, http://data.ox.ac.uk/, http://data.southampton.ac.uk/
And others in other countries are setting up similar initiatives

“if you are working in an IT department within a University you better read this report, as soon your department will need to be making these same decisions.”
David Flanders,
JISCExpoProgramme Manager,
http://code.google.com/p/jiscexpo/wiki/luceroproject#Site_Visit_Report

The data.open.ac.uk Stack
Applications
Institutional repository data
Research Data (Arts)
Organizational infrastructure
Technical infrastructure

data.open.ac.uk

Technological principle: Everything has a URI
Example:
http://data.open.ac.uk/course/m366 – the course M366
http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/21166 – an article in ORO
http://data.open.ac.uk/page/person/ext-911ee9dfa3db572830b00bd8a9983e39 – an Person, who authored the article above
http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person – the type person
http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator – the property that links an author to an article

Technological principle: Content negotiation
Accept: text/html Accept: application/rdf+xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rdf:RDFxmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
<rdf:Descriptionrdf:about="http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/9719">
<label xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#" rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">Aptamers directed to MUC1</label>
<authorListxmlns="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/9719#authors"/>
<title xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">Aptamers directed to MUC1</title>
<abstract xmlns="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/" rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">Aptamers against the glycosylated form of MUC1 are described, along with their use in treatment and diagnosis of conditions associated with elevated production of MUC1.</abstract>
<isPartOfxmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/repository"/>
<status xmlns="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/" rdf:resource="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/status/peerReviewed"/>
<status xmlns="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/" rdf:resource="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/status/published"/>
<creator xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/person/ext-07bcb3718cb0de7883dc7b8fde7e283d"/>
<creator xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/person/b7fc322e6386517c5ebef3c09d13bd9e"/>
<creator xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/person/ext-7c8b5252e28115f91640559c2fe64ca3"/>
<date xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">2007-11-15</date>
<rdf:typerdf:resource="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Article"/>
<rdf:typerdf:resource="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Patent"/>
</rdf:Description></rdf:RDF>

RDF
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rdf:RDFxmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
<rdf:Descriptionrdf:about="http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/9719">
<label xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#" rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">Aptamers directed to MUC1</label>
<authorListxmlns="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/9719#authors"/>
<title xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">Aptamers directed to MUC1</title>
<abstract xmlns="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/" rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">Aptamers against the glycosylated form of MUC1 are described, along with their use in treatment and diagnosis of conditions associated with elevated production of MUC1.</abstract>
<isPartOfxmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/repository"/>
<status xmlns="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/" rdf:resource="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/status/peerReviewed"/>
<status xmlns="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/" rdf:resource="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/status/published"/>
<creator xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/person/ext-07bcb3718cb0de7883dc7b8fde7e283d"/>
<creator xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/person/b7fc322e6386517c5ebef3c09d13bd9e"/>
<creator xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rdf:resource="http://data.open.ac.uk/person/ext-7c8b5252e28115f91640559c2fe64ca3"/>
<date xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">2007-11-15</date>
<rdf:typerdf:resource="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Article"/>
<rdf:typerdf:resource="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Patent"/>
</rdf:Description></rdf:RDF>

By the way…
On Study at the OU:
http://data.open.ac.uk/course/m366 – if HTML requested, goes to http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/m366.htm
Try http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/m366.rdf

Technological principle: link… also to external datasets
Using URIs makes pieces of data directly addressable and linkable on the Web, independently of where the data is:
http://data.open.ac.uk/course/m366 isAvailableInhttp://sws.geonames.org/458258/ (Republic of Latvia)
http://data.open.ac.uk/organization/the_open_universitysameAshttp://education.data.gov.uk/doc/school/133849
http://data.open.ac.uk/location/building/mbbn (Berrill Building North) postcode http://data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/id/postcodeunit/MK76AA
And others can link to our data…

SPARQL
The “SQL” of RDF and linked data
Fits the graph data model of RDF
Select [variables: ?x ?name, etc.]
From [graph, or all graphs if nothing]
Where [triple patterns and filters]
Order by, limit, offset, etc.
SPARQL protocol: simply based on HTTP
A SPARQL endpoint is a URL that takes a “query” parameter
And return results in the SPARQL xml format
See http://data.open.ac.uk

SPARQL: example queries
Courses available in Nigeria
select distinct ?course
where {?course
<http://data.open.ac.uk/saou/ontology#isAvailableIn>
<http://sws.geonames.org/2328926/>.
?course a <http://purl.org/vocab/aiiso/schema#Module>}
http://data.open.ac.uk/query?query=select%20distinct%20%3Fcourse%20where%20{%3Fcourse%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdata.open.ac.uk%2Fsaou%2Fontology%23isAvailableIn%3E%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fsws.geonames.org%2F2328926%2F%3E.%20%3Fcourse%20a%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fpurl.org%2Fvocab%2Faiiso%2Fschema%23Module%3E}

Video podcasts related to postgraduate courses in computing
select ?x ?t where {
?c <http://purl.org/dc/terms/subject> <http://data.open.ac.uk/topic/computing>. ?c <http://data.open.ac.uk/saou/ontology#courseLevel> <http://data.open.ac.uk/saou/ontology#postgraduate>.
?x <http://data.open.ac.uk/podcast/ontology/relatesToCourse> ?c.
?x <http://purl.org/dc/terms/title> ?t.
?x <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://data.open.ac.uk/podcast/ontology/VideoPodcast>}
http://data.open.ac.uk/query?query=select%20%3Fx%20%3Ft%0Awhere%20{%0A%20%20%20%3Fc%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fpurl.org%2Fdc%2Fterms%2Fsubject%3E%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdata.open.ac.uk%2Ftopic%2Fcomputing%3E.%0A%20%20%20%3Fc%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdata.open.ac.uk%2Fsaou%2Fontology%23courseLevel%3E%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdata.open.ac.uk%2Fsaou%2Fontology%23postgraduate%3E.%0A%20%20%20%3Fx%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdata.open.ac.uk%2Fpodcast%2Fontology%2FrelatesToCourse%3E%20%3Fc.%0A%20%20%20%3Fx%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fpurl.org%2Fdc%2Fterms%2Ftitle%3E%20%3Ft.%0A%20%20%20%3Fx%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2F02%2F22-rdf-syntax-ns%23type%3E%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdata.open.ac.uk%2Fpodcast%2Fontology%2FVideoPodcast%3E%0A}&limit=0

Things related to “earthquake”
select ?c ?desc where {
?c <http://purl.org/dc/terms/description> ?desc .
{ {?c <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://data.open.ac.uk/openlearn/ontology/OpenLearnUnit>}
UNION
{?c <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://data.open.ac.uk/podcast/ontology/VideoPodcast>} }
FILTER regex(str(?desc), "earthquake", "i" )}
http://data.open.ac.uk/query?query=select%20%3Fc%20%3Fdesc%20where%7B%0A%3Fc%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fpurl.org%2Fdc%2Fterms%2Fdescription%3E%20%3Fdesc%20.%0A%7B%7B%3Fc%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2F02%2F22-rdf-syntax-ns%23type%3E%0A%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdata.open.ac.uk%2Fopenlearn%2Fontology%2FOpenLearnUnit%3E%7D%0AUNION%0A%7B%3Fc%20%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2F02%2F22-rdf-syntax-ns%23type%3E%0A%3Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdata.open.ac.uk%2Fpodcast%2Fontology%2FVideoPodcast%3E%7D%7D%0AFILTER%20regex(str(%3Fdesc)%2C%20%22earthquake%22%2C%20%22i%22%20)%0A%7D&limit=0

Expose
Store
Collect
Extract
Link
Ontologies
Scheduler
Cleaning rules
RDF file (add) RDF file (delete)
URL redirection rules
RSS Extractor
Delete (1)
Add (2)
RDF Cleaner
Web Server
ORO, podcast
RSS feed
RDF file (add) RDF file (delete)
Triple Store
RSS Updater
SPARQL
endpoint
RDF Extractor
New items
Obsolete items
Each datasets
Index
Entity Name System
Search
XML Updater
URI creation rules
Lib, courses, loc
Planning + Logging
Generic process
Dataset specific process

Method for a exposing a dataset
Identify data
Get sample data
Identify Copyright Issues
Identify possible links
Identify users and usage
Initial Meeting with Data Owner
Lucero Core Team
Data Owner
Data Modeling sessions
Lucero KMi Team
Find reusable ontologies
Map onto the data
Identify uncovered parts
Define URI Scheme
Data Modeling Validation
Lucero Core Team
Lucero members
Data Owner
Development of Extractor
URI Creation Rules Definition
Deployment
Lucero KMi Team

Datasets
Already “officially” in place:
ORO: more than 18,000 publications from OU researchers
Podcasts: 2,500 audio and video tracks from podcast.open.ac.uk, linked to the relate courses
Study at the OU: more than 600 live module descriptions
OpenLearn: more than 550 Units of course material
KMi Staff and Planet newsletter
Currently being processed:
OU Buildings in MK and regional centers
Library Catalogue
YouTube channel
Old Courses
“Reading Experience Database” project
People Profiles

Screenshot of the dataset page

Building applications with Linked Data
Everything is based on HTTP/XML
In principle, just need a Web connection…
Libraries available in many languages to manipulate RDF data
Java: Jena (http://openjena.org/)
PHP: ARC2 (https://github.com/semsol/arc2)
Python:RDFLib (http://www.rdflib.net/)
…

Example: Accessing data.open.ac.uk with PHP/Arc2
include_once("arc2/ARC2.php");
// declare the SPARQL endpoint
$config = array('remote_store_endpoint' => 'http://data.open.ac.uk/query’,);
$store = ARC2::getRemoteStore($config);
// Execute a SPARQL query
$postcodesq = 'select distinct ?p where {[] <http://data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ontology/postcode/postcode> ?p.}’;
$rows = $store->query($postcodesq, 'rows');
// Display the results
foreach($rows as $row) {
echo $row[‘p’].”</br/>”;
}

Applications
For education
Mobile podcast explorer, podcast explorer on TV
OU Building Map, OU location tracker (cf. foursquare)
OU Expert Search
Connecting courses/OpenLearn to relevant podcast
OU Course Profile Facebook app using list of courses, “Study Buddy” app connecting facebook users to relevant courses
For Research
Display connections in a research community
Research Data/Impact Analysis
Connection research datasets to external data

Example application: Link OpenLearn to relevant course/podcasts

Example Application: keep track of location, meetings, tutorials, at the OU

Example application:
Expert Search using publication information and connecting to contact information within the OU

Example application: Explore Information about a person in the “Reading Experience Database” based on data provided by DBPedia (Linked Data version of Wikipedia)  New ways to look at humanities research data

Example application: exploring research communities

The future
More data… always more data
More links, especially to external entities
BBC
Government agencies
Other universities
More applications:
Integration into main OU websites (e.g., study at the OU)
Integration into common OU applications (people profile, Facebook course profile, etc.)
Support for common OU processes (REF audit, course recommendation, providing resources to AL and lecturers)
Connecting to other Universities
Many other universities in the UK and abroad are making the move to linked data (see linkeduniversities.org)
Linked data has the potential to create connections across institutions, a data-based network on higher education course providers

Conclusion
Linked data is more than an emerging, academic trend.
data.open.ac.uk and linked data in general are fast becoming very valuable resources for developers, internally and externally
We are very proud to have been the first university to really deploy a linked data platform
Needs to sustain and evolve as a core service at the OU…
… and as a key component of the Web of University Linked Data

Thank You
SalmanElahi
((Ex)-Dev)
Carlo Allocca
(Dev)
Jane Whild
(Admin)
FouadZablith
(Dev)
KMi
AndriyNikolov
(linking)
Enrico Motta
(SGP)
Mathieu d’Aquin
(PD)
Arts
Suzanne Duncanson-Hunter
John Wolfe
Paul Lawrence
Richard Nurse
((ex-)PM)
Owen Stephens
(PM)
Stuart Brown
Com./
Student
Comp.
Services
Data Owners
Non Scantlebury
Library
Specialists
Arts Specialists
OU Library

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Working with data.open.ac.uk, the Linked Data Platform of the Open University

by Mathieu d'Aquin

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