This document discusses making museum data more connected on the web through linked open data practices. It suggests that museums independently publish structured data using common vocabularies and authorities to link concepts, while retaining independent branding. Common vocabularies like CIDOC-CRM can provide structure, and shared resources like Geonames can support geo-referencing data. Linked data practices allow museums to pool and enhance each other's data at web scale through unique, persistent URIs for concepts rather than isolated silos or APIs. This can benefit initiatives that require open licensing of educational resources.

1. BRIDGING GAPS,
MAKING CONNECTIONS
UKMW15 MUSEUMS ON THE WEB
PROVOCATIONS

2. Museums: the
home of unlinked
data
RICHARD LIGHT, UKMW15

3. What stars do you see?

4. Get those stars organised …

5. Search for “identifying stars linked
data”

6. The hell that is textual labelling
‘Winston Churchill’

7. ‘Same string’=‘Same thing’ Simple!
http://dbpedia.org/resource/Winston_Churchill
http://dbpedia.org/resource/MS_Winston_Churchill
???

8. Rarity value: U.K. museum LD
resources
British Museum
National Gallery
Wordsworth Trust

9. And they’re all silos …
British Museum own-brand URLs or (worse) text strings

10. How can we ‘bridge gaps, make
connections’ with our data?
 Pool our data: but e.g. Culture Grid is moribund
 Publish independently, but in a compatible way
 Share common authorities

11. CIDOC-CRM can be the ‘mortar’ in
the ‘wall’
Structure(CRM)
Concept (text/URL)

12. What does CSV buy us?

13. Tate/MoMA CSV: where do I hang
my enhancements?
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/lynda-benglis-7290
Ouch !!

14. Ditch those one-off APIs (well, you
have …)

15. Your collection as Linked Data:
branding!!
http://collection.britishmuseum.org/id/object/MCT3635

16. A vision of Linked Data suburbia …
Everyone’s doing it,
modestly
BM still has the only hotel

17. Pelagios: co-operation is possible!

18. Shared resources: is it just
Geonames (and Getty)?
Free Geo-referencing!!
Make existing records into
Linked Data!

19. Let’s see some authorities being
authoritative …
National Maritime Museum?
Imperial War Museum/National Army Museum?

20. Licensing: essential if you want to
play the RES game
Resources for teachers
Mediated via the BBC
Have to be Linked Data
Require an explicit
licence statement
MASSIVE opportunity for
museums to share their
content

21. Linked Data: web-scale foreign
keys for the things we care about
 It’s not about RDF!
 It’s not about SPARQL!!
 It’s not about inference!!!
It’s about UNIQUE, PERSISTENT,
DEREFERENCEABLE, SHARED
URIs for the things in our world

22. Thank you!
Richard Light
@richardofsussex
http://light.demon.co.uk/wordpress/