1.
Using Linked Data
to Support Distributed Analysis
of Visual Culture
John Bell • john.p.bell@maine.edu
Mark J Williams • mark.j.williams@dartmouth.edu

2.
WHAT IS MEP?

3.
CURRENT MODEL
• User clicks MediaThread bookmarklet
on Library of Congress video
• MediaThread bookmarklet scrapes
metadata from Library of Congress
and stores it in MediaThread’s local
database

4.
SIDELOADED METADATA
• MediaThread sends a second request
to MEP for any metadata about the
video, then adds the result to its
database
• The user never knows MEP was
queried

5.
ADDED METADATA
• User adds annotations, commentary,
tags, etc. to the video in MediaThread
• When the user publishes their work,
MediaThread sends the user’s new
metadata to MEP

6.
ADDED METADATA
• The user’s metadata is added to what
MEP knows about the video and what
it sends to MediaThread next time
that video is loaded
• If the Library of Congress can accept
the new metadata, MEP will send it
back to enhance the original source’s
records

7.
COMMENTARY
Commentary
A woman can be seen rolling out a pie crust in the center of a table on a set of a kitchen.A pie is cooling
on the sideboard.As the woman continues her work, the door opens and a big man dressed as a tattered
tramp enters and gestures a request for food.The woman replies by hitting him with a rolling pin, knocking
him to the floor.
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://mep.dartmouth.edu/users/john-bell/annotation">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://scalar.usc.edu/2012/01/scalar-ns#Composite"/>
<dcterms:title>TheTramp and the Muscular Cook</dcterms:title>
<dcterms:description></dcterms:description>
<sioc:content> A woman can be seen rolling out a pie crust in the center of a table on a set of a kitchen.A pie is cooling on
the sideboard.As the woman continues her work, the door opens and a big man dressed as a tattered tramp
enters and gestures a request for food.The woman replies by hitting him with a rolling pin, knocking him to
the floor.
</sioc:content>
<dcterms:isVersionOf rdf:resource="http://mep.dartmouth.edu/users/john-bell/annotation.0"/>
</rdf:Description>

8.
PROVENANCE ANDTRUST
Users
*Kemp Niver, Motion Pictures from the Library of Congress Paper Print Collection 1894-1912, 1967
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://mep.dartmouth.edu/user/ur1617546/">
<foaf:name>Kemp Niver</foaf:name>
<foaf:mbox_sha1sum>b56d0fa3ea6bc6760d50c08918ffbcdf623cf716</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
<foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://mep.dartmouth.edu/user/ur1617546/"/>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
</rdf:Description>

9.
CONTROLLEDVOCABULARIES
Tagging
Mutoscope, silent, rolling pin
<rdf:Description rdf:nodeID="tag-Mutoscope">
<foaf:name>Mutoscope</foaf:name>
<foaf:page rdf:resource=“http://onomy.org/published/12/term/4"/>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/SemanticTag"/>
</rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description rdf:nodeID="tag-rolling-pin">
<foaf:name>rolling pin</foaf:name>
<foaf:page rdf:resource=“http://onomy.org/published/298/term/64“/>
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/SemanticTag"/>
</rdf:Description>

10.
ONOMY.ORG