This document discusses the development of ResearchSpace (RS), a platform that allows researchers to make claims by adding to and modifying data from cultural heritage institutions in a way that preserves canonical data. RS components include search, data annotation, image annotation, a "data basket" for collecting items, a dashboard, and conjunctive search. It also discusses fundamental relationships that can be represented in linked cultural data.

1. ‘GLAMorous’ LOD
and ResearchSpace
Introduction
Dr. Barry Norton,
Development Manager, ResearchSpace*
The British Museum
* supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam
May 2014

2. Agenda
• Ten years… where’s the ‘Semantic Web’?
!
• OK, but… isn’t this just about the Web?
!
• If we give away our precious data, won’t people
make untrue claims?

3. Semantic Web?
• 13 years since this article
• 13 years ago, a young PhD
student is glamorised by
meeting TimBL
• 8 years ago, teaching alongside
Jim… to European PhD students
• 2 years ago teaching in Berkeley
every Summer, switch to training
BBC, Wiley, British Museum…

4. Wait… what?

5. … what?

6. … what?
“40% decline in traffic when the
structured data was broken”
BBC

7. What changed?
• Stopped trying to build Semantic Web as precursor
to people wanting to use it
• Starting putting data out there so people could
incrementally build clever things
!
!

8. Two datasets
http://collection.britishmuseum.org
http://linkedbrainz.org

9. Back to the Web
but…

10. Back to the Web

11. More on the Web
!
!
!
!
!
• This is (was?) the wrong picture

12. Two large graphs
• Goo
Google Knowledge Graph
disambiguates search entities
and provides data
Wikidata disambiguates Wikipedia
entities and provides data

13. Is this just about the Web?
• Can now include events
and people as Linked
Data in email
• Import into (different)
calendar
• Can announce music-
related events in Linked
Data and calendar
• Looking for richer model
for music for schema.org
This is now about
systems integration

14. Richer models
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
rich enough model to talk about
Yale’s Hadleigh Castle and relationship to ours

15. Untrue claims?
• For years a (naive) objection to Linked Data has
been:
• “If I publish my data and give my things identifiers
(URIs), won’t people make untrue claims?”
!
!
<http://collection.britishmuseum.org/id/object/YCA62958>
crm:P52_has_current_owner
<http://semanticweb.org/id/Barry_Norton>

16. ResearchSpace
• a reusable set of Linked Data-based components, making up
• a platform that allows researchers to make claims (additions and changes to
GLAM data) -
• that preserves and aggregates canonical data across Museums (LAMs),
• attributes claims,
• records arguments based on
• provenanced data annotation,
• image annotation
• forum-based discussion with explicit annotation
• will allow inference over claims

17. RS Search

18. RS Data Annotation

19. RS Image Annotation

20. RS ‘Data Basket’

21. RS Dashboard

22. RS (Conjunctive) Search

23. Fundamental Relationships