museumsandtheweb.com - Semantic Web

Using an RDF Data Pipeline to Implement Cross-Collection Search

dhenry — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:43:40 +0000

MW2012

David Henry and Eric Brown, Missouri History Museum, USA

http://www.mohistory.org

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to transforming data from many diverse sources in support of a semantic cross-collection search application. It describes the vision and goals for a semantic cross-collection search and examines the challenges of supporting search of that kind using very diverse data sources. The paper makes the case for supporting semantic cross-collection search using semantic web technologies and standards including Resource Descriptive Framework (RDF), SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL ), and an XML mapping language. The Missouri History Museum has developed a prototype method for transforming diverse data sources into a data repository and search index that can support a semantic cross-collection search. The method presented in this paper is a data pipeline that transforms diverse data into localized RDF; then transforms the localized RDF into more generalized RDF graphs using common vocabularies; and ultimately transforms generalized RDF graphs into a Solr search index to support a semantic cross-collection search. Limitations and challenges of this approach are detailed in the paper.

Program Item Reference:

Using an RDF Data Pipeline to Implement Cross Collection Search

Reprogramming The Museum

luke.dearnley — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:32:16 +0000

MW2011

Luke Dearnley, Powerhouse Museum, Australia

Abstract

This paper looks at how the Powerhouse Museum's collection data API launched in 2010 quantitatively and qualitatively improves upon the access provided by the download dataset previously offered, as well as how the tracking methods were built into the API to ensure that the project is best able to adapt to the user needs of API developers. It provides details on the lessons learned and suggests best practices for API development in the cultural sector.

Keywords: Web 2.0, API, collection access, Flickr, semantic web, Creative Commons

Program Item Reference:

Reprogamming the Museum

Building Linked Data For Cultural Information Resources In Japan

Tetsuro Kamura — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:29:59 +0000

MW2011

Tetsuro Kamura, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies; Hideaki Takeda, Ikki Ohmukai and Fumihiro Kato, The National Institute of Informatics; Toru Takahashi, ATR Media Information Science Laboratories; Hiroshi Ueda, ATR-Promotions.inc, JAPAN

http://lod.ac/

Abstract

Museum information in Japan is maintained distributedly and nonuniformly. This leads to difficulty in crossover searching for museum information. The LODAC (Linked Open Data for ACademia) project is building a prototype system (LODAC-Museum) to aggregate information across multiple sources. We identify and associate artists and works from different museum collections to provide integrated views for them. The key technology is Linked Data. All the aggregated data is transformed to the standard metadata schema and linked to each other via generated ID resources.

Keywords: Linked Data, Linked Open Data (LOD), Semantic Web, Metadata, RDF, Museum information

Program Item Reference:

Building LOD for cultural information resources in Japan

Digital Environment for Cultural Interfaces: Promoting Heritage, Education and Research

puffo25 — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:43:12 +0000

MW2011

Andrea de Polo, Alinari 24 ORE SpA, Italy

http://www.decipher-research.eu/

Abstract

DECIPHER proposes new solutions to the whole range of narrative construction, knowledge visualisation and display problems, with a high degree of future proofing. It will produce a step change in the process by combining much richer, event-based metadata with causal reasoning models. This will result in a reasoning engine, virtual environment and interfaces that can present digital heritage objects as part of a coherent narrative, directly related to individual searches and user contexts. This will allow users to interactively assemble, visualise and explore, not just collections of objects, but the knowledge structures that connect and give them meaning.

Keywords: digital heritage, semantic Web, 3D, immersive navigation, virtual environment, cultural knowledge

Program Item Reference:

DECIPHER-Digital Environment for Cultural Interfaces; Promoting Heritage, Education and Research European Based Research Project

The CollectionWeb Digital Ecosystems: A Semantic Web and Web 2.0 Framework for generating Museum Web sites

biblio — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:34:50 +0000

Eklund, P., Lawson A., Goodall P., Hijazi F., & Wray T. (2010). The CollectionWeb Digital Ecosystems: A Semantic Web and Web 2.0 Framework for generating Museum Web sites. (Trant, Jennifer, David Bearman, Ed.).Museums and the Web 2010. Proceedings.

Reprogamming the Museum

luke.dearnley — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:54:19 +0000

MW2011

Published Paper:

Reprogramming The Museum

Keywords:

API

Keywords:

collections

Keywords:

Semantic Web

Keywords:

Web 2.0

Keywords:

Web applications

Keywords:

museum practice

Keywords:

collections online

Abstract:

Many museums have been busy building APIs since the Brookyln Museum set the example, and in 2009 the Powerhouse made the decision to offer a much of its collection data downloadable as a data dump. The decision was primarily a pragmatic one, as the Museum wanted to test the waters and examine how the data might be best used before dedicating resources to developing a full API. The release of data was timed to coincide with a number of 'government 2.0' activities occurring in Australia, and it was hoped that by providing downloadable data, it would be used in government 2.0 mashup contest. In the end, several individuals in the contests did make use of the data - the most notable being Flip Explorer, a dynamic catalogue created for in-gallery use by two developers who were not known to the Powerhouse. However the best usage was by the Digital NZ project that incorporated it into their search - thus providing access across many New Zealand websites.

Drawing on the in-sector work of Bernstein (2008), Ellis (2008, 2009), and Morgan (2009) as well as that of Digital NZ; as well as similar APIs provided by Flickr, Open Library, OCLC Worldcat and others, the Powerhouse has reconsidered the appropriate functionality of a museum API.

As the Powerhouse had already deployed several techniques to add value and meaning to the collection data - 'folksonomic' tags drawn both from the Powerhouse site and the Flickr Commons, as well as Flickr comments and geolocation data (and more) about objects, as well as semantic information mined using Thompson Reuters' Calais Tagging API; and an extensive log of the relationships between search terms and objects - it was decided that this structured data should also be made available.

This is in stark contrast to the original data dump that simply contained a subset of descriptive fields about collection objects. Thus the enhanced API allows access into our collection from the starting point of themes, collections, categories, subjects and object popularity rather than just objects.

Drawing on the work of Chan (2010) the API use and its resulting output is able to be tracked in some detail, allowing the Museum to monitor the return on investment of the the provision of the API service.

This paper looks at how the API launched in 2010 quantitatively and qualitatively improves upon the access provided by the data dump, as well as how the tracking methods were built into the API to ensure that the project is best able to adapt to the user needs of API developers. It provides details on the lessons learned and suggests best practices for API development in the cultural sector.

Type:

Paper - in formal session

Collections Online

Authors:

Luke Dearnley