Mia,
On behalf of lurkers, thank you! This has been a very interesting thread.
I certainly agree that not focusing on the technical aspect of linked data when trying to get buy-in from a cultural heritage institution is critical. Explaining how LOD can support the institution's data strategic plan should be our focus instead. I am not sure what the future holds for us in terms of linked data services for smaller institutions but it seems to me that regardless subject experts and curators should be invited to the linked data conversation. The usefulness of their research and knowledge in the semantic web is at stake. It seems to me that it is on data folks and technologists to engage scholars, and let them know about the opportunities offered by linked data. I have been thinking about that for a little while, and presenting linked data based scholarly projects at scholars conferences (CAA for example) might be a way to achieve that. To answer Mia's question, data questions from scholars do reach me but very rarely directly so it is clear to me that I need to reach out.
Best,
Emmanuelle
Emmanuelle Delmas-Glass
Collections Data Manager
Collections Information and Access
Yale Center for British Art
203-410-4069
http://britishart.yale.edu/collections/search
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mia
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2016 8:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Open cultural data in 2016
I'm not sure if I'm being contrary or determinedly cheerful, but perhaps it depends where you look for progress? For example, if Europeana are able to offer linked data services and APIs for contributing institutions, it saves a lot of individual technical projects. Institutions shouldn't have to know how to support linked data, but they should know the value of using services that will create it for them as part of general collections documentation.
With the benefit of hindsight, I think we've made a few mistakes in how we've thought and talked about linked data in the past. One has been trying to work out the technical and vocabulary issues without helping the entire institution understand why it matters - how does an investment in this help reduce costs, make it easier to build websites and internal tools, increase scholarly uses of collections, or get more people through the door or viewing content online?
We should also be careful to differentiate between the work that institutions should be doing and work they can support others doing. A lot of the work of linking collections to narratives and events happens outside the institution as researchers work on particular paintings, natural history specimens, manuscripts, etc, and while we can support that by publishing records online, it's unlikely that many institutions can create or link to rich contextual records about everything in their collections.
I'd be curious to know how museums respond to scholars who ask about working with their structured data - do questions like that even reach technologists? There's lots of interesting work going on in the digital humanities, but do you hear about it?
I always love hearing new voices on the list, but don't underestimate the lurkers! Posts go out to lots of people who discuss them without ever posting to the list.
Cheers, Mia
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On 4 February 2016 at 10:16, Mike Lowndes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> It's quite disappointing that in the almost 10 years (!) since the
> semantic web think tank, so little progress has been made. But then,
> part of the reason I left the sector at that time was the COMPLETE
> indifference my then institution displayed towards the work I was
> doing with MCG, and the federated meta search tools we had developed
> internally (which could have been developed as a linked data source).
> It's great to see Richard and Mia still holding the candle, and Mike still calling the reality gaps.
>
> >I would be delighted to be told I'm wrong, but my impression is that
> most UK institutions don't really 'get' the open/linked data idea, and
> where they do, they have no idea how to go about supporting or
> implementing
>
> So many institutions still do not 'get it' but is the sector now in a
> place where a minimum rule set or framework for data availability
> cannot be agreed and distributed? Enough to allow you as thought
> leaders to demonstrate what's possible with the data? Basically we
> should be working on that answer to Mike E's point 2.
>
> > I see Linked Data URLs as a means to end: a common frame
> of reference in a shared information space, full of stories. We need
> to work out what concepts we share an interest in, and create Linked
> Data resources for them. They will be people, places, historical
> events, classes of object, /not /the individual objects in our collections.
>
> Interesting, a top down approach! While the context of objects are the
> stories, it's the stories that institutions create and mediate. In
> fact they measure success via the impact of the stories that interpret
> the objects. Not sure engaging stories can emerge from linked data directly.
> But of course part of the vision of the semantic web was to enable
> people to create their own stories through searching/browsing. Linked
> data around objects provide the context and enable us to build new
> stories, but me it's still the objects (digital surrogates, pointers
> to physical availability) that are important, so we can experience
> them, make unexpected connections etc.
>
> Also it's a shame that with the exception of Jamie, it's the same
> voices discussing this as 10 years ago...
>
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