This document discusses ArchiefWiki, an online collaborative project started by Dutch and Flemish archivists to share archival knowledge and resources. It began in 2007 to digitize and share archival reference works openly online. There are two main projects - an archival terminology wiki with over 700 terms from various sources, and an interactive map of over 270 Dutch archives. The wiki aims to promote collaboration and improve searchability through semantic annotation of structured data. Future plans include expanding query options, export features, and linking additional open data and vocabularies.
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer. Collaborative success of independent knowledge sharing
1. ArchiefWiki: share & conquer
collaborative success of independent knowledge sharing
Tom Cobbaert | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
2. Context > “It is I”
Archivist / Head of Collections @ ADVN
archives and research centre for Flemish nationalism
and national movements in Europe
Archivist @ NISE
research platform on national movements in Europe
Business owner @ ArchivA
consultancy and services in bringing small collections
and heritage projects online
Board member @ VVBAD
Flemish association for librarians, archivists and
documentalists
Founding member @ Archief 2.0
Dutch-Flemish community of archivists
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
3. Context > Archief 2.0
2007 - “foundation”
online community to share experiences, ideas and
knowledge
archivist’s 2.0 manifesto, because web 2.0 is
“an attitude rather than technology” (T. O’Reilly) -
“turning archival thinking upside down” (T. Thomassen)
2008 - “1st anniversary”
reaching 100 members
organizing a first succesful conference on web 2.0 in
archives
2009 - “growing up”
core members form the Archief 2.0 thinktank
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
6. Context > Archief 2.0 > 3 keywords
Independent
Thinktank members have diverse backgrounds
public archives, private archives, consultants etc.
but participation is voluntary and individual
Grassroots:
you don’t need to be an organization to be organized
activities and projects grow out of a loose idea being picked up
finances are based on crowd funding or the occasional sponsor
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
8. Context > Archief 2.0 > 3 keywords
Open
Enabling the choice for (r)evolution in archives attitude
2007-2013:
different tools
social media vs open data, linked data, semantic web
same attitude
open towards users in sharing information
open towards colleagues in sharing knowledge
open towards archives/archivists in collaboration
“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we
exchange these apples then you and I will still each have
one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and
we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two
ideas.” (B. Shaw)
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
12. ArchiefWiki > What?
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
Aims:
Digitization of archival reference works and distributing it
as open content for archivists and archives users
Through the development of a digital point of reference,
giving new life to and update these ‘classics’
Promote the use of wiki’s as a collaborative tool for archives
and exchange best practices and experiences with
MediaWiki-software and extensions
5 years of ArchiefWiki in 5 milestones
13. ArchiefWiki > What? > 5 milestones
September 2007: the conception of the idea at
Informatie conference in Ghent (BE)
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
14. ArchiefWiki > What? > 5 milestones
Spring 2008: digitization of lexicon Archiefterminologie
Nederland en Vlaanderen
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
15. ArchiefWiki > What? > 5 milestones
June 2009: official presentation of ArchiefWiki at
KVAN Dagen (NL) conference
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
16. ArchiefWiki > What? > 5 milestones
November 2010: 1st ArchiefWiki Input Day
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
18. ArchiefWiki > What? > Projects
Two major projects:
Archival terminology
Map and guide to Dutch archives
Hosting collaborative projects:
best practices (such as building expertise, open data),
standards, translation of ICA texts etc.
Input:
product of a community of many helping hands
fostered by annual Input Days
professionals as well as archives enthousiasts; everyone
contributes in the way they prefer
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
19. ArchiefWiki > Terminology
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
Setup:
Making Dutch archival terminology free and online
available for everyone (with an interest in archives)
2008: 183 terms of Archiefterminologie van Nederland en
Vlaanderen (2003)
Expanding with other reference works
2013: 724 terms of a dozen sources
Lexicons: Archiefterminologie. Archieftermen voor gebruik in het
Rijksarchief (1990), Terminologie voor grafische archivalia
(1989), Lexicon van Nederlandse archieftermen (1983) etc.
Manuals: Handleiding voor het ordenen en beschrijven van
archieven (1898) etc.
Standards: ISAD(G), NEN-ISO 15489 23081, ReMaNo, ED3 etc.
Legislation: Flemish archival decree etc.
20. ArchiefWiki > Terminology
Model:
Description for each lexicon
Redirecting synonymous terms
Contextual page for each source where all terms
originating from that source are grouped
Linking to other existing terms within definitions
Basic thesaurus functions (USE/UF, BT, NT, RT)
External reference(s)
Example image(s)
Discussion page per term
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
21. ArchiefWiki > Archives Map
Map of archives and organizations in the Netherlands:
Initially based on Almanak van het Nederlands
Archiefwezen (the “yellow pages” of Dutch archives)
Digitized, updated and expanded by archives and users
2013: 271 archives and organizations
Enhanced:
Mash-up of Google Maps and archives information pages
Visualization of geographic work areas
Historical context of geographic work areas
Social media integration
Increasing requests for re-use of data > going semantic
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
22. ArchiefWiki > Going semantic
What?
Semanticizing: give meaning to words by (machine-
readable) annotation
Why?
Standard wiki:
is no more than plain text connected by hyperlinks
is perfect to share and edit information
but terrible to manage and control structured data
has limited search options (full text)
Semantic wiki:
allows complex search queries
allows automatic creation of reports
allows standardized data structure
facilitates re-use: exporting and linking (open) data
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
23. ArchiefWiki > Going semantic
How?
Semantic MediaWiki: wiki extension
that offers semantic functionalities
≠ auto-semanticizing wiki data
Work plan (2012):
Selection of dataset: Archives Map project
Standardizing data structure: ISDIAH
Definition of datatypes and properties (semantic annotation)
Manual conversion of data
Re-use testcase: www.OnsDNA.nl
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
24. ArchiefWiki > Future?
Plans & Dreams
Expand query options: e.g. on-the-fly map rendering
Expand export facilities: e.g. implementation EAG
Linking existing open data / vocabularies
Semanticizing the terminology project
Internationalization of the terminology project:
linking/adding foreign archival terminologies
Etc.
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013