This was the introductory talk for a session called "Brave New World Cataloging: Using RDF and Linked Open Data for the Semantic Web" at the Visual Resources Association conference in March of 2014. The session description: RDF (Resource Description Format) and LOD (Linked Open Data) are two key components in the ongoing development of the Semantic Web (the structured linking of web-based information to enable users anywhere to find, share, and combine information more easily). Although we are used to working in information silos much of the time, the Semantic Web can allow data to be discovered, shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. The speakers will demonstrate how our existing data (from both VR collections and museums) can be transformed to the RDF format; how the effort can be shared in a community; and how LOD will affect and expand the tools we use daily to provide controlled vocabulary terms. PRESENTERS: Trish Rose-Sandler, Center for Biodiversity Informatics, Missouri Botanical Garden Jeffrey Mixter, Kent State University Research Support Georgina Goodlander, Smithsonian American Art Museum Patricia Harpring, Getty Vocabulary Program, Getty Research Institute

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What, How, and Why of Linked Open Data
Trish Rose-Sandler

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• Open Data refers to data or metadata that is made freely available to
the public with the express permission to reuse freely for any purpose,
though publishers may require attribution.
• Linked Data refers to data or metadata that is made available on the
web in a format that utilizes generally accepted markup and World Wide
Web protocol, much the way web pages utilize a code that allows them
to be read by web browsers.
• Linked Open Data refers to data or metadata made freely available
on the World Wide Web with a standard markup format.
~ Jon Voss, Radically Open Cultural Heritage Data on the Web
http://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2012/papers/radically_open_cultural_heritage_data_on_
the_w
What is Linked Open Data?

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How to Open Data
• One click downloads
• OAI-PMH harvesting
• APIs
• OpenURL
• Export files
Make data accessible and
downloadable both
individually and in bulk

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How to Open Data
Copyright and Licensing
• License metadata so it can be reused w/o restrictions

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How to Open Data
Copyright and Licensing
• If your content files
are no longer under
copyright then make
that status clear

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How to Open Data
Copyright and Licensing
If your content files are still under copyright and if your institution is the
copyright owner, encourage your institution to license the content as
openly as possible.
CCO
CC-BY
CC-BY-SA
CC-BY-NC

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How to Open Data
Copyright and Licensing
PDDL
ODC-By
ODC-ODbL
Definition from the Open Knowledge Foundation
“A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to use,
reuse, and redistribute it — subject only, at most, to the
requirement to attribute and/or share-alike.”

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How to Link Data
1. Use URIs as names for things
2. Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those names.
3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information,
using standards (RDF, SPARQL)
4. Include links to other URIs. so that they can discover more
things.
~Tim Berners Lee 2006

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How to Link Data
RDF Triples
<subject> <predicate> <object>

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How to Link Data
Include links to other URIs. so that they can discover
more things

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Benefits of LOD to your organization
• Increases discoverability and
promotes your collection
to new audiences
• Enables Data enrichment
• Stimulates creative reuse
• Can be less taxing on staff
resources

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Why is LOD important to cultural
heritage community?
“In line with institutional goals and mission with
reference to disseminating knowledge, playing a
role within the community, enabling innovation,
enhancing the web of knowledge”
JISC Open Bibliographic Data Guide

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Cultural heritage
LOD milestones

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Credits
Title slides 1 & 2 - Linking Open Data cloud diagram, by Richard Cyganiak and Anja Jentzsch retrieved
from http://lod-cloud.net/
Slide 9 – 4 LOD principles BernersLee, T. (2006a). Linked Data. Retrieved from
http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
Slide 10 – RDF graph and serialization W3C RDF 1.1. Primer retrieved from
http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/NOTE-rdf11-primer-20140225/
Slide 12 Image When Nature Takes Over Ms. Neaux Neaux retrieved from
http://http://tinyurl.com/pp8s4oa
Slide 13 Quote from JISC document Open Bibliographic Data Guide retrieved from
http://obd.jisc.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Open-Bibliographic-Data-The-Use-Cases.pdf
Slide 14 Open culture milestone timeline. Created by Lotte Belice Baltussen, (CC BY-SA
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 retrieved from
http://mw2013.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/open-culture-data-opening-glam-data-bottom-up/