This document discusses the development of linked data and the semantic web over the past 13 years. It outlines how initially the goal was to build the semantic web as a precursor to use, but that approach changed to focus on publishing data so that people could start building applications using that data incrementally. Two examples are given of published linked data sets from the British Museum and LinkedBrainz. The document argues that linked data is now about enabling systems integration across different applications and domains. It also addresses concerns about publishing linked data leading to untrue claims, and introduces ResearchSpace, a platform for researchers to make annotated claims and arguments about GLAM data using linked data techniques.

1. GLAMorous
Linked Data
Dr. Barry Norton,
Development Manager, ResearchSpace*
The British Museum
* supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
National Gallery of Art,
Washington DC
April 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