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.

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

4. Context > Archief 2.0
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
 Archief 2.0 thinktank in 3 keywords

5. Context > Archief 2.0 > 3 keywords
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
 Independent

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

7. Context > Archief 2.0 > 3 keywords
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013
 Open

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

9. Context > Archief 2.0 > 3 keywords
 Acting
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013

10. Context > Archief 2.0 > 3 keywords
 Acting
 Online community: 1500+ members
 (Un)conferences: Web 2.0 (2008), Pre-Conference KVAN
Days (2010), ArchiveCamp (2012)
 Share-and-Play sessions: Webarchiving (2009), Semantic
web (2010), Open data (2011), Standards and semantics
(2012), EU cookie legislation (2013)
 Lectures, courses and articles
 Projects: 23 Archive Things training course, ArchivesWiki
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013

11. ArchiefWiki > What?
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

17. ArchiefWiki > What? > 5 milestones
 Spring 2012: ArchiefWiki goes semantic
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

25. More information?
mail: tom@archiva.eu | twitter: @tomcobbaert
web: www.archiefwiki.org | twitter: @archiefwiki
community: www.archief20.org/group/archiefwiki
ArchiefWiki: share & conquer | APEx Conference | 28 June 2013