Linked Data:Libraries and Beyond

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Linked Data:Libraries and Beyond

CO-ASIS&T

November 13, 2012

Jeff Young OCLC Research

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• Linked Data for Libraries (~15 minutes)

Introductory Video

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What is Linked Data?

A method of publishing structured data based on an ontology, using HTTP URI's as identifiers so that information can be linked within and across web domains.

Structured Data

URIs are the Identifiers

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What is an ontology?

A representation of knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, and the relationships between those concepts. This is typically the output of formal data modeling.

ClassesAttributes

Relationships

Individuals

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• Humans and machines share the same http URI-based API

• RDFa/Microdata markup embedded in HTML

• Content-negotiation (Cool URIs for the Semantic Web)

• RDF meta-model

• Statement-based syntax (triple)

• Domain-specific vocabulary specifications (RDFS/OWL)

Mechanisms for Interoperability

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4 Rules (“Steps”) of Linked 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 the standards (RDF*, SPARQL)

4. Include links to other URIs, so that they can discover more things

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Is Your Data 5 Star?

Available on the web (whatever format), but with an open license

Available as machine-readable structured data (e.g. excel instead of image scan of a table)

As (2), plus: non-proprietary format (e.g. CSV instead of excel)

All the above, plus: Use open standards from W3C (RDF and SPARQL) to identify things, so that people can point at your stuff

All the above, plus: Link your data to other people’s data to provide context

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Your Dataset Name Here1 Rule(URIs as names)

2 Rules(+HTTP URIs)

3 Rules(+Cool URIs)

4 Rules(+Crosslinks)

1 Star(On the Web)

2 Stars(+machine data)

3 Stars(+open format)

4 Stars(+RDF format)

5 Stars(+Crosslinks)

*Approximate or caveats

The Linked Data Corner

Push

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Your Dataset Name Here1 Rule(URIs as names)

2 Rules(+HTTP URIs)

3 Rules(+Cool URIs)

4 Rules(+Crosslinks)

1 Star(On the Web)

2 Stars(+machine data)

3 Stars(+open format)

4 Stars(+RDF format)

5 Stars(+Crosslinks)

*Approximate or caveats

The Linked Data CornerP

ush

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Your “Things” in the Cloud1 Rule(URIs as names)

2 Rules(+HTTP URIs)

3 Rules(+Cool URIs)

4 Rules(+Crosslinks)

1 Star(On the Web)

2 Stars(+machine data)

3 Stars(+open format)

4 Stars(+RDF format)

5 Stars(+Crosslinks)

LinkedData

*Approximate or caveats

Pushed

Pushed

June 19, 2012Dewey Team Releases All Levels plus captions as Linked DataApril 17, 2012

OCLC proposes ODC-By License at Global Council

April 15, 2012 OCLC Board of Trustees discusses ODC-BY License

Sept 2011-Feb 2012 “Team of Experts”

OCLC Releases Schema.org + Library markup

Worldcat.orgJune 20, 2012

2012

January 1, 2012 VIAF formally transitions to OCLC

Dec 14, 2011 OCLC Releases FAST as Linked Data

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What is Schema.org?

Schema.org is a collaboration between Bing, Google, Yahoo, and Yandex (Russian search engine). It is an agreed ontology for harvesting structured data from the web that creates efficiencies for the engines and allows sites more control of what is important to publish.

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Why is it important for OCLC?

What a cataloger does today…

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Why is it important for OCLC?

What linked data allows catalogers to do…

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Why is it important for OCLC?

What linked data allows catalogers to do…

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Why is it important for libraries?

[craft the elements of the house]

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Why is it important for libraries?

DDCDewey DecimalClassification

VIAFVirtual International

Authority File

FASTFaceted Application of Subject Terminology

Library of Congress

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Why is it important for libraries?

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Why is it important for libraries?

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Real Browser Plug-in Example

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• Core Principles

• Linked Data – Design Issues

• Starter videos

• Tim Berners-Lee on the next Web

• What is Linked Data?

• Danbri has moved on – should we follow?

• Linked Data for Libraries

• Core/starter vocabularies

• Schema.org

• GoodRelations (recently integrated into Schema.org)

More Information