Speaker: Joan Cobb, Getty Research Institute, "The Getty Datasets and the Semantic Web"

1. The Getty Datasets and the Semantic Web
Joan Cobb
Technical Lead, Getty Vocabularies, J. Paul Getty Trust
Europeana Network Association AGM Riga, Latvia, 8-9 November 2016
jcobb
@getty.edu

2. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
The J. Paul Getty Trust
A cultural and philanthropic institution dedicated to the presentation,
conservation, and interpretation of the world’s artistic legacy.
www.getty.edu

3. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
The Getty
Foundation
The Getty
Conservation Institute
The Getty
Research Institute
The J. Paul Getty
Museum
Constituent Programs of the J. Paul Getty Trust

4. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
The Getty’s Open Content Program
Began in August 2013 with the release of
roughly 6,400 high-resolution images
from the collections of the Getty Museum
and the Getty Research Institute
The Getty Search Gateway now contains
more than 1 million items
http://search.getty.edu/gateway/landing

5. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
The Challenge
To find a way to publish the Getty’s datasets
as Linked Open Data
that would preserve the richness of the content

6. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Some 2013 LOD Influences
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Tim Berners-Lee TED Talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_berners_lee_the_year_open_data_went_worldwide.html
Dr. Zeng delivered a 62
page report on why we
should care about the
semantic web
Wanted very much to align
with the Getty Vocabs
Eero Hyvönen’s book
Publishing and Using Cultural Heritage
Linked Data on the Semantic Web
Europeana Video –
Sometimes a picture is worth a
thousand words – in this case,
it’s a video
http://vimeo.com/36752317

7. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
The Getty Vocabularies
were the first datasets to be published as LOD
Reasons:
• AAT, TGN, and ULAN were already linked by design
• The data was clean
• We had complete control of the custom, in-house developed, databases and applications that
support and publish the Getty vocabularies
• We had been receiving request for years to publish these datasets as LOD
• The Getty vocabularies would help to connect the rest of the Getty resources to each other

8. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
AAT AAT
AAT
Vocabularies Provide Access Points to Works of Art
http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/548
TGN
ULAN

9. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Another Example of Enhanced Access
http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/1155/

10. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Where do the terms and concepts come from?
Example of some of the top contributors

11. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
International Terminology Working Group
August 2010 November 2011
August 2016
January 2013
September 2014

12. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Art & Architecture Thesaurus®
Current totals
57,824 concepts
370,310 terms
Scope includes generic terms for
work types, roles, materials, styles,
cultures, techniques, attributes,
abstract concepts
AAT
Released as LOD
20 February 2014

13. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names®
Current totals
2,518,360 places
4,064,885 terms
Scope includes cities, nations,
empires, archaeological sites,
physical features
TGN
Released as LOD
21 August 2014

14. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Released as LOD
30 April 2015
Union List of Artist Names®
Current totals
262,443 agents
682,328 names
Scope includes artists, architects,
firms, studios, patrons, sitters;
named and anonymous
ULAN

15. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Bi-weekly exports to
Linked Open Data
Publication Cycle
Editorial System
(VCS)
Bi-weekly exports to the
public web sites
Web Service APIs
Batch
Online
Forms
Contributions to
AAT, TGN, ULAN, & CONA
Relational Table
Releases

16. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Human-readable Data
http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300198841 http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300198841
Machine-readable Data

17. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
© 2016 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Joan Cobb. For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.
Machine-readable Data Formats Available
JSON JSONLD RDF
N-Triples N3/Turtle

18. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
General Information Site
Target audience:
Anyone interested in general
information about the project
http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/lod/index.html

19. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
SPARQL Endpoint
http://vocab.getty.edu/
Target audience:
Technical developers who are
interested in making use of
the machine-readable data
94 pages of in-depth
documentation
40 diagrams
full datasets

20. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Close to
100
Sample SPARQL
Queries

21. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
To join send email to
gettyvocablod+subscribe
@googlegroups.com
Public Discussion Forum
• Ask questions
• Discuss Issues
• Find solutions
• Share usage stories
• Learn from each other
© 2016 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Joan Cobb. For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.

22. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Tracking Usage Can Be Difficult
• Once data is truly open it is difficult to track usage.
• Usage is often not visible because the LOD links are part of
the machine code that create what is visible.
• Ways we know the data is being used:
• Comments on Twitter
• Comments on other cultural heritage sites like Europeana or
LODLAM (Linked Open Data for Libraries, Archives, and Museums)
• Discussions on our public forum
• Publications
• Email from users

23. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Usage Stories
• To date, we have received 42 usage stories from people
kind enough to let us know how they are making use of
the LOD publications of AAT, TGN and ULAN.
• In the future we want to provide links to these resources
from the Getty’s LOD sites.
• The following slides show some examples of usage.

24. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
EADitor
Ethan Gruber
US Numismatic Society
Nomisma.org
Kerameikos.org
© 2014 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Joan Cobb .For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.

25. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
http://pro.europeana.eu/pro-blog/-/blogs/2293682
© 2014 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Joan Cobb .For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.

26. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
http://www.partage-plus.eu/
Partage Plus
Digitising and Enabling
Art Nouveau for
Europeana
© 2014 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Joan Cobb .For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.

27. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Indexing Plugin
for
Adobe Bridge
Greg Reser
UC San Diego
Library
© 2014 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Joan Cobb .For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.

28. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
© 2014 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Joan Cobb .For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.
Athanasios Velios
Ligatus
University of the
Arts London
Now includes all three
vocabularies
https://www.drupal.org/sandbox/avelios/2328571

29. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Thomas Gilcrease
Museum
Tulsa, Oklahoma
About the Creator
Information comes
from ULAN LOD

30. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
Academia Sinica
Digitization of the
works of
Chengpo Chen
(1895-1947)
Using AAT LOD to bridge between the descriptions of the artworks
in the Chen collection and those in other collections in the world.
© 2014 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Joan Cobb .For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.

31. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
What’s Next?
Connect the silos in the process
• Museum Objects
• Library resources
• Provenance
• Conservation
• Research
• Images
• Getty Vocabularies
Build on Vocabularies to
Transform Cultural Heritage Resources as “Open Content” through
Linked Open Data (LOD) and
International Image Interoperability Framework

32. TheGettyDatasets
andtheSemanticWeb
jcobb
@getty.edu
With thanks to my Getty colleagues:
Patricia Harpring
Managing Editor, Getty Vocabularies
pharpring@getty.edu
Gregg Garcia
Lead Developer, Getty Vocabularies
ggarcia@getty.edu
Murtha Baca, Head
Digital Art History Program
mbaca@getty.edu
Rob Sanderson
Semantic Architect
rsanderson@getty.edu
Joan Cobb
Technical Lead, Getty Vocabularies
The J. Paul Getty Trust
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049
jcobb@getty.edu