What is the role of Linked Data in libraries? What have libraries done, and what more could they do?

1. Metadata in the
Age of Data
Curation and
Linked Data
RYAN E. JOHNSON
UCSD, 3/17/2014

2. Thank you! (Spring time in Syracuse)

3. The Topic:
 In the age of data curation, there
are many new developments in
metadata. Talk about how controlled
vocabulary authorities and linked
data resources impact the
management and functionality of
digital objects.

4. The Age of Data Curation (Welcome!)
 Data curation:
Maintaining data throughout its lifecycle
 Data possibilities:
Analysis, data reuse, data mining, preservation, discovery
 These needs drive new approaches to metadata

5. From Linked Data to Libraries
Tim Berners-Lee
Inventor, World Wide Web
Created concept of Linked Data
Kingsley Idehen
CEO, OpenLink Software
Open Linked Data Expert
Karen Coyle
Librarian, Consultant
Strategizes library Linked Data

6. Linked Data is Everything
 Tim Berners-Lee:
Linked Data is “Everything you can think about”
 “Things” are entities, links express relationships to other things
 Kingsley Idehen:
“The most basic unit of Linked Data value is the hyperlink” [an
http URI, aka URL]

7. What are Libraries Doing About Linked Data?
 WorldCat implemented Linked Data in millions of its records in 2012, using schema.org

8. Controlled Vocabulary Authorities
 The VIAF makes international authority control possible, links with
Wikipedia: 18.4m name records as of 2011
 LCSH, LC Names, and LCC now served up as URIs, links to VIAF, then
Wikipedia, DBPedia, Freebase

9. What are the Impacts?
 Metadata has made both humans and computers discover
relationships between objects, entities
 Huge aggregators (OCLC, DPLA, Europeana) connect hubs, less
redundancy of objects needed
 Metadata and data curation occurs as early in data lifecycle as
possible

10. Huge Impact: Serendipity via
"Follow Your Nose" Browsing
DPLA
Search "langston hughes"
DPLA Results
Find a Southern Cal. mural
USC Collections
Can see the object and
metadata

11. What Else Could Libraries Do?
 Harness structured data to provide Google Rich Snippets, Twitter
Cards (where users are)
 Imagine Linked Data creation within a small scale implementation;
create tools
 Find a way to increase incentives for researchers to curate,
describe, and preserve their research data
 Continue to iterate BIBFRAME and RDA to be data friendly

12. Acknowledgements
 Karen Coyle: "Linked Data First Steps and Catch-21" Blog post,
"Library Linked Data: an evolution"
 Tim Berners-Lee: "The Next Web" TED Talk
 Kingsley Idehen: "Linked Data Follow Your Nose Browsing" Google+
post
 Thanks to the DPLA, USC Collections, Library of Congress