This document discusses Europeana 1914-1918, a project that aggregates World War 1 cultural heritage objects from various European countries and provides metadata for the objects. It connects the data using semantic web technologies like the Europeana Data Model and linked open data vocabularies. This allows integration of multilingual and diverse resources about WW1 from different institutions. It developed its own controlled vocabulary translated into several languages and linked to external vocabularies. The project aims to encourage reuse of this linked data by WW1 research communities and hopes to integrate with other datasets to provide a more comprehensive view of WW1.

1. Europeana 1914-1918, User-Generated
Content and Linked Open Data
Valentine Charles
July 1st
2015, Sydney, Digital Humanities

2. Europeana, a platform for cultural heritage
 Aggregates metadata from the
cultural heritage sector in Europe
• Libraries, museums, archives and
audio-visual archives
• Metadata in 33 languages
 Provides a portal for users to access
data and objects
• Metadata under Creative Commons
Zero - public domain
• Previews and links to source

3. Connecting Europe in the First World War

4. Connecting Europe in the First World War
http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/

5. European 1914-1918
 Austria- Greece -The Netherlands – France –
Slovakia – Romania- Italy- Belgium – Cyprus -
Denmark Ireland –UK- Slovenia – Luxembourg
- Germany, Portugal- Croatia – Poland-
Bosnia - Serbia

6. A European scope brings lot of challenges
 Resources of different natures
• Films, pictures, postcards, shells, bibles
• Testimony, transcriptions
 From many countries and in many different languages
 Record different viewpoints
• National perspective
• Official vs uncensored
• Institutional vs user-generated content

7. Linked Data to solve the problem of data
integration (1)
 A rich data framework: the Europeana Data Model (EDM)
• Re-uses several existing Semantic Web-based models: Dublin Core, OAI-
ORE, SKOS, CIDOC-CRM…
• Allows the description of more granular metadata
• Creates a “semantic layer” on top of connected cultural heritage objects
(place, concept, people, timespan)

8. Linked Data to solve the problem of data
integration (2)
 Relying on Linked Open Data vocabularies to bridge the
semantic and multilingual gap
 Europeana 1914-1918 developed its own vocabulary based on
a subset of LCSH
• Terms translated in 10 languages and linked to id.loc.gov
 Links also created to Dbpedia
 Published in SKOS via the OpenSkos vocabulary service

9. http://data.europeana.eu/concept/loc/sh85148236

10. http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/9200140/Bi
bliographicResource_3000022622702.html

11. http://www.seco.tkk.fi/projects/core/
Core Contextual Reader

12. Integrate with other Linked Datasets

13. Conclusion
 Encourage the re-use of the vocabulary and the data by WW1
communities
 Alignment with other vocabularies to make our collections more
interoperable
 Linking to other datasets to cover all the aspects of WW1

14. Questions
 Should we define standards on how cultural heritage
institutions should describe WW1 materials so that it is easily
findable by researchers? (ex: First World War vs Great War)
 What researchers would need in terms of linking that cultural
heritage institutions could work on?
 WW1 materials across Europe and probably the world are
similar but are studied in a different way and often from a
national view point. Should the WW1 study practices converge
so that we can get a cross border and cross discipline view on
the conflict?

15. Thank you !
valentine.charles@europeana.eu
Valentine Charles