Transcript the challenges in working across sectors in the light of the JISC Step

‘From A2A to Web 3.0’: local
authority archives and the
challenges in working across
sectors in the light of the JISC
Step change Linked Data project
Robert Baxter
Senior Archivist
Cumbria Archive Service
1. Where are we?
2. Step change project
3. Pointers for the future
1. Local government archives, their catalogues
and other online content - a brief overview of
the environment
• A traditional sector in decline? The challenges:
isolation, ICT support, workforce
• Models of change: corporate integration/online
integration/aggregation/standalone
• Open data/siloed data/data behind the paywall
• Sharing data – why bother?
Definitions
• “describes a method of publishing structured
data so that it can be interlinked and become
more useful. It builds upon standard Web
technologies such as HTTP and URIs, but
rather than using them to serve web pages
for human readers, it extends them to share
information in a way that can be read
automatically by computers. This enables
data from different sources to be connected
and queried” (wikipedia)
Basic principles: Sir TBL
• Use URIs to identify things.
• Use HTTP URIs so that these things can be referred to
and looked up ("dereferenced").
• Provide useful information about the thing when its URI is
dereferenced, using standard formats such as RDF/XML.
• Include links to other, related URIs in the exposed data to
improve discovery of other related information on the
Web.
Meaning...
• To embed the knowledge of an archivist to make
statements about entities – things and their
relationships online - searchable in a machinereadable way
• Unlocking more data than is described currently with
HTML and applying structure to it: archivists are good
at structure and categorisation...so potentially we
have the expertise to help evolve Linked Data...
The benefits
• Discoverability, bringing metadata out of the silo,
exposure to search engines
• To create new types of query and richer searches
beyond text search and retrieval
• To bring together archive, library and museum
descriptions or content created by different parts of
same local authority/locality
• To machine process links between same/similar
material held by different repositories
• To combine archive content with other types, eg.
Maps, audio-visual
2. JISC Step change project, 2012
• Partners: AIM25 (King’s College London), ULCC,
Historypin, Axiell, Cumbria Archive Service
• Turning the UK Archival Thesaurus into a Linked Data
version and live service
• Development of ‘ALICAT’ AIM25 workflow tool for
processing, validating and approving Linked Data ‘entities’
• Implementing Linked Data functionality in CALM
• Tool to connect archive descriptions with the Historypin
mapping service
JISC Step Change – Calm package
• Use of Calm in UK
• Allow archive repositories to consume and reuse
linked open data locally
• Complement work of aggregation services
(AIM25, Archives Hub, TNA etc)
JISC Step Change – CALM package
• ‘Using easily understood data models’ =ISAD(G)
in a CALM environment
• ‘Establishing data relationships by re-using
authoritative identifiers’: linking local CALM
records to national name/place/subject authorities
• ‘Optimising data for re-use’: locally created data
enhanced with LOD access points for re-use by
other aggregation services
JISC Step Change – CALM package –next steps
• Linked data utility will be released as part of version 10
upgrade later this year
• Latest CalmView release will incorporate means to display
links
• Much more work required to develop and render links in
CalmView for intelligent and instinctive use by researchers
• Ongoing development and testing by ourselves, main
CALM User Group and regional CALM User Groups
• Planned testing of front ends by local archive user focus
groups
What changes do libraries, museums and archives
need to be made to support better resource
discovery and do we still need to aggregate?
• We need to revisit the idea of "put it out there and it'll happen"
and be strategic about putting it where users are.
• Are aggregations effective? So should we not just leave
aggregation to Google etc and work at helping people to
publish/expose their data.
• But why do we aggregate? Is it to increase audiences, to
provide resources for specific projects or to enable users to
discover what we hold? Google doesn’t do that and existing
aggregators are imperfect: there are too many, none holds ‘all’
the data and users don’t know which to choose.
• Aggregate content or metadata? This should not be about
creating web portals but creating resources for other developers
to do useful things
3. ‘From A2A to Web 3.0’: a future data
environment for local government archives?
• National/international leads, particularly from Library Sector
• Crosswalks from these to other authorities (VIAF model)
• Need for proper LD authority services for UK archives (NRA, UKAT,
MDR etc)
• Involve aggregation services (AIM25, Archives Hub, TNA) in
development of linked data utilities for archivists to ensure accurate and
appropriate reuse for wider LD transformation and exposure
• Cooperation and partners: local authority peers, TNA, HE sector
• Opportunities – commercial publishers/aggregators/HE led projects
• Embedding data sharing as part of the job