GOKb, the Global Open Knowledge base

What it builds on, and what it can build

John Mark OckerbloomUniversity of Pennsylvania

Code4Lib Mid-Atlantic, October 17, 2012

Why GOKb?• Managing electronic resources now involves lots of

redundant information management– Across institutions

– (Penn, Lehigh, Villanova….)– Across systems within an institution

– (e-resource discovery, catalog, link resolver, ERM, subscriptions)• Info about electronic resources has both global and local

components– What’s offered generally; what your inst. takes & manages– Global components can be managed globally

• We can build systems, communities to manage global info– Drawing on open source, linked open data principles

A community coming together

• Kuali OLE institutions• JISC: KB+ project• Mellon Foundation• Previous standards work• DLF: ERMI

• Requirements & workflows for acquiring, managing e-resources• UKSG/NISO: KBART

• Data standards for simple information about offered e-resources• W3C: Linked data/semantic web

• Flexible ways to represent and link together structured information in open, standardized, extensible ways

What will GOKb produce?

• Flexible data model supporting ERM tasks• covering all types of electronic resources• Initial emphasis: journals

• Active repository of electronic resource data• With no restrictions on use (CC0)

• Open mechanisms for accessing the data• APIs usable both by OLE and other library

applications

How GOKb will roll out

• Mellon project: June 2012-June 2014• Will produce first version of deliverables

• Immediate follow-on support by OLE• Variety of data, APIs may increase

• Developing long-term plan for governance, support• You can help

Title Instance

Title

Package

Platform

Each entity has:-- Global unique Identifiers-- Properties-- Possibly associated documents

SubscriptionPackage

IssueEntitlement

Use statistics

Global data Local data

Contents alerts

Bill of materials model

<http://gokb.org/titleinstance/is1878-2850> a bibo:Journal , gokb:TitleInstance; rdfs:label ”Academic Pediatrics" ; bibo:issn ”1878-2859" ; dcterms:publisher <http://gokb.org/org/Elsevier> ;

(all data and structureshypothetical)

The GOKb pipeline• Gather data– FTP, feeds, manual entry…

• Normalize format and syntax– Standard conversion routines

• Refine the content– Rules engine (now evaluating possibilities)

• Distribute– Via query APIs, websites, bulk downloads

• An editorial as well as programmatic process

Where does the data come from?• From publishers and platform hosts– Bulk data often dirty, needing correction– Not a one-time process, need updating

• From participating libraries– Specialized (and open access?) resources– Corrections and additions (data and rules)– Imports from JISC’s KB+ database

• From external partners– via links involving GOKb identifiers

Linked open data

(Image from cafepress.com, which sells the mug at http://www.cafepress.com/+5_star_linked_open_data_mug,597992118 )

What can we do with this data?• Consume it!• Improve it!• Extend it?– How to get to resources? (link resolver data)– Which resources are open access?– Which are being preserved?– What rights apply to resources?– What are the contents?– Where can I get free versions of the content?

Extension: Rights & open access

Extension: Tables of contents

Extension: Self-archiving

Extension: Preservation info

Some things to think about• How can you build or configure your local

systems to take advantage of GOKb data?• How can you help improve the quantity and

quality of data in GOKb?• What useful new applications can you make

with GOKb data?• What useful additional data can you link with

GOKB data?

More information

• GOKB website: http://gokb.org/– (right now a blog; will have more info)

• Kuali OLE website: http://www.kuali.org/ole– (And stick around for Michelle Suranofsky’s talk)

• We’d love to hear about your needs & ideas– My email: ockerblo@pobox.upenn.edu