Metadata in the Age of Data Curation and Linked Data

RYAN E. JOHNSON

UCSD, 3/17/2014

Thank you! (Spring time in Syracuse)

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.

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

From Linked Data to Libraries

Tim Berners-LeeInventor, World Wide Web

Created concept of Linked Data

Kingsley IdehenCEO, OpenLink Software

Open Linked Data Expert

Karen CoyleLibrarian, Consultant

Strategizes library Linked Data

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]

What are Libraries Doing About Linked Data? WorldCat implemented Linked Data in millions of its records in 2012, using

schema.org

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

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

Huge Impact: Serendipity via "Follow Your Nose" Browsing

DPLASearch "langston hughes"

DPLA ResultsFind a Southern Cal. mural

USC CollectionsCan see the object and metadata

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

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