Linked Open Data

Linked Data is about using the Web to “connect related data that wasn’t previously linked, or using the Web to lower the barriers to linking data currently linked using other methods” (Linkeddata.org). More specifically, Wikipedia defines Linked Data as “a term used to describe a recommended best practice for exposing, sharing, and connecting pieces of data, information, and knowledge on the Semantic Web using URIs and RDF.” 

The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is a collaborative effort led by W3C with participation from a large number of researchers and industrial partners.

The W3C is the home of  the Linked Library Incubator Group, whose mission “is to help increase global interoperability of library data on the Web, by bringing together people involved in Semantic Web activities—focusing on Linked Data—in the library community and beyond, building on existing initiatives, and identifying collaboration tracks for the future.”

Few library institutions have begun work to design or develop the infrastructure required to use Linked Data as the basis of the environments and tools used for creating, managing, delivering, and sharing the information that supports discovery and navigation services for the collections and resources they deliver.

In May 2010, CLIR and its DLF program, in partnership with the British Library, held a Global Digital Libraries Linked Data workshop to better understand the Semantic Web and envision its application in a library context. By the end of the workshop, it was clear that there was a great need for a coordinated effort to continue exploring the impact Linked Data will have on libraries, as well as demonstrative projects. Linked Open Data is a complex concept that requires many conversations to successfully seed and mobilize efforts within the library, archives, and museum communities.

Resources

Session Notes from 2011 DLF Forum – Moving Forward: Examining the Needs to Re-tool LAMs Data

The Semantic Link (Monthly Podcast)

Linked Data: Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space – Tom Heath and Christian Bizer

Be Part of the Web – Not Just On It: Report of the Stanford Linked Data Workshop, 27 June – 1 July, 2011 – CLIR

Literature Survey in Support of Stanford Linked Data Workshop June 27 – July 1, 2011 – CLIR

What is Linked Data? – Mike Bergman

Linked Data: The Story So Far – Christian Bizer, Tom Heath, and Tim Berners-Lee

State of the LOD Cloud – Chris Bizer, Anja Jentzsch, and Richard Cyganiak

The Semantic Web, Linked and Open Data: A Briefing Paper – Lorna M. Campbell and Sheila MacNeill

Recent News

• Linked Data: A Personal View from Jerry Persons
  18 June 2012

  This piece inaugurates an occasional series by or about linked data practitioners that will be cross-posted on the DLF site and  LOD-LAM.net. The first post in the series is a personal reflection on the linked data landscape written by Jerry Persons, technology analyst at Knowledge Motifs, Chief Information Architect emeritus at Stanford, and author of the ...

• Announcing a LOD-LAM Zotero Group
  24 May 2012

  The Digital Library Federation, together with LITA’s Linked Library Data Interest Group, is pleased to announce an open Zotero group for LOD-LAM tools and resources. The LOD-LAM Zotero group is intended to serve as a space both for practitioners seeking an entry point into the world of cultural heritage linked data and for practitioners seeking ...

• Visualizing linked TV & bibliographic data
  17 October 2011

  In a recent post at danbri.org, Dan Brinkley documents some of his work on NoTube (a European research project exploring Semantic Web and TV), reflects on the possibilities of linking bibliographic data with other web content, and calls for a contest to engage researchers in linked TV and bibliographic data. Responding to Brinkley’s call via the DPLA ...

• An Introduction to LOD-LAM by Jon Voss
  26 August 2011

  As part of LODLAM-DC, Jon Voss will deliver a free talk called “An Introduction to Linked Open Data in Libraries, Archives, & Museums” on Friday, September 16. Based on an earlier talk given at NYPL Labs, Voss’s presentation will “explore the fundamental elements of Linked Open Data and discover how rapidly growing access to metadata within ...

• Making New York Times Metadata Linked and Open
  16 August 2011

  This just in: the New York Times recently launched Longitude, an interactive map of the day’s news leveraging Linked Open Data, as a featured project of its larger beta620 website. As described by Evan Sandhaus, its developer, Longitude links NYT subject headings to geographic and corporate or biographical data from Geonames and Freebase: “When you open Longitude you’ll see ...

Call For Ideas

DLF recognizes the importance of Linked Open Data and seeks to facilitate these conversations and activities, openly calling for ideas on how we can support the community around Linked Open Data efforts.

Please leave your suggestions and ideas on the Linked Open Data Call for Ideas.