The Semantic Web and the Digital Archaeological Workflow: A Case Study from Sweden
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Transcript of The Semantic Web and the Digital Archaeological Workflow: A Case Study from Sweden
The Semantic Weband the
Digital Archaeological
Workflow
A Case Study from Sweden
Marcus Smith
Swedish
Open
Cultural
Heritage
SOCH• K-samsök –
‘Cultural Cross-Search’
SOCH• K-samsök –
‘Cultural Cross-Search’
• Metadata aggregator & web service for cultural heritage institutions
SOCH• K-samsök –
‘Cultural Cross-Search’
• Metadata aggregator & web service for cultural heritage institutions
• Monuments, buildings, museum collections…
SOCH• K-samsök –
‘Cultural Cross-Search’
• Metadata aggregator & web service for cultural heritage institutions
• Monuments, buildings, museum collections…
• 40 institutions
(≈25–30 million triples)
SOCH• K-samsök –
‘Cultural Cross-Search’
• Metadata aggregator & web service for cultural heritage institutions
• Monuments, buildings, museum collections…
• 40 institutions
• 4.7 million database objects
• 2.1 million artefacts
• 880 thousand photographs
• 830 thousand monuments
• 440 thousand documents
• 110 thousand historic buildings
• 40 thousand personages
• 2000 historical events
• 1500 historic maps
SOCH• K-samsök –
‘Cultural Cross-Search’
• Metadata aggregator & web service for cultural heritage institutions
• Monuments, buildings, museum collections…
• 40 institutions
• 4.7 million database objects
• From the Paleolithic…
Paleolithic aurochs metatarsus – SHMM
SOCH• K-samsök –
‘Cultural Cross-Search’
• Metadata aggregator & web service for cultural heritage institutions
• Monuments, buildings, museum collections…
• 40 institutions
• 4.7 million database objects
• From the Paleolithic…
• …to the present day
Copper alloy bottle cap – SHMM
Harvesting, Linking &
Dissemination• Object metadata
harvested from the content provider using OAI-PMH
Cultural Heritage
Institution’s
Database
SOCH
Local SOCH
adapter
OAI-PMH
Harvesting, Linking &
Dissemination• Object metadata
harvested from the content provider using OAI-PMH
• The metadata is then enriched with additional semantic links to related objects
Burial
mound
depicted by
described by found at
ArtefactDocument
PhotoVendel
Period
dated to
Harvesting, Linking &
Dissemination• Object metadata
harvested from the content provider using OAI-PMH
• The metadata is then enriched with additional semantic links to related objects
• Links can be manually added (UGC)
Burial
mound
has topic
Book
Wikipedia
Article
describes
Harvesting, Linking &
Dissemination• Object metadata
harvested from the content provider using OAI-PMH
• The metadata is then enriched with additional semantic links to related objects
• Links can be manually added (UGC)
• Available as RDF, queryable via an API
SOCH
Application
RDF/XMLREST +
CQL
HT
TP
Benefits of Linking• Linking facilitates cross-
search
Benefits of Linking• Linking facilitates cross-
search
• Linking simplifies discovery, and clarifies context
Ob
jectm
eta
da
ta
Re
late
de
xte
rna
l
ob
jects
Images
Re
late
dS
OC
H o
bje
cts
Benefits of Linking• Linking facilitates cross-
search
• Linking simplifies discovery, and clarifies context
• Linking allows unanticipated connections appear!
The old gallows (Galgberget), Visby – Riksantikvarieämbetet
Benefits of Linking• Linking facilitates cross-
search
• Linking simplifies discovery, and clarifies context
• Linking allows unanticipated connections appear!
The old gallows (Galgberget), Visby – Riksantikvarieämbetet
’Galgberget: Memories of Wisby’ – Västergötlands Museum
SOCH as a Platform• SOCH as a platform for
development
SOCH as a Platform• SOCH as a platform for
development
• Kringla: a web interfacehttp://kringla.nu/
SOCH as a Platform• SOCH as a platform for
development
• Kringla: a web interfacehttp://kringla.nu/
• Mobile apps
SOCH as a Platform• SOCH as a platform for
development
• Kringla: a web interfacehttp://kringla.nu/
• Mobile apps
• Mashups
SOCH as a Platform• SOCH as a platform for
development
• Kringla: a web interfacehttp://kringla.nu/
• Mobile apps
• Mashups
• Museum portals
SOCH as a Platform• SOCH as a platform for
development
• Kringla: a web interfacehttp://kringla.nu/
• Mobile apps
• Mashups
• Museum portals
• Over 225 million API requests since launch in 2010
Licensing & Reuse• Only metadata is indexed
– all objects link back to a permanent URI at the source institution with their full record
Licensing & Reuse• Only metadata is indexed
– all objects link back to a permanent URI at the source institution with their full record
• All metadata is CC0
Licensing & Reuse• Only metadata is indexed
– all objects link back to a permanent URI at the source institution with their full record
• All metadata is CC0• Metadata includes
licensing information for the main record
Licensing & Reuse• Only metadata is indexed
– all objects link back to a permanent URI at the source institution with their full record
• All metadata is CC0• Metadata includes
licensing information for the main record
• Of 1.8 million ‘rich’objects, 1.2 million are CC or PD
Licensing & Reuse• Only metadata is indexed
– all objects link back to a permanent URI at the source institution with their full record
• All metadata is CC0• Metadata includes
licensing information for the main record
• Of 1.8 million ‘rich’objects, 1.2 million are CC or PD
• SOCH is the Swedish national aggregator for Europeana
The Future of SOCH• More institutions delivering
data
The Future of SOCH• More institutions delivering
data
• SPARQL endpoint
The Future of SOCH• More institutions delivering
data
• SPARQL endpoint
• Ultimately, we’d like it if SOCH in its current form wasn’t needed – if each institution made their own data available as SPARQL-queryable RDF on the semantic web.
SOCH
API
The Future of SOCH• More institutions delivering
data
• SPARQL endpoint
• Ultimately, we’d like it if SOCH in its current form wasn’t needed – if each institution made their own data available as SPARQL-queryable RDF on the semantic web.
The Digital
Archaeological Workflow(DAP)
The Problem• No central fieldwork
register
The Problem• No central fieldwork
register
• No central digital archive for archaeological data
’Charles Babb parts storage’ – SDASM (flickr)
The Problem• No central fieldwork
register
• No central digital archive for archaeological data
• Digital availability of fieldwork reports patchy
The Problem• No central fieldwork
register
• No central digital archive for archaeological data
• Digital availability of fieldwork reports patchy
• Existing resources not linked ’silos’ – Doc Searls (flickr)
The Problem• No central fieldwork
register
• No central digital archive for archaeological data
• Digital availability of fieldwork reports patchy
• Existing resources not linked
• Inefficient information transfer(digital → paper → digital)
The Output Unit.
How It Works: The Computer – Ladybird Books
Consequences• Information describing the
same thing is spread across several unrelated data sources
• The relationships between different objects are either absent or not described
• Digital information is still processed according to an analogue paradigm, causing friction
• Duplication of effort
• Responsibility for
information management
unclear among
stakeholders
• Information is difficult to
find, and lacks greater
context
• Acute need for a digital
archive
Goals for DAP• Fully digitised seamless
information transfer
Goals for DAP• Fully digitised seamless
information transfer
• Digital archive for
archaeological data
’CERN storage servers’ – skimaniac (flickr)
Goals for DAP• Fully digitised seamless
information transfer
• Digital archive for
archaeological data
• Access to source data
Goals for DAP• Fully digitised seamless
information transfer
• Digital archive for
archaeological data
• Access to source data
• Semantically linked data
‘Anchor Men of the Mauretania’
Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (flickr)
Goals for DAP• Fully digitised seamless
information transfer
• Digital archive for
archaeological data
• Access to source data
• Semantically linked data
• Openly licensed,
reusable data’Come in We’re Open’ – jilleatsapples (flickr)
Goals for DAP• Fully digitised seamless
information transfer
• Digital archive for
archaeological data
• Access to source data
• Semantically linked data
• Openly licensed,
reusable data
• Centralised ‘events’
(fieldwork) register
’Come in We’re Open’ – jilleatsapples (flickr)
Each monument has its own URI
Links to:
- monument survey data
- reports, grey literature
- GIS data, or scanned material
- Objects, small finds
- Photos, plans, drawings
- Post-ex lab analyses
National
Monumens
Register
Events +
Fieldwork
register
Fieldwork
documentat
ion
Reports, m
edia
(Samla)
Finds
(Museums)
SOCH
Map
server
Search interface
Map-based
search
Wikipedia
Objects
Monument
survey data
Fieldwork
data
Request Response
Photos, pla
ns, drawing
s
Council
decisions
Other data
sources…
Biblio-
graphy
(Libris)
Platsr
Metadata
search
Events feed
UGC
Results: Spatial
Map
UGC
Event-oriented
Monuments Register• The national monuments
register is a register of
monuments(!)
’Ottarshögen in the parish of Vendel, Uppland, 1979’
Upplandsmuseet (Kringla)
Event-oriented
Monuments Register• The national monuments
register is a register of
monuments(!)
• Not so much
archaeological events:
survey, excavations,
inventories, etc
Archaeological event: kittens!
A cooking pit; Straumen, Inderøya, Nord-Trøndelag
NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet (flickr)
Event-oriented
Monuments Register• The national monuments
register is a register of
monuments(!)
• Not so much
archaeological events:
survey, excavations,
inventories, etc
• The information that does
exist is unstructured,
making it difficult to
search and reuse.’bricks’ – Judy van der Velden (flickr)
Event-oriented
Monuments RegisterMain problem:
• It’s difficult to find the results
from archaeological
investigations (events which
affect ancient monuments) – or
even if such events have
occurred!
…because:
• We lack (a system for)
structured information about
archaeological events
Solution:
• Objects describing events
must be semantically linked to
the monuments they concern
• Monuments gain a traceable
‘biography’ in the register
Benefits:
• Because this is linked data, we
can for example connect the
‘event’ of an excavation of a
site to the field documentation,
reports, and finds it generates
Fieldwork
Documentation• Overwhelming majority of
excavations in Sweden
use a common digital
field recording system:
Intrasis
Fieldwork
Documentation• Overwhelming majority of
excavations in Sweden
use a common digital
field recording system:
Intrasis
• So most adhere to a
common schema
Fieldwork
Documentation• Overwhelming majority of
excavations in Sweden
use a common digital
field recording system:
Intrasis
• So most adhere to a
common schema
• Intrasis is an OO
database
• Lends itself well to
expression as RDF
Object
Attribute 1
Attribute 2
Attribute 3
…
Fieldwork
Documentation• Overwhelming majority of
excavations in Sweden
use a common digital
field recording system:
Intrasis
• So most adhere to a
common schema
• Intrasis is an OO
database
• Lends itself well to
expression as RDF
Object
Subject
Predicate
Fieldwork
Documentation• Overwhelming majority of
excavations in Sweden
use a common digital
field recording system:
Intrasis
• So most adhere to a
common schema
• Intrasis is an OO
database
• Lends itself well to
expression as RDF
• So the potential exists for
cross-searchable
excavation data on the
context level
Fieldwork
Documentation• Overwhelming majority of
excavations in Sweden
use a common digital
field recording system:
Intrasis
• So most adhere to a
common schema
• Intrasis is an OO
database
• Lends itself well to
expression as RDF
• So the potential exists for
cross-searchable
excavation data on the
context level
• …with links to supporting
data elsewhere, e.g. GIS,
& field survey data;
sample & environmental
data with SEAD, etc.
What’s next?• Internal review of our systems and
processes
• Internal and external modelling ofconcepts and processes
• Draw up a common information model tobetter manage digital archaeological data
• Plan a new system architecture
• Draw up ontologies/taxonomies for variousSwedish heritage concepts and createlinkable authorities
What’s next?
• Not intending to reinvent the wheel – aim to apply existing standards and models where possible – CIDOC-CRM, SWORD, etc
• There is no ‘perfect’ solution, and we can’t solve everything in one go
• But we aim to have the rudiments in place during 2015
SOCH http://ksamsok.se/
http://kringla.nu/
DAP http://www.raa.se/kulturarvet/arkeologi-
fornlamningar-och-fynd/den-digitala-
arkeologiska-produktionskedjan/
http://goo.gl/4o6hm
http://www.raa.se/