What does Linked Open Data look like?
One can think of linked data as a triplet, using natural language to express a concept with a subject, a predicate, and an object. In this way, we can say many things about the artist. If you visit the Wikidata page that lists Joan Jonas (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q453808) under the identifier Q453808, you will learn these and many other facts about the artist:
| Subject | Predicate | Object |
|---|---|---|
| Joan Jonas | occupation / field of work | Video art |
| Joan Jonas | occupation / field of work | Performance art |
| Joan Jonas | was a participant in | Documenta 5 |
| Joan Jonas | was a participant in | Documenta 6 |
| Joan Jonas | was a participant in | Documenta 7 |
| Joan Jonas | was a participant in | Documenta 8 |
| Joan Jonas | is represented by | Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) |
From here, if you wish to learn more about EAI, you would select Electronic Arts Intermix as the subject for your next phrase to learn more at https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5358214 , such as:
| Subject | Predicate | Object |
|---|---|---|
| Electronic Arts Intermix | was founded by | Howard Wise |
| Electronic Arts Intermix | has an official website at … | http://www.eai.org/ |
An Introduction to Wikidata
We made a decision to use Wikidata, to host our linked open data set in order to minimize cost and to best support discoverability. Other open source options to support linked open data projects include Wikibase and Semantic MediaWiki but these models require a technological infrastructure whose cost could be well beyond reach for smaller contemporary art organizations such as artist foundations and artist collaborative organizations. Wikidata provides a hosting environment that defies cultural, national, and institutional boundaries, allowing smaller organizations to participate in large cultural heritage projects and studies. One important drawback of using Wikidata, as opposed to a private instance of Wikibase or Semantic MediaWiki, is the question of images. Images shared on Wikidata can only be licensed under a creative commons license and must be uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons platform. For many arts organizations this will be an important question to consider. Still, depending on the intended goals of an organization’s data project, the opportunities and ease-of-use that Wikidata offers in terms of structuring and storing machine-readable textual information may well outweigh its requirements with regards to image policies.
Wikidata Properties
In order for Linked Open Data queries to be effective, scholars, curators, art historians, conservators, and others adhere to a vocabulary of properties that allow for building consistent queries across datasets. These properties are shown in the examples above as the “predicates”. In Wikidata’s syntax, properties act as “predicates”, items act as “subjects”, and values act as “objects”. Together, they form a triple, also referred to as a claim in Wikidata. Claims are considered statements once they have a reference to a source such as a print or web publication.
A wide variety of properties have been developed to describe different knowledge domains within Wikidata’s framework. While the properties to describe traditional visual arts have been developed in detail and generally conform to established standards, properties for less traditional artforms remain less clearly defined. (See https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Visual_arts/Item_structure.)
The properties chosen for use in this project build on work done by the Wikidata GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) community with respect to visual arts, as well as a pilot research project conducted in collaboration with the digital arts organization, Rhizome. Rhizome’s PhD Researcher Lozana Rossenova has specifically designed a set of properties for use with studies on Digital and Performative Arts, which allows a degree of standardization when describing performance arts. (See https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Digital_and_Performative_Arts/Provenancial_Data.)
An Introduction to SPARQL
By using Wikidata, we invite the use of SPARQL, a query language for working with linked open data. SPARQL is both a protocol and a language designed to retrieve and manipulate data stored in a Resource Description Framework (RDF) format, the so-called “triplets” that you saw above with our example using a “subject-predicate-object” structure.
We are using the SPARQL query language to ask questions of the data and to render data visualizations based on our research. We have integrated SPARQL queries at the Wikidata SPARQL endpoint into our resource in order to guide and inspire our readers in exploring the dataset. We also seek to provide suggestions and resources for users who wish to build their own SPARQL queries to further research Joan Jonas’s work.
Resources
Selected Bibliography on Linked Open Data
- Blaney, Jonathan. “Introduction to the Principles of Linked Open Data” The Programming Historian.
- Daquino, Marilena, et al. “Enhancing Semantic Expressivity in the Cultural Heritage Domain: Exposing the Zeri Photo Archive as Linked Open Data.” Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, vol. 10, no. 4, Oct. 2017, pp. 1–21.
- de Boer, Victor, et al. “Supporting Linked Data Production for Cultural Heritage Institutes: The Amsterdam Museum Case Study.” The Semantic Web: Research and Applications, edited by Elena Simperl et al., vol. 7295, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012, pp. 733–47.
- Delmas-Glass, Emmanuelle, and Robert Sanderson. “Fostering a Community of PHAROS Scholars through the Adoption of Open Standards.” Art Libraries Journal 45, no. 1 (January 2020): 19–23.
- Heftberger, A. and Duchesne, P. (2020, June) Cataloguing Practices in the Age of Linked Open Data: Wikidata and Wikibase for Film Archives, International Federation of Film Archives.
- Jones, Ed, and Michele Seikel, eds. Linked Data for Cultural Heritage. An ALCTS Monograph. Chicago: ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association, 2016.
- Rossenova, Lozana, et al. Provenance for Internet Art Using the W3c Prov Data Model. iPRES 2019, 16th International Conference on Digital Preservation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. pp. 297-305.
- Szekely, Pedro, et al. “Connecting the Smithsonian American Art Museum to the Linked Data Cloud.” The Semantic Web: Semantics and Big Data, edited by Philipp Cimiano et al., vol. 7882, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 593–607.
- Wildenhaus, Karly. “The Possibilities of Constructing Linked Data for Art Exhibition Histories.” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, vol. 38, no. 1, Mar. 2019, pp. 22–34.
Wikidata Case Studies
Next section:
Data Visualizations