Please join us for two Linked Open Data workshops at The Plant!
Jan. 23, 2024 @ 13.00: Linked Open Data in Heritage Research Workshop (Odin Essers, Maarten Coonen, & Maryam Mazaheri)
[PAST] Nov. 30 @ 13.00: Managing Data in the Humanities and (some) Social Sciences: Horses, Roads, Flags, Stained-Glass Windows, Letterheads, Congresses, Statues, Books… (Nico Randeraad & Joep Leerssen)
Details and registration below.
Jan. 23: Linked Open Data in Heritage Research Workshop
The “Linked Open Data in Heritage Research Workshop” is a joint effort between The UM Library and The Plant. The workshop is designed for researchers, PhD students and research supporters who are eager to discover how linked open data (LOD) can amplify their work in heritage and beyond. This workshop offers an accessible introduction to the principles and benefits of LOD, ensuring participants from all levels of familiarity can grasp how it enables connections and the sharing of research data.
Participants will gain valuable insights through a presentation that introduces linked open data platforms such as Omeka S and Wikidata for managing and publishing digital collections, highlights the functionality of the NDE dataset register, and touches upon the foundational concepts of triple store technologies for semantic web applications. The workshop will offer an interactive opportunity to familiarize with these tools and the fundamental aspects of LOD, with a focus on how LOD can be practically implemented in their own research contexts.
We aim for this workshop to be a practical step towards enhancing research capabilities using LOD. Join us to discover how linked open data can assist in managing, connecting, sharing, enriching, accessing, finding, reusing, combining, and visualizing research data. Your participation is crucial in helping us understand and meet the specific requirements of our research community.
Session Details
Date: January 23, 2023 – Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Requirement: Please bring your own laptop for the hands-on portion of the workshop.
Agenda:
Presentation (1:00 PM – 2:00 PM):
• Showcasing LOD in UM’s Special Collections
• Fundamentals of linked data: principles and tangible benefits
• Functional overview and demonstration of Wikidata and Omeka S, with an emphasis on how the dataset register enhances data discoverability and reusability for research
Hands-on session (2:00 PM – 2:15 PM):
During this interactive session, participants will engage in hands-on exploration of Wikidata and Omeka S.
Open Discussion (2:15 PM – 3:00 PM):
The aim is to share knowledge and best practices in LOD and platforms of Wikidata and Omeka S. Insights and questions from this session will contribute to enriching our collective understanding of the practical applications of linked open data. In this part we will have time for sharing feedbacks and insights, a Q&A segment to address questions, and summarizing key takeaways and outlining next steps.
Speakers and Discussion Session Moderator:
• Odin Essers
• Maarten Coonen
• Maryam Mazaheri
Registration:
Registration will be via Qualtrics. Please provide your name, department, position/role, any prior experience with Linked Data, research interest, specific questions or challenges that you hope to solve or learn via attending this session
Odin Essers
“Odin Essers is the main curator of Maastricht University’s Special Collections and as such responsible for policymaking, collection management, education and research support, fundraising and outreach. His professional concerns include increasing the visibility, usability and sustainability of the Special Collections for different target groups of education, science, the creative industry and the general public. Trained as a cultural scientist specialized in media culture, Odin previously worked as an eLearning specialist at the Maastricht University Library.”
“Maarten Coonen studied Molecular Life Sciences (BSc + MSc) and made a career switch to Information Technology in 2011. Throughout the years, he has been working as bioinformatics associate, Research IT developer, Data Architect and team- and project lead in Research Data Management for (life) sciences. Since 2022, he is working as Data Engineer / IT developer for Maastricht University Library, with a focus on making their Digital Heritage collections available as Linked Open Data via Omeka S and related (open source) tooling.”
Maryam Mazaheri is a newly appointed Linked Open Data Specialist at Maastricht University Library, bringing forward her years of experience in sales innovation and marketing within the ICT and Telecom industries to the academic field. In parallel, she is concluding her Ph.D. in Innovation Science/Sustainable innovation dynamics at TU/e Eindhoven. Her recent transition to the library role involves engaging with digital collections through the Omeka S platform, aiming to enhance the accessibility and application of linked open data for academic research.
[PAST] Nov. 30 @ 13.00-14.30: Managing Data in the Humanities and (some) Social Sciences
Managing data in the Humanities and (some) Social Sciences: Horses, Roads, Flags, Stained-glass windows, Letterheads, Congresses, Statues, Books….
A crucial skill for academics is to keep facts and data manageable: store them, find them, order them, sort and search them. Data management systems were initially “analog” (file card boxes and card catalogues). Digital tools greatly aided “data management”, but at the same time shifted the focus strongly towards the numerical and quantitative. Even now, historians and scholars researching non-numerical data tend to rely uneasily on Word files and Excel sheets to organize their memos, excerpts and metadata. This workshop is intended to show how factual, textual, visual and performative data can be managed in a digital environment, and to make researchers think of their sources as manageable datasets. We demonstrate this in a hands-on clinic making use of the “Nodegoat” online working environment, which is available as a resource at Maastricht University. Researchers currently making use of Nodegoat will be present to showcase their projects and highlight the versatility of the platform. Topics include:
data, media and metadata
designing a filing system for your sources and corpus
thrift: a lean system to contain diverse and numerous data
the power of a relational set-up
entering data
sorting exporting and visualizing data (with examples)
