3 results
3 - Managing linked open data across discovery systems
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- By Ali Shiri, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Danoosh Davoodi, University of Alberta
- Edited by Louise F Spiteri
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- Book:
- Managing Metadata in Web-scale Discovery Systems
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 08 June 2018
- Print publication:
- 31 May 2016, pp 57-90
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
This chapter examines and explores linked open data in the context of the current digital data landscape, drawing on recent developments associated with digital data: big data, research data, open data and web of data. A specific goal of this chapter is to draw attention to the importance of the ways in which linked open data can provide libraries with opportunities to enhance the findability of their data and information resources, and to support seamless and unified access in heterogeneous content repositories, such as digital libraries and integrated discovery systems. The first part of the chapter addresses the key concepts of big data, research data, the Semantic Web and open data. The second part of the chapter focuses on the definition and importance of linked data and its current applications in various settings. Specific examples of libraries and major projects associated with using and implementing linked open data are briefly reviewed. BIBFRAME is reviewed as a popular framework to support the transformation of library data into linked open data. An overview of publishing linked data is presented, along with a reference to useful resources for publishing, browsing and linking linked open data tools.
Big data
The vast volume, variety and complexity of digital data available on the web has resulted in the emergence of what is called ‘big data’. Digital libraries, search engines, social media sites, cloudbased computing infrastructures, as well as virtual collaboratories, e-science, e-humanities and e-social-science projects produce massive volumes of data that call for proper management and preservation planning approaches and strategies in order to provide users with effective and efficient data access. Many terms used in the literature refer to, or are associated with, the phenomenon of big data, including ‘digital data’, ‘research data’, ‘linked data’, ‘open data’, ‘web of data’ and ‘data repositories’ (Borgman, 2012; Hodson, 2012; Lyon, 2007; National Science Foundation, 2012). The availability and discourse of these data types presents new research and development opportunities as well as challenges. To provide a coherent and contextualized understanding of big data, one approach would be to place big data in the context of digital libraries, as the latter have been well researched and share a number of similarities with big data.
9 - Semantic access and exploration in cultural heritage digital libraries
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- By Ali Shiri
- Ian Ruthven, G. G. Chowdhury
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- Book:
- Cultural Heritage Information
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 10 September 2022
- Print publication:
- 10 June 2015, pp 177-196
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
Cultural heritage information collections and repositories are becoming increasingly visible on the web. The prevalence and popularity of digitization and digital preservation initiatives have given rise to numerous projects focusing on the development of sustainable cultural heritage digital libraries and collections. One of the central components of any such initiative is the conceptualization and implementation of information organization and representation strategies and tools to facilitate information access and interaction. Solid and well established cultural heritage digital libraries address informatio n organization and representation in their business, strategic and sustainability plans for effective and efficient information access and retrieval. The variety of digital objects, digital formats and digital artefacts found in cultural heritage collections make this task a challenging undertaking that requires proper planning, including not only indexing and tagging of materials but also the ways in which indexes and tags can be effectively incorporated into the information architecture and search functionalities of the underlying systems and architectures. Knowledge organization systems (KOS) have been widely used in digital libraries, subject repositories and open archives. The term ‘knowledge organization systems’ refers to a broad range of schemes for organizing information and facilitating resource description and discovery. KOS may include general classification schemes, special classification systems, thesauri, subject headings, taxonomies, ontologies, gazetteers, synonym rings and other types of standardized controlled vocabularies (Hodge, 2000). Effective and efficient organization, representation and retrieval of information on the web in general and in digital libraries in particular call for the different ways in which KOS can be utilized. KOS have the potential to provide various perspectives of a collection in the digital environment and to offer users a rich conceptual and semantic structure to facilitate search term selection for query formulation, reformulation or expansion. The use of these tools becomes increasingly relevant and important when considering the variety of information sources and formats and the need to create accessible and easy-to-use web-based search systems (Shiri and Molberg, 2005). Digital libraries, digital archives and virtual museums have made use of knowledge organization systems and controlled vocabularies. Recently, more attention has been paid to user-centred approaches to knowledge organization systems (Tudhope and Lykke Nielsen, 2006) and their integration into search user interfaces of digital libraries (Shiri, 2006; Shiri and Chase-Kruszewski, 2009) and institutional repositories (Mondoux and Shiri, 2009).
3 - Metadata and crowdsourced data for access and interaction in digital library user interfaces
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- By Ali Shiri, Associate Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta, Dinesh Rathi, Assistant Professor at the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
- Edited by G. G. Chowdhury, Foo Schubert
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- Book:
- Digital Libraries and Information Access
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 08 June 2018
- Print publication:
- 30 September 2012, pp 29-46
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
Metadata has remained a major area of research in information science for nearly two decades. The increasing number and variety of metadata formats and standards has given rise to a number of digital library projects and initiatives that have focused on semantic interoperability among various metadata formats and standards. Interoperability, like metadata, is a widely researched and discussed topic in the literature of digital libraries. However, this chapter does not discuss interoperability per se; rather, it focuses on the use of metadata in the search interfaces of digital libraries.
With the widespread use of metadata in digital libraries as access and retrieval points, it seems logical that they be used in user interfaces to support information seeking strategies. Shiri (2008) reported a study of metadata-enhanced visual interfaces and found that visual interfaces enhanced with metadata are an emerging category of visual interfaces. The growing number of digital libraries that create, maintain and support a variety of metadata provide ample opportunity for designers and developers of user interfaces.
This chapter evaluates and compares four digital library user interfaces from four different countries (Edmonton Public Library (EPL), Canada; Trove: National Library of Australia, Australia; the Ann Arbor District Library System, USA; and the British Library, UK) in order to identify new developments in the use of metadata and to explore the emerging trends and new features and functionalities, such as social tags, recommendations, reviews and ratings in digital library user interfaces.
The next section of the chapter introduces the definition, types and standards of metadata, followed by an introduction to digital libraries and user interfaces. Then the chapter presents the methodology used in the evaluation of the user interfaces of these four digital libraries, the findings and related discussion. Finally, the concluding section highlights some key trends and makes suggestions for future research.
Metadata: definition, types and standards
Numerous definitions of the term ‘metadata’ have been proposed by various research and development communities, including library and information science, archives, museums, computing, information technology, government organizations and educational institutions. This trend in itself points to the importance, popularity, usefulness and utility of metadata in various contexts, domains and disciplines. They all share the same philosophy that metadata aims to bring order to digital information and to support consistent and coherent description and discovery of digital objects.