Digital Humanities on the Semantic Web: Accessing Historical and Musical Linked Data

AbstractKey fields in the humanities, such as history, art and language, are central to a major transformation that is changing scholarly practice in these fields: the so-called Digital Humanities (DH). A fundamental question in DH is how humanities datasets can be represented digitally, in such a way that machines can process them, understand their meaning, facilitate their inquiry, and exchange them on the Web. In this paper, we survey current efforts within the Semantic Web and Linked Data, a family of Webcompatible knowledge representation formalisms and standards, to represent DH objects in quantitative history and symbolic music. We also argue that the technological gap between the Semantic Web and Linked Data, and DH data owners is currently too wide for effective access and consumption of these semantically enabled humanities data. To this end, we propose grlc, a thin middleware that leverages currently existing queries on the Web (expressed in, e.g., SPARQL) to transparently build standard Web APIs that facilitate access to any Linked Data.

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The Semantic Web and Its Entanglements

Science Technology and Society ◽

10.1177/0971721816682796 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 21-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Matthew T. Mccarthy

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Semantic Web ◽

Linked Data ◽

Practice Theory ◽

Knowledge Systems ◽

Access To Information ◽

Assemblage Theory ◽

Complex Interactions ◽

The World ◽

The Web

The web of linked data, otherwise known as the semantic web, is a system in which information is structured and interlinked to provide meaningful content to artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. As the complex interactions between digital personae and these algorithms mediate access to information, it becomes necessary to understand how these classification and knowledge systems are developed. What are the processes by which those systems come to represent the world, and how are the controversies that arise in their creation, overcome? As a global form, the semantic web is an assemblage of many interlinked classification and knowledge systems, which are themselves assemblages. Through the perspectives of global assemblage theory, critical code studies and practice theory, I analyse netnographic data of one such assemblage. Schema.org is but one component of the larger global assemblage of the semantic web, and as such is an emergent articulation of different knowledges, interests and networks of actors. This articulation comes together to tame the profusion of things, seeking stability in representation, but in the process, it faces and produces more instability. Furthermore, this production of instability contributes to the emergence of new assemblages that have similar aims.

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Linked Data, Towards Realizing the Web of Data

Information Retrieval and Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-5191-1.ch013 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 292-312

Author(s):

Leila Zemmouchi-Ghomari

Keyword(s):

Semantic Web ◽

Linked Data ◽

Web Applications ◽

Online Data ◽

Web Of Data ◽

Promising Solution ◽

Basic Ideas ◽

Online Sources ◽

Significant Effort ◽

The Web

Data play a central role in the effectiveness and efficiency of web applications, such as the Semantic Web. However, data are distributed across a very large number of online sources, due to which a significant effort is needed to integrate this data for its proper utilization. A promising solution to this issue is the linked data initiative, which is based on four principles related to publishing web data and facilitating interlinked and structured online data rather than the existing web of documents. The basic ideas, techniques, and applications of the linked data initiative are surveyed in this paper. The authors discuss some Linked Data open issues and potential tracks to address these pending questions.

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Probabilistic Models for the Semantic Web

The Semantic Web for Knowledge and Data Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-028-8.ch005 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 74-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Livia Predoiu

Keyword(s):

Semantic Web ◽

Knowledge Representation ◽

Classical Logic ◽

Probabilistic Models ◽

Expressive Power ◽

Knowledge Representation And Reasoning ◽

Uncertain Information ◽

New Approaches ◽

The Web

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in formalisms for representing uncertain information on the Semantic Web. This interest is triggered by the observation that knowledge on the web is not always crisp and we have to be able to deal with incomplete, inconsistent and vague information. The treatment of this kind of information requires new approaches for knowledge representation and reasoning on the web as existing Semantic Web languages are based on classical logic which is known to be inadequate for representing uncertainty in many cases. While different general approaches for extending Semantic Web languages with the ability to represent uncertainty are explored, we focus our attention on probabilistic approaches. We survey existing proposals for extending semantic web languages or formalisms underlying Semantic Web languages in terms of their expressive power, reasoning capabilities as well as their suitability for supporting typical tasks associated with the Semantic Web.

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An Overview and Technological Background of Semantic Technologies

Advanced Concepts, Methods, and Applications in Semantic Computing - Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-6697-8.ch001 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-21

Author(s):

Reinaldo Padilha França ◽

Ana Carolina Borges Monteiro ◽

Rangel Arthur ◽

Yuzo Iano

Keyword(s):

Semantic Web ◽

Knowledge Representation ◽

Data Representation ◽

Current Data ◽

The Internet ◽

Semantic Technologies ◽

Web Based ◽

Web 3.0 ◽

Technological Advances ◽

The Web

The Semantic Web concept is an extension of the web obtained by adding semantics to the current data representation format. It is considered a network of correlating meanings. It is the result of a combination of web-based conceptions and technologies and knowledge representation. Since the internet has gone through many changes and steps in its web versions 1.0, 2.0, and Web 3.0, this last call of smart web, the concept of Web 3.0, is to be associated with the Semantic Web, since technological advances have allowed the internet to be present beyond the devices that were made exactly with the intention of receiving the connection, not limited to computers or smartphones since it has the concept of reading, writing, and execution off-screen, performed by machines. Therefore, this chapter aims to provide an updated review of Semantic Web and its technologies showing its technological origins and approaching its success relationship with a concise bibliographic background, categorizing and synthesizing the potential of technologies.

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Web knowledge

Agency and the Semantic Web ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199292486.003.0008 ◽

2006 ◽

Author(s):

Christopher Walton

Keyword(s):

Semantic Web ◽

Knowledge Representation ◽

Knowledge Base ◽

Web Applications ◽

Semantic Network ◽

Knowledge Bases ◽

Web Standards ◽

Description Framework ◽

The Web

In the introductory chapter of this book, we discussed the means by which knowledge can be made available on the Web. That is, the representation of the knowledge in a form by which it can be automatically processed by a computer. To recap, we identified two essential steps that were deemed necessary to achieve this task: 1. We discussed the need to agree on a suitable structure for the knowledge that we wish to represent. This is achieved through the construction of a semantic network, which defines the main concepts of the knowledge, and the relationships between these concepts. We presented an example network that contained the main concepts to differentiate between kinds of cameras. Our network is a conceptualization, or an abstract view of a small part of the world. A conceptualization is defined formally in an ontology, which is in essence a vocabulary for knowledge representation. 2. We discussed the construction of a knowledge base, which is a store of knowledge about a domain in machine-processable form; essentially a database of knowledge. A knowledge base is constructed through the classification of a body of information according to an ontology. The result will be a store of facts and rules that describe the domain. Our example described the classification of different camera features to form a knowledge base. The knowledge base is expressed formally in the language of the ontology over which it is defined. In this chapter we elaborate on these two steps to show how we can define ontologies and knowledge bases specifically for the Web. This will enable us to construct Semantic Web applications that make use of this knowledge. The chapter is devoted to a detailed explanation of the syntax and pragmatics of the RDF, RDFS, and OWL Semantic Web standards. The resource description framework (RDF) is an established standard for knowledge representation on the Web. Taken together with the associated RDF Schema (RDFS) standard, we have a language for representing simple ontologies and knowledge bases on the Web.

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Web Data Quality

International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems ◽

10.4018/ijswis.2014040101 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 1-6 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Amrapali Zaveri ◽

Andrea Maurino ◽

Laure-Berti Equille

Keyword(s):

Semantic Web ◽

Data Quality ◽

Linked Data ◽

Web Data ◽

Semantic Web Technologies ◽

Future Directions ◽

Web Technologies ◽

Current State ◽

Web Of Data ◽

The Web

The standardization and adoption of Semantic Web technologies has resulted in an unprecedented volume of data being published as Linked Data (LD). However, the “publish first, refine later” philosophy leads to various quality problems arising in the underlying data such as incompleteness, inconsistency and semantic ambiguities. In this article, we describe the current state of Data Quality in the Web of Data along with details of the three papers accepted for the International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems' (IJSWIS) Special Issue on Web Data Quality. Additionally, we identify new challenges that are specific to the Web of Data and provide insights into the current progress and future directions for each of those challenges.

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Data Linking for the Semantic Web

International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems ◽

10.4018/jswis.2011070103 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 46-76 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Alfio Ferrara ◽

Andriy Nikolov ◽

François Scharffe

Keyword(s):

Graph Theory ◽

Natural Language Processing ◽

Semantic Web ◽

Language Processing ◽

Linked Data ◽

Background Information ◽

Web Of Data ◽

Comprehensive Survey ◽

Term Data ◽

The Web

By specifying that published datasets must link to other existing datasets, the 4th linked data principle ensures a Web of data and not just a set of unconnected data islands. The authors propose in this paper the term data linking to name the problem of finding equivalent resources on the Web of linked data. In order to perform data linking, many techniques were developed, finding their roots in statistics, database, natural language processing and graph theory. The authors begin this paper by providing background information and terminological clarifications related to data linking. Then a comprehensive survey over the various techniques available for data linking is provided. These techniques are classified along the three criteria of granularity, type of evidence, and source of the evidence. Finally, the authors survey eleven recent tools performing data linking and we classify them according to the surveyed techniques.

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ENHANCING OWL ONTOLOGIES WITH RELATION SEMANTICS

International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering ◽

10.1142/s0218194008003660 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 18 (03) ◽

pp. 327-356 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

CARTIK R. KOTHARI ◽

DAVID J. RUSSOMANNO

Keyword(s):

Semantic Web ◽

Knowledge Representation ◽

Web Ontology Language ◽

Intrinsic Nature ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Ontology Language ◽

High Level ◽

Explicit Relation ◽

Potential Use ◽

The Web

The OWL Enhance prototype has been developed to augment ontologies implemented using the Web Ontology Language (OWL) with richer relation semantics. This prototype interactively elicits knowledge from providers to describe the intrinsic nature of relations and appends these elicited semantics to definitions of relations in OWL ontologies. Benefits from the explicit specification of the intrinsic nature of relations in ontologies include the development of quantitative techniques for the estimation of similarities among relations and attribute exploration techniques to create relation taxonomies. Examples of these techniques have been implemented in modules of the OWL Enhance prototype to demonstrate the utility of explicit relation semantics. Results from testing these modules on high-level and domain-specific ontologies are presented and analyzed with respect to the potential use of relation semantics to increase the fidelity of knowledge representation, as well as the potential for reuse and interoperability of knowledge on the Semantic Web.

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Persistent Identifiers for Scholarly Assets and the Web: The Need for an Unambiguous Mapping

International Journal of Digital Curation ◽

10.2218/ijdc.v9i1.320 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 331-342 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Herbert Van de Sompel ◽

Robert Sanderson ◽

Harihar Shankar ◽

Martin Klein

Keyword(s):

Semantic Web ◽

Linked Data ◽

Information Access ◽

Value Added ◽

Web Browsers ◽

Research Papers ◽

Access Protocol ◽

Data Environment ◽

The Web

Persistent IDentifiers (PIDs), such as DOIs, Handles and ARK identifiers, play a significant role in the identification of a wide variety of assets that are created and used in scholarly endeavours, including research papers, datasets, images, etc. Motivated by concerns about long-term persistence, among others, PIDs are minted outside the information access protocol of the day, HTTP. Yet, value-added services targeted at both humans and machines routinely assume or even require resources identified by means of HTTP URIs in order to make use of off-the-shelf components like web browsers and servers. Hence, an unambiguous bridge is required between the PID-oriented paradigm that is widespread in research communication and the HTTP-oriented web, semantic web and linked data environment. This paper describes the problem, and a possible solution towards defining and deploying such an interoperable bridge.

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Where the Semantic Web and Web 2.0 Meet Format Risk Management: P2 Registry

International Journal of Digital Curation ◽

10.2218/ijdc.v6i1.180 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 165-182 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

David Tarrant ◽

Steve Hitchcock ◽

Leslie Carr

Keyword(s):

Risk Management ◽

Semantic Web ◽

Linked Data ◽

Digital Preservation ◽

File Format ◽

Multiple Sources ◽

Single Institution ◽

Digital Format ◽

Machine Readable ◽

The Web

The Web is increasingly becoming a platform for linked data. This means making connections and adding value to data on the Web. As more data becomes openly available and more people are able to use the data, it becomes more powerful. An example is file format registries and the evaluation of format risks. Here the requirement for information is now greater than the effort that any single institution can put into gathering and collating this information. Recognising that more is better, the creators of PRONOM, JHOVE, GDFR and others are joining to lead a new initiative: the Unified Digital Format Registry. Ahead of this effort, a new RDF-based framework for structuring and facilitating file format data from multiple sources, including PRONOM, has demonstrated it is able to produce more links, and thus provide more answers to digital preservation questions - about format risks, applications, viewers and transformations - than the native data alone. This paper will describe this registry, P2, and its services, show how it can be used, and provide examples where it delivers more answers than the contributing resources. The P2 Registry is a reference platform to allow and encourage publication of preservation data, and also an examplar of what can be achieved if more data is published openly online as simple machine-readable documents. This approach calls for the active participation of the digital preservation community to contribute data by simply publishing it openly on the Web as linked data.

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