What is linked open data?

Linked open data is structured, openly licensed data published on the web using standard identifiers and links, so that datasets from different sources — such as museum collections, libraries, and archives — can be connected and reused by people and machines.

What is the CIDOC CRM?

The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model is an ontology and ISO standard for cultural heritage information that provides shared concepts and relationships, enabling collections data from different institutions and systems to be integrated and queried.

Museum Data and Linked Open Data

Definition

Linked open data in museums is the publication of collections information as structured, openly licensed, and interlinked data on the web, enabling it to be connected with other datasets and reused by people and machines.

Scope

This topic covers the management and publication of museum data beyond the institution: open data and APIs, the semantic-web technologies that connect collections, ontologies such as the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, aggregation platforms like Europeana, and crowdsourcing of data and enrichment. It addresses interoperability, persistent identifiers, rights and licensing of open data, and the reuse of collections data in research and applications.

Core questions

How can collections data be connected across institutions?
What ontologies and standards enable semantic interoperability?
How do aggregators and APIs open up collections data?
What are the benefits and risks of open and crowdsourced data?

Key theories

Linked data principles: Berners-Lee's linked data principles set out how to publish data on the web using URIs and links so that datasets, including museum collections, can be connected into a shared, machine-readable web of data.
Ontologies for cultural heritage: The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model and data models such as the Europeana Data Model provide shared semantics that allow heterogeneous collections data to be integrated, queried, and aggregated meaningfully.

History

As collections went online, attention turned from isolated databases to connecting and opening data. The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (an ISO standard since 2006), the launch of aggregators such as Europeana, the spread of open data policies and APIs at major museums, and experiments in crowdsourcing built a growing ecosystem of linked open cultural heritage data from the 2000s onward.

Debates

Open access versus control and rights: Museums weigh the public and research benefits of open, reusable collections data against concerns over image rights, the rights of source communities, data quality, and loss of institutional control.

Key figures

Tim Berners-Lee
Martin Doerr
Johan Oomen
Lora Aroyo

Seminal works

bernerslee2006
doerr2003crm
edm2010

Frequently asked questions

What is linked open data?: Linked open data is structured, openly licensed data published on the web using standard identifiers and links, so that datasets from different sources — such as museum collections, libraries, and archives — can be connected and reused by people and machines.
What is the CIDOC CRM?: The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model is an ontology and ISO standard for cultural heritage information that provides shared concepts and relationships, enabling collections data from different institutions and systems to be integrated and queried.