Conference Tracks 2020

The conference offers sessions on the below themes. See session descriptions and schedule at ld42020.sched.com

Data sources, ontologies, and standards

Digital Collections

Digital collections are more important than ever in our current environment. They make GLAM institutions more accessible to a broader audience. Linked data is important for making connections within and across collections, but that can bring challenges of its own when working with heterogeneous sets of metadata. Discover the workflows, tools, and models that the projects in this track have used to successfully create and manage linked data and improve discovery in digital collections.

Discovery

Whether as a starting-point or directed via a search engine, library discovery environments are critical for user engagement and connecting researchers with resources. Much of the work to create metadata and build rich research collections can be completely dismantled if the discovery environment lacks the ability for the user to successfully navigate through the millions of resources described in a variety of standards by a plethora of individuals using often-confusing terminology. During the July 20th-23rd Discovery Track, we will engage with nice talks during 4 sessions that range from discovery-focused user research to building user-engaged discovery environments.

Ethics

The participants of this track can join in the conversation hosted by Ethics in Linked Data Affinity Group to explore the ethical implications (both positive and negative) of linked data with the group’s aim to develop a Code of Ethics and toolkit of resources to provide a critical and ethical framework for designing linked data projects. For a deeper dive into the topic, the Ethics in Linked Data Affinity Group will host Carving Time for Ethics: A Writing Workshop, a four-hour writing workshop focusing on creating a space to work collaboratively on writing projects related to Ethics in Linked Data. In Workshopping Queeries: Linked Data Vocabularies and Ethical Cataloging, participants will hear from the presenters‚ who serve on the board of the international LGBTQ+ linked data vocabulary Homosaurus‚ on a wide range of applications drawing from their work in archives and digital humanities (Watson) and biomedical informatics (Kronk). They will present use cases for the Homosaurus in GLAMs (including platforms such as Omeka, Scalar, and MARC) as well as in biomedical research. Presenters will also share use cases for natural language processing (NLP) tasks, such as text detection, document classification, and tagging in different case scenarios.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure track explores the various tools and technologies used to create and share linked data. Participants will learn more about how linked data is being operationalized by various practitioners in this continuously evolving landscape.

Linked Data for Beginners

Metadata Production

Tailoring metadata practices to incorporate Linked Data can be a daunting leap. Knowing where to start with feasible procedures is a challenge that takes time and resources to address. The Metadata Production track offers enlightening sessions where presenters share procedures developed to enhance their metadata creation while incorporating Linked Data practices. This track consists of two presentations and two tool demonstrations. Anyone interested in seeing and exploring concrete ways to implement Linked Data into metadata production is welcome to attend.

Planning for Implementation

Libraries around the world are assessing their readiness and developing plans to shift to a linked data environment. Some that have started to work with linked data are assessing their current implementation to inform strategies and pathways forward and others are in the process of formulating those plans. Learn about methods to evaluate linked data readiness and the organization, training, infrastructure changes that other libraries anticipate as they begin linked data implementation.

RDF Application Profiles

Application profiles! Not a new notion for information professionals, but an indispensable specification design that is gaining momentum among RDF practitioners due to its potential to provide metadata interoperability, document community decisions regarding their descriptive practices, and validate data produced according to a specific profile. Application profiles (APs) stipulate a set of metadata elements, usage policies and best practices guidelines for deploying in a particular scenario to meet application-specific requirements. The ongoing interest in creation and documentation of APs is reflected in a growing number of working groups actively engaged in providing policies and guidelines regarding resource description for their respective communities. This track covers development and maintenance of APs: from machine-learning approaches for profile recognition, to stakeholder impact when deploying APs for delivery of information services, attendants will have the opportunity to learn more about workflow efficiency, collaborative development, and interoperability challenges for RDF application profiles. Intended audience: Technical services practitioners, information professionals, IT professionals, and RDF data producers and consumers

Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Materials

Wikidata

Modeling data from GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) institutions is not trivial. GLAM colleagues have been in search of tools that will enable collections sharing and exposure across traditional material types. Wikidata, now a widely used free and open linked data platform, offers a way for cultural heritage institutions to describe and expose their collections onto the Web across institutional boundaries and technological limitations. Many GLAM institutions have experimented with Wikibase, the software that fuels the Wikidata platform, in order to get more mileage out of library traditional authority data. This track features presentations and working sessions that showcase data modeling on Wikidata; tools that allow GLAM institutions to upload bulk data and query descriptions across domains; and a selection of projects from research and academic institutions built around the data sets currently in the Wikidata repository. Intended audience: Information professionals, librarians, programmers, collection curators, data producers and data consumers.
Links of interest: Wiki Education, Wikidata data primer, Stanford Wikidata project, LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group, Wikidata project ‘Source metadata’