Experience from 10 months of University Linked Data
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Experience from 10 months of University Linked Data at the Open University: 1. The Open University exposed its public data as linked open data to make the data more discoverable, reusable, and integrated with other datasets. 2. Exposing data as linked data provides benefits like increased transparency, data reuse internally and externally, and reduced costs of managing the university's public data. 3. Other UK universities have since followed the Open University's example in exposing their data as linked data.
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Experience from 10 months of University Linked Data
- 1. Experience from 10 months of University Linked DataMathieu d’Aquin - @mdaquinKnowledge Media Institute, the Open UniversityLUCERO project lucero-project.info – data.open.ac.uk
- 2. Linked DataAs set of principles and technologies for a Web of DataPutting the “raw” data online in a standard, web enabled representation (RDF)Make the data Web addressable (URIs)Link with other data
- 3. Graph (up to date)
- 4. The Open UniversityThe biggest university in the UK (200,000 students)One of the youngest (40 years)Most teaching done at a distance1 campus, 13 regional centersCommitted to “Open”:Open educational material available as podcasts (iTunes U), units of course material (OpenLearn), etc.Tradition of investing in new technology for teaching, learning, knowledge sharing, etc.Role of the Knowledge Media Institute (KMi)
- 5. So Linked Data for the OU?RAEDBPediaData from Research OutputsOpenLearnContentOROExposed as linked data, our data interlink with each other and the external world: become part of the “global data space” on the WebArchive of Course MaterialLibrary’sCatalogueOf Digital Contentgeonamesdata.gov.ukCurrently: OU public data sit in different systems – hard to discover, obtain, integrate by users.A/V MaterialPodcastsiTunesUBBCDBLP
- 6. Why is it important?The OU has been the first University to expose its data as linked data: http://data.open.ac.ukNow widely recognized as a critical step forward for the HE sector in the UK (and worldwide)Favor transparency and reuse of data, both externally and internallyReduces cost of dealing with our own public data: integration and reuse by design Enable both new kinds of applications, and to make the ones that are already feasible more cost effectiveAt least 3 other UK universities have now followed our example:http://data.online.lincoln.ac.uk/, http://data.ox.ac.uk/, http://data.southampton.ac.uk/And others in other countries are setting up similar initiatives
- 7. The data.open.ac.uk StackApplicationsInstitutional repository dataResearch Data (Arts)Organizational infrastructureTechnical infrastructure
- 9. ExposeStoreCollectExtractLinkOntologiesSchedulerCleaning rulesRDF file (add) RDF file (delete)URL redirection rulesRSS ExtractorDelete (1)Add (2)RDF CleanerWeb ServerORO, podcastRSS feedRDF file (add) RDF file (delete)Triple StoreRSS UpdaterSPARQLendpointRDF ExtractorNew itemsObsolete itemsEach datasetsIndexEntity Name SystemSearchXML UpdaterURI creation rulesLib, courses, locPlanning + LoggingGeneric processDataset specific process
- 10. Method for a exposing a dataset Identify data
- 11. Get sample data
- 12. Identify Copyright Issues
- 13. Identify possible links
- 14. Identify users and usageInitial Meeting with Data OwnerLucero Core TeamData OwnerData Modeling sessionsLucero KMi Team Find reusable ontologies
- 15. Map onto the data
- 16. Identify uncovered parts
- 17. Define URI SchemeData Modeling ValidationLucero Core TeamLucero membersData OwnerDevelopment of ExtractorURI Creation Rules DefinitionDeploymentLucero KMi Team
- 18. Screenshot of the dataset page
- 20. ApplicationsFor education Mobile podcast explorer, podcast explorer on TV OU Building Map, OU location tracker (cf. foursquare)OU Expert SearchConnecting courses/OpenLearn to relevant podcastOU Course Profile Facebook app using list of courses, “Study Buddy” app connecting facebook users to relevant coursesFor ResearchDisplay connections in a research communityResearch Data/Impact AnalysisConnection research datasets to external data
- 21. Example application: Link OpenLearn to relevant course/podcasts
- 22. Example Application: keep track of location, meetings, tutorials, at the OU
- 23. Example application: exploring research communities
- 24. Example application:Expert Search using publication information and connecting to contact information within the OU
- 25. Example application: Explore Information about a person in the “Reading Experience Database” based on data provided by DBPedia (Linked Data version of Wikipedia) New ways to look at humanities research data
- 26. Lessons LearntThe major part of the work is not technicalLinked data is simple!Identifying available data, obtaining access to them, re-modeling them is hardMaking people understand that it is worth doing is criticalEspecially when dealing with challenges such as data licenses, private data, etc.Get people involved (it is not about you, or the technology)A lot of people’s job (administrators, managers, researchers) is all about collecting and managing dataA lot of this effort is lost because of closed systems, lack of integration and exposure of the dataOur job is to demonstrate to these people how the principles of linked data can be used to leverage this effort Without being disruptive (e.g., the URI of a course in a browser redirects to the course webpage on the OU website
- 27. Lessons LearntThere is no killer appThe direct benefit of linked data is not in a great big smart application, it is in the many small things that are made easierNeed to make it easy for developers to get into it, play with it, see the potential by themselvesIntegrating the benefits of linked data in the university’s practices/workflows takes time. It is not a threatening big change, but a slow, incremental adoptionPlan for long term = need for endorsementWe work with the assumption that, soon, it will be as common and necessary for a University to have a linked data platform as it is to have a websiteSo a linked data initiative at a university cannot be a one time thing. Courses evolve, new material appear, new datasets are made available. (e.g., data.open.ac.uk is updated every day)It needs to become part of the University’s role and be endorsed by the departments involved (IT, communication, education, research, business)It does not always workSome applications might be incompatible with the University’s policies (e.g., Google rich snippet showing the price of a course)Support might only get up to a certain point
- 28. The future From nice demonstrators to real semantic web applicationsUse of reasoning and data mining for data consolidation and analysisNeed proper frameworks for application developers!Linked data and the Semantic Web to support researchNot only research communitiesIdentifying new research questions and collecting evidence through connected datasetsIt is not about individual Universities!Universities sharing data to benefit students and researchers: the higher education’s web of linked dataNeeds collective vocabularies, recipes, approaches, classifications… the GoodRelations of higher education?
- 29. The futureLinked data analytics/Linked data miningInterfaces to linked data/Making sense of linked data (with ontologies)Semantic web for activity data/personal data
- 30. Thank you!Carlo Allocca(Dev)SalmanElahi((Ex)-Dev)Jane Whild(Admin)FouadZablith(Dev)KMiAndriyNikolov(linking)Enrico Motta(SGP)Mathieu d’Aquin(PD)ArtsSuzanne Duncanson-HunterJohn WolfePaul LawrenceRichard Nurse((ex-)PM)Owen Stephens(PM)Stuart BrownCom./StudentComp.ServicesData OwnersNon ScantleburyLibrary SpecialistsArts SpecialistsOU Library
Editor's Notes
- #3: Usual pitch: - data on the web = every piece of data is web addressable, so data across different places/stores/systems become linkable: the Web = 1 data space