1) Linked data and semantic annotation techniques can help build a network of interconnected knowledge that assists with problem solving and innovation. 2) These techniques involve representing information as structured data using vocabularies and ontologies, and automatically identifying relationships between concepts. 3) When applied to digital humanities resources, these methods can help produce advanced knowledge by linking information from different domains into a universal network.

1. Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Linked Data and Digital Humanities
Prof. Stefan Decker
Copyright 2011 Digital Enterprise Research Institute. All rights reserved.
Enabling networked knowledge

2. Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
“Advanced
knowledge production
is the primary function of using
computational methodologies in the
humanities”
Father Roberto A. Busa 1980
Digital Humanities Pioneer
Enabling networked knowledge
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3. A Network of Knowledge
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
 Interconnected
 Universal
 All encompassing
 assists humans, organisations
and systems with problem
solving
 enabling innovation and
increased productivity
Enabling networked knowledge
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4. Knowledge Production: manual &
automatic Semantic Annotation
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Person-Place
Domain
Vocabulary
(simplified)
Fritz Mauthner as an Historian
Mauthner
Hegel
Rome
Enabling networked knowledge
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5. Knowledge Production: Linking Items
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Person-Place
Domain
Vocabulary
(simplified)
Fritz Mauthner as an Historian Mauthner Language Scepticism
owl:sameAs
Fritz Mauthner F. M.
Enabling networked knowledge
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6. Knowledge Production: Linking Items
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Person-Place
Domain Vocabulary
(simplified)
Fritz Mauthner as an Historian Mauthner Language Scepticism
o: teacherOf
Fritz Mauthner Ernst Mach
Enabling networked knowledge
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7. Knowledge Production: manuell & automatic
Semantic Annotation`
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Fritz Mauthner as an Historian
Domain Vocabulary
Linguistic Vocabulary
Rethorical Vocabulary
Speech Act Vocabulary [Handschuh et. al: KCap 2001]
[Handschuh et. al: EKAW 2002]
Document Structure Vocabulary [Cimiano, Handschuh, Staab: WWW 2004]
[Handschuh: Thesis 2005]
Citation Vocabulary [Cimiano, Handschuh: 2003]
[Groza, Handschuh, Decker: 2010]
Gilbert Schema Vocabulary [Groza, Handschuh, Bordea: ACM
2010]
...
Enabling networked knowledge
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8. Knowledge Production: automatic Semantic
Annotation of Claims
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Rhetorical Vocabulary
(extremely simplified)
Fritz Mauthner as
an Historian
For example, he argues that neither Duns Scotus nor Ockham
could go any further than he did, because of the limits of the
Latin they both used.
Mauthner generally went to the original writings he discussed,
although there is quite a lot of inevitable borrowing from
secondary sources, when the original material was not available.
Zufallsgeschichte, in this sense, means indeed that history is a
series of accidents, and from this it follows that the appropriate
explanatory concepts in history are modal concepts.
Enabling networked knowledge
[Groza, Handschuh, Decker: 2010]
[Groza, Handschuh, Bordea: ACM
2010] 8

9. Two Key Ingredients
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
1. RDF – Resource Description Framework
Graph based Data – nodes and arcs
 Identifies objects (URIs)
 Interlink information (Relationships)
2. Vocabularies (Ontologies)
 provide shared understanding of a domain
 organise knowledge in a machine-comprehensible way
 give an exploitable meaning to the data
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10. Why RDF and Linked Data?
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Fritz Mauthner as an Historian
Wikipedia.org
Enabling networked knowledge
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11. Linked Open Data
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Media
User-generated
Government Publications
Cross-domain
Geo
Life sciences
 Over 230 open data sets with more than 26 billion facts,
interlinked by 400 million typed Enabling networked knowledge
links, doubling every 10 month!
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12. Claim Search Engine
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Enabling networked knowledge
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13. Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Enabling networked knowledge
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14. A Network of Knowledge
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Physics Biology Anatomy Medicine Psychology History Archeology Humanities
Allow data that was never linked before to be linked
Allow new patterns to emerge
Enabling networked knowledge
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15. Building a Network of
Knowledge
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Digital Humanities
 crucial Knowedge
Resource
 part of a wider
network
Enabling networked knowledge
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