Summary and Setup

Welcome to the course “Linked Open Data for the Humanities”! This course provides a practical introduction to the world of Linked Open Data (LOD) and is specifically designed for researchers and students in the humanities. However, the concepts behind linked open data are just as transferable to other research areas, which means that this course is also aimed at all interested learnes who have no experience in the humanities. Also you dont need any coding experience or other theoretical background knowledge. You will learn everything you need in this course.

The concept behind a carpentry lesson is very practical, so this course will give you different hands-on tasks to solve to learn the theoretical concepts to provide an inclusive and interesting learning experience.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Model your research data with RDF.
  • Identify the advantages and disadvantages of Linked Data.
  • Use RDF in your own research practice.

What is Linked Open Data?

Linked Open Data (LOD) is a method of structuring and interconnecting data on the web in a machine-readable format. It builds upon existing web technologies such as the Resource Description Framework (RDF) to create meaningful relationships between different datasets. This allows data to be linked across various sources, facilitating improved accessibility, integration, and reusability. In this course, you will learn what RDF is, how to create a file in the RDF format, and what possibilities this provides. You will also learn how to use this format to analyze your data and gain a brief insight into its potential applications

FIXME: Setup instructions live in this document. Please specify the tools and the data sets the Learner needs to have installed.

Data Sets

The Dataset we will use in this lesson is a subset from the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you are interested in the whole data you can find and use it in their database here. The subset we are using can be downloaded here

Software Setup

Discussion

Details

The only software you need for doing this workshop is Open Refine with the extension rdf-transform. OpenRefine is actually a tool for data cleaning. However, with various extensions, the tool can be customised and extended to convert data into other formats just as easily. If you are interested in the other functionalities of Open Refine, we are developing a lesson to this aswell, where you learn more of the fundamental functionalities of OpenRefine.

  1. Click this link to download OpenRefine.
  2. Unzip the folder to a place of your choice (such as D:/Program Files/OpenRefine).
  3. In the unzipped folder doubeclick “openrefine.exe” to install and start OpenRefine.
  4. Download the extension rdf-transform.
  5. In the next step you need to unzip this folder into your OpenRefine Workspace. Depending on your Windows version the path for this can be different. You can find your path by: launchING OpenRefine and click Open Project in the sidebar At the bottom of the screen, click Browse workspace directory A file-explorer or finder window will open in your workspace. Note that path
  6. In the workspace folder, if not already there, create a new folder called “extensions”. Unzip rdf-transform into that folder.
  7. Close OpenRefine and reopen it.
  1. Check that you have Firefox, Edge, Opera or Chrome browsers installed and set as your default browser. OpenRefine runs in your default browser. It will not run correctly in Internet Explorer.
  2. Download the software from openrefine.org.
  3. Unzip the downloaded file into a directory by double-clicking it. Name that directory something like OpenRefine. / Double click the dmg file. A window opens an now drag and drop the OpenRefine.app into your Applications
  4. Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.
  5. Drag the OpenRefine app into the Applications folder.
  6. Launch OpenRefine: Control-click the app icon, then choose “Open” from the shortcut menu. For Troubleshooting help, see the Apple support page.
  7. If you are using a different browser than listed above, or if OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to launch the program.
  8. Download the extension rdf-transform.
  9. Unzip the folder and move it into your OpenRefine workspace. * You can find the path to your OpenRefine Workspace by launching OpenRefine and click Open Project in the sidebar. Then at the bottom of the screen, click “Browse workspace directory”. A Finder window with the path ~/Library/Application Support/OpenRefine opens. * Unzip the downloaded folder by double clicking on it. * Move the folder rdf-transform into the folder extension in your OpenRefine workspace.
  10. Close OpenRefine and reopen it.
  1. Click this link to download OpenRefine.
  2. Unzip the folder to a place of your choice. We recommend using your personal space.
  3. Open your terminal and navigate into the new OpenRefine folder.
  4. Write “./refine” into your terminal to install OpenRefine. This should start the program in your browser. Close the browser and close OpenRefine in your terminaml with “Strg+C”.
  5. Download the extension rdf-transform.
  6. Unzip the folder into your OpenRefine workspace. The workspace is not the folder you downloaded and unzipped in step 2. By default your workspace is located here: “~/.local/share/openrefine/”. In this workspace, if not already there, create a folder “extensions”. Unzip the folder into this new folder.
  7. Open your terminal again, navigate again into your OpenRefine folder and start it with “./refine”.