Leicester workshop documentation now online

Alex Whitfield’s hard work over the last few weeks now means we have our first workshop report, from the open meeting that kicked off the project at UK Museums on the Web in Leicester in July.

It’s key to the success of the project that all members associated with the Think Tank read the reports closely, and post as much or as little feedback as you like. But whatever you do, please do add to the discussion in some way or another. This is an informal, but thoughtful project, and we want to benefit from your experience and wisdom.

If we can make each workshop more productive than the last, then we’ll be on course to produce something useful next spring.

Read the report from the Semantic Web Think Tank first meeting at UK Museums on the Web, July 2006

Project home page

http://www.le.ac.uk/ms/news/thinktank.html

at the University of Leicester, Department of Museum Studies.

‘Data Webs’ hosted by the Research Information Network

A day of discussion and presentations on the use of ’lightweight semantic web’ approaches to research informatics (bioinformatics, physics etc). Also includes a talk from David Karger, creater of Haystack and more recently, Piggy Bank. Presentations are available:

http://www.rin.ac.uk/data-webs

Introduction to the semantic web for Museums

Originally given at UKMW 2005, modified and extended for Museums and the Web 2006

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mike.lowndes/semantic/Intro-to-the-Semantic-Web.htm (web)

And the associated paper: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2006/papers/lowndes/lowndes.html 

During the first thinktank meeting we discussed various slides from this, and I will be updating the presentation to reflect the concerns raised. Essentially, some terms need disambiguating!

As you read this please remember that it is an exploration by a non-expert on behalf of the community, and not an authoritative, didactic lecture.

MikeL

A recent post on the emerging Semantic Web: some clear explanations

http://evolvingtrends.wordpress.com/2006/06/26/wikipedia-30-the-end-of-google/

Take-home: Watch Wikipedia…

The press release.

Leading Culture Bodies Create Semantic Web Thinktank  

The Museums Computer Group, MDA and the 24 Hour Museum have joined forces with the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester to create the museum and gallery sector’s first Semantic Web Thinktank.

The Semantic Web is a set of related technologies which make it easier to find and share information online. The objective of the Thinktank is to identify the key challenges and opportunities for museums and to define how the culture sector should respond to them.

The Semantic Web Thinktank brings together experts from a wide range of disciplines, including museum policy and management, cataloguing and computational science. It has been funded by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Over the next ten months, a group of around 10 to 15 semantic web experts and museum professionals will gather in a series of closely documented meetings around the UK to explore the ways forward for the sector into this more digitally connected future.

The workshops will be launched at an open meeting at the UK Museums on the Web Conference in Leicester on July 7, 2006. Interested parties can register to attend the inaugural meeting in Leicester by visiting:
http://mcg.man.ac.uk/meetings/2-2006-sw-form.shtml.

Ross Parry, lecturer in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, and chair of its Digital Heritage Research Group, commented, “The Semantic Web Thinktank is an important development for museums. Over the next few years, these technologies will come to define how people find and share our resources. It is vital that we are able to bring together the key players from across the culture and other sectors to make sure that we are ready for them”.

Mike Lowndes, Interactive Media Manager at the Natural History Museum and Chair of the Thinktank’s core group said “I consider that the Semantic Web will form a major platform for how cultural digital content will be delivered and used in the future, but like many people am not sure how it will happen or how Museums can get engaged practically. This initiative is set to ask these questions and the Museum is excited to take part.”

The Semantic Web Thinktank will be working over the next 12 months to produce a vision statement and workplan which will be disseminated throughout the sector.

Notes

The Semantic Web is the name for a group of related technologies which enable meaningful information to be shared via the Internet. For further information about the Semantic Web, visit http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/.

The Semantic Web Thinktank falls under the project ‘UK Museums and the Semantic Web’, funded as part of the Arts & Humanities Research Council’s Research Workshops (Museums and Galleries) Scheme.  For more information about the scheme visit http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/apply/research/research_networks_workshops.asp

 For further information, or to interview a representative of the Thinktank, contact Ross Parry at rdp5@leicester.ac.uk

Lets start here.

A recent BBC news article sums up nicely the background to this discussion. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4994570.stm