Browsing by Author "Ransom, Lynn"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Harmonizing and publishing heterogeneous premodern manuscript metadata as Linked Open Data
(2022-02) Koho, Mikko; Burrows, Toby; Hyvonen, Eero; Ikkala, Esko; Page, Kevin; Ransom, Lynn; Tuominen, Jouni; Emery, Doug; Fraas, Mitch; Heller, Benjamin; Lewis, David; Morrison, Andrew; Porte, Guillaume; Thomson, Emma; Velios, Athanasios; Wijsman, Hanno
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Manuscripts are a crucial form of evidence for research into all aspects of premodern European history and culture, and there are numerous databases devoted to describing them in detail. This descriptive information, however, is typically available only in separate data silos based on incompatible data models and user interfaces. As a result, it has been difficult to study manuscripts comprehensively across these various platforms. To address this challenge, a team of manuscript scholars and computer scientists worked to create "Mapping Manuscript Migrations" (MMM), a semantic portal, and a Linked Open Data service. MMM stands as a successful proof of concept for integrating distinct manuscript datasets into a shared platform for research and discovery with the potential for future expansion. This paper will discuss the major products of the MMM project: a unified data model, a repeatable data transformation pipeline, a Linked Open Data knowledge graph, and a Semantic Web portal. It will also examine the crucial importance of an iterative process of multidisciplinary collaboration embedded throughout the project, enabling humanities researchers to shape the development of a digital platform and tools, while also enabling the same researchers to ask more sophisticated and comprehensive research questions of the aggregated data.
A linked open data service and portal for pre-modern manuscript research
(2019-05-17) Hyvönen, Eero; Ikkala, Esko; Tuominen, Jouni; Koho, Mikko; Burrows, Toby; Ransom, Lynn; Wijsman, Hanno
A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
This paper presents a Linked Open Data publishing model for aggregating data from heterogeneous, distributed pre-modern manuscript databases into a global, harmonized data model and service. Our research hypothesis is that on top of the global data service based on ontologies and well-defined semantics, tools and applications can be created for solving novel research problems in manuscript studies using Digital Humanities methods. First results in implementing such a system in the international Mapping Manuscript Migrations project are described with lessons learned discussed in dealing with complex and imperfect historical data.
Linked Open Data Vocabularies and Identifiers for Medieval Studies
(2020-10) Burrows, Toby; Brix, Antoine; Emery, Douglas; Fraas, Arthur Mitchell; Hyvönen, Eero; Ikkala, Esko; Koho, Mikko; Lewis, David; Myking, Synnøve; Page, Kevin; Ransom, Lynn; Cawlfield Thomson, Emma; Tuominen, Jouni; Wijsman, Hanno; Wilcox, Pip
A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
This paper examines the use of Linked Open Data in the research field of medieval studies. We report on a survey of common identifiers and vocabularies used across digitized medieval resources, with a focus on three internationally significant collections in the field. This survey has been undertaken within the “Mapping Manuscript Migrations” (MMM) project since 2017, aimed at aggregating and linking disparate datasets relating to the history of medieval manuscripts. This has included reconciliation and matching of data for five main classes of entities: Persons, Places, Organizations, Works, and Manuscripts. For each of these classes, we review the identifiers used in MMM’s source datasets, and note the way in which they tend to rely on generic vocabularies rather than specialist medieval ones. As well as discussing some of the major issues and difficulties involved in conceptualizing each of these types of entity in a medieval context, we suggest some possible directions for building a more specialized Linked Open Data environment for medieval studies in the future.
Mapping Manuscript Migrations Knowledge Graph: Data for Tracing the History and Provenance of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts
(2020-06-01) Burrows, Toby; Emery, Douglas; Fraas, Arthur Mitchell; Hyvönen, Eero; Ikkala, Esko; Koho, Mikko; Lewis, David; Morrison, Andrew; Page, Kevin; Ransom, Lynn; Thomson, Emma Cawlfield; Tuominen, Jouni; Velios, Athanasios; Wijsman, Hanno
Data Article
The Mapping Manuscript Migrations (MMM) project transformed three separate datasets relating to the history and provenance of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts into a unified knowledge graph. The source databases are: Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, from the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, University of Pennsylvania; Bibale, from the Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes (IRHT-CNRS, Paris); and Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries, from the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. The data consist of more than 20 million RDF triples which have been mapped to the MMM Data Model. The model combines classes and properties from CIDOC-CRM and FRBR, together with some specific MMM elements. The Knowledge Graph was created using the MMM data transformation pipeline. The MMM dataset is available from the Zenodo repository, and can be directly deployed on a SPARQL endpoint using a docker recipe. To test and demonstrate its usefulness, the MMM Knowledge Graph is in use in the MMM Semantic Portal: https://mappingmanuscriptmigrations.org.
Mapping Manuscript Migrations: Digging into Data for Researching the History and Provenance of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts: White Paper
(2020-08-01) Burrows, Toby; Emery, Douglas; Fraas, Mitch; Hyvönen, Eero; Ikkala, Esko; Koho, Mikko; Lewis, David; Morrison, Andrew; Page, Kevin; Ransom, Lynn; Thomson, Emma; Tuominen, Jouni; Velios, Athanasios; Wijsman, Hanno
A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
Mapping Manuscript Migrations: Digging into Data for the History and Provenance of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts
(2018) Burrows, Toby; Hyvönen, Eero; Ransom, Lynn; Wijsman, Hanno
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Medieval Manuscripts and Their Migrations: Using SPARQL to Investigate the Research Potential of an Aggregated Knowledge Graph
(2022-08-18) Burrows, Toby; Cleaver, Laura; Emery, Doug; Hyvönen, Eero; Koho, Mikko; Ransom, Lynn; Thomson, Emma; Wijsman, Hanno
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Although the RDF query language SPARQL has a reputation for being opaque and difficult for traditional humanists to learn, it holds great potential for opening up vast amounts of Linked Open Data to researchers willing to take on its challenges. This is especially true in the field of premodern manuscripts studies as more and more datasets relating to the study of manuscript culture are made available online. This paper explores the results of a two-year long process of collaborative learning and knowledge transfer between the computer scientists and humanities researchers from the Mapping Manuscript Migrations (MMM) project to learn and apply SPARQL to the MMM dataset. The process developed into a wider investigation of the use of SPARQL to analyse the data, refine research questions, and assess the research potential of the MMM aggregated dataset and its Knowledge Graph. Through an examination of a series of six SPARQL query case studies, this paper will demonstrate how the process of learning and applying SPARQL to query the MMM dataset returned three important and unexpected results: 1) a better understanding of a complex and imperfect dataset in a Linked Open Data environment, 2) a better understanding of how manuscript description and associated data involving the people and institutions involved in the production, reception, and trade of premodern manuscripts needs to be presented to better facilitate computational research, and 3) an awareness of need to further develop data literacy skills among researchers in order to take full advantage of the wealth of unexplored data now available to them in the Semantic Web.