agora project @ glams workshop

7 Dec 2011

Agora:interpretation & representation of

historical events online

Marieke van Erp

Lora Aroyo

http://agora.cs.vu.nl

@agoraproject

DISH2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11

Observations

• Amount of cultural heritage data made available has increased dramatically

• What to use it for?

• How to prevent loss of meaning?

• Meta-data differ in quality and do not make it easier for end users to find what they are looking for

DISH20117 December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11

The Agora Project• 2009-2013

• VU Amsterdam (CS + History Departments), Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

• Funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) within the CATCH research programme

DISH20117 December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11

7 December 2011 DISH2011

• objects (digitised artworks and artifacts)

• events (concrete particulars)

• entities (actors, locations, periods)

• narratives (organisation of events)

‘Events’ is the Answer

Wednesday, December 7, 11

7 December 2011 DISH2011

• objects (digitised artworks and artifacts)

• events (concrete particulars)

• entities (actors, locations, periods)

• narratives (organisation of events)

‘Events’ is the Answer

Wednesday, December 7, 11

Digital Hermeneutics*

• theory of interpretation: relation parts of wholes

• encounter of hermeneutics and Web technology

• context to think about providing access to and interpretation of online collections

*Capurro, 2010

DISH20117 December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11

DISH20117 December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11

Venue7 December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11

Enriching Collection Meta-data

• semantic search

• improving user experience

• understanding the needs of online users

DISH20117 December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11

Semantic Search

• suggesting relevant/related events of interest, e.g., in the same location, with the same actor, during a related period

• finding related stories/narratives of interest

• based on current interests in events finding artworks in different collections by the same creator, or on similar events

DISH20117 December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11

http://agora.cs.vu.nl

http://agora.cs.vu.nl/demo

@agoraproject

DISH20117 December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 11