Challenge Entries are Up

The LODLAM Challenge submission period has ended, and we have received eight entries from several different countries demonstrating a wide array of implementations of Linked Open Data methodologies to cultural heritage collections.

You can view all of the submissions here, and take a look at the project web pages, datasets, codebases, and video presentations. We received fewer submissions than previous LODLAM Summits, and so we will open all eight submissions to voting at the Summit in two weeks rather than narrowing down this list to a final five before the event. The winning project will take home $1,500 from the Challenge sponsor, Casalina Libri. You can read more about our sponsor and their Semantic Web software at the link above.

LODLAM 2011-2020 ᐧ Looking back (nearly) a decade

In 2011 the first LODLAM unconference started in San Francisco, bringing together a motley crew of librarians, archivists and museums curators and the odd triples adventurer. I can’t for the life of me find the original email that got me to attend but it really appealed to me at a time.

We’ve now had nearly a decade of LODLAMs which have spawned other smaller gatherings in New Zealand, New York, Toronto (York U.), Montreal (McGill), London and others. This February, the 7th instalment of the LODLAM unconference is being hosted by the Getty in LA. While looking back at previous years and planning the schedule with the committee, two questions came to mind:

  • Is Linked Open Data really being adopted by GLAM institutions?
  • Looking through the 2011 pictures… Where did all my hair go?!

Adoption is a mixed bag: Some projects like the LAC/Canadiana’s out of the Trenches project are no longer accessible and no one can tell me where the BBC’s LOD offerings are going. The German National Library has consistently been keeping it’s holdings updated in RDF, Sweden has been running an entire library system and the Library of Congress’s LOD ID service is still up, if at times a bit incomplete. The Canada Science and Technology Museum’s RDF offerings don’t have URIs that resolve properly, the Auckland Museum is still going strong with Linked Open Data offerings and it’s a great concern that not even Twitter shaming has been able to keep the British National Library from keeping it’s SPARQL server updated. I could keep going on with a list of projects that keep claiming that they are going to publish triples or with people that are still stuck on religious arguments about serialization.

In some ways, LODLAM is where SIGGRAPH was in the late 80’s: a group of specialists working on complex problems (like rendering a teacup) while the rest of the world calls it irrelevant until CG becomes mainstream in movies and television shows. It’s going to take more time and the recognition will come from applications not the technology or data.

I think back of a conversation I had with Scott Nelson in 2011 about marking up data about American Civil War battles and the (still) limited options in visualizing them. 10 years after, things have not changed all that much. Creating linked open data is a difficult thing even for people who know their data really well. Because the consumption tools are immature and as most GLAM organizations think of success as interacting with a human being, Linked Open Data is a hard sell internally.

To try and nudge things along, we are publishing the conference data as an RDF data set for LODLAM 2020 and you are welcome to add your data to it using this form if you have not done so already. The lodlam.net WordPress site is also creating LOD data through wp-linked-data plugin by Angelo Veltens.

Look forward to seeing you at the Getty next month!

Still a few spots for Delegates!

The first round of applications have been review by the Program Committee. Delegates have begun receiving their confirmation email invitations. There are still a few spots open so if you are still interested, but have not filled out an application, please do so now. Acceptances will be sent out on an ongoing basis until capacity is reached.

Applications Now Open!

Applications are now OPEN for the Fifth International Linked Open Data in Libraries Archives and Museums (LODLAM) Summit that will take place at The Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, USA on 3-4 February, 2020.

The website for LODLAM 2020 is still under construction but applications can be submitted here in the meantime!

We are asking all prospective participants to submit their applications by September 30, 2019. Confirmation invitations will be send in mid-October.

If you have questions, please contact us by email at lodlam2020@gmail.com.

Best wishes,
The LODLAM 2020 Summit Planning Committee

What Are Unconferences?

Conferences are formally programmed, often organised right down to very specific logistics details and clear expectations about who will speak and what they will speak about, and when social events will occur etc, where the exits are and what time the buses leave.  Participants can turn up and read the conference information and sit in and participate in whatever takes their interest.  Sometimes conference programming have “spaces” in the schedule for community driven issues and shared agendas to emerge e.g. birds of a feather.  Sometimes unconferences have some set sessions in the event, to enable the hosts to welcome attendees and share their story, run competitions and workshops, or to eat, drink, network, and have fun.

Unconferences on the other hand, are more loosely organised.  There is less formality, and the key ask of the participants, is that they remain “present”, ready to actively contribute.  The idea is to provide the “space” for members of the community to take initiative, ask for help where they need it, volunteer to do something when they see that something needs to be done, check-in and maybe do it or find that someone else has already done it.  Participants can take charge and suggest sessions they want to facilitate or ones they would like others to run, and critically, they must feel free to step in and advocate for others, that may be attending or may not be present.  An unconference can provide room for spontaneity, for dialogue and sometimes failure and contention.  What unfolds in unconferences is driven by those that attend.  People take responsibility for themselves, look after others, show leadership, and make and find their best mate, a mentor, birds of a feather friends and incredible colleagues that share their work and play passions.  Using an unconference approach, can be challenging, wonderful, unexpected, and the community driven interactions and discussions occur, through active sharing, communing and collaboration.    

The LODLAM Summits invite the community to self-select and submit applications to attend, and do some background thinking and work before, during, and after the event.  Applicants are asked to provide information about what their interest is, what they’ve been doing, to raise a discussion point, or success story, issue or challenge, they want to bring to the community get together, to share with others and work through.  

Key to making the most of the Summit is also getting to grips with the approach used to organise and run the unconference style event, and that is “Open Space Technology”.  It is important that all participants at the Summit understand the self-determination and community co-contribution implied in “the law of two feet”.  For community members participating at the LODLAM Summit, whether they have been on the organising group or have applied to attend, it’s important to understand that everyone shares the responsibility for a successful outcome. 

LODLAM 2020 – Planning Progresses

The LODLAM 2020 planning committee is hard at work getting the details of the unconference finalized as well as taking steps to preserve the contents of the previous LODLAM summits. Sophy Chen has gracefully volunteered to move the previous websites to new home.

We expect to have both the delegate applications and the sponsors information brochure available in the following weeks. Stay tuned for further details as they will be published here!