2025:Program/A Network of Places – Wikidata in every GLAM professional's toolbox
Session title: A Network of Places – Wikidata in every GLAM professional's toolbox
- Session type: Lecture
- Track: GLAM
- Language: en
🎥 Session recording: https://w.wiki/F8jF 🎥
A Network of Places: Open Linked Building Data as Research Infrastructure is a collaborative project that explores the potential of linked open data to make cultural heritage collections more accessible and interconnected. Led by ArkDes in partnership with Nationalmuseum, Tekniska museet, the Swedish National Heritage Board’s archive, and Wikimedia Sverige, the project focuses on linking archival and museum data through geographical metadata. This presentation will highlight key findings, methodologies, and the project's long-term impact on the GLAM sector. By empowering professionals to integrate Wikidata and other Wikimedia platforms into their workflows, the initiative fosters inclusivity, enhances research opportunities, and ensures the sustainability of open knowledge practices. Attendees will gain insights into how linked open data can bridge institutional silos, support cross-collection analysis, and create new pathways for engaging with cultural heritage materials.
Description
A Network of Places: Open Linked Building Data as Research Infrastructure is a Swedish collaborative project that demonstrates the power of Linked Open Data (LOD) in the cultural heritage sector. Led by ArkDes in collaboration with Nationalmuseum, Tekniska museet, the Swedish National Heritage Board’s archive, and Wikimedia Sverige, the project seeks to bridge the gap between museum and archival collections by linking them through geographical metadata. This initiative not only makes heritage data more accessible and useful but also establishes new research methodologies that extend far beyond the project's initial scope.
In this presentation, we will showcase the key findings and methodologies of A Network of Places, emphasizing its impact on the GLAM sector. We will explore how LOD practices can transform how institutions manage, share, and analyze cultural heritage information. Attendees will gain insights into how Wikidata and other Wikimedia platforms can be used to structure and connect disparate datasets, fostering a more inclusive and sustainable approach to cultural heritage research. The session aims to demonstrate practical applications of LOD, share best practices, and inspire participants to implement similar strategies within their institutions.
By training GLAM professionals to integrate Wikidata and other Wikimedia platforms into their workflows, A Network of Places fosters a culture of open knowledge that will have long-lasting effects on how institutions manage and share their collections. The impact is profound: by equipping professionals with the tools to structure and link their data, the project ensures that cultural heritage information is not only preserved but also made available to a global audience in a way that is meaningful and reusable. Through this process, it strengthens the Wikimedia ecosystem, allowing researchers, educators, and the public to explore cultural heritage data in innovative ways.
The sustainability of the project is rooted in its methodology: by promoting LOD as an established practice within GLAM institutions, it ensures that the benefits extend beyond the project’s timeline. The project also addresses the critical challenge of information silos by providing a framework for institutions to collaborate and share data more effectively. This approach enables cross-institutional analysis, fostering new research opportunities and enhancing the relevance of historical collections. Furthermore, by integrating cultural heritage data into Wikimedia platforms, the project amplifies its reach, ensuring that a diverse and global audience can engage with and contribute to this knowledge network.
A Network of Places exemplifies how the Wikimedia platforms can be leveraged for impactful and sustainable knowledge-sharing within the cultural heritage sector. By empowering professionals to harness the potential of linked open data, it creates a lasting infrastructure that supports open access, research, and public engagement with cultural heritage materials.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
The session presents a project that promotes inclusivity through open knowledge sharing, demonstrating real-world impact by empowering GLAM professionals with Linked Open Data skills, and ensuring sustainability by establishing long-term methodologies for integrating the Wikimedia platforms into cultural heritage research.
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Resources
Speakers
- alicia
- Alicia Fagerving is a developer at Wikimedia Sverige, working primarily with Linked Open Data and partnerships. They have extensive experience working with Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, and have supported numerous GLAMs in Sweden in sharing their free content, including the National Library of Sweden, the Nationalmuseum and the Swedish National Heritage Board.