Exposing Data From an Open Access Repository for Economics As Linked Data
D-Lib Magazine, (09-2014 2014)Abstract
This article describes an approach to publishing metadata on the Semantic Web from an Open Access repository to foster interoperability with distributed data. The article describes two significant movements which led to the application of Semantic Web principles to repository content: the development of Open Access repositories and software systems implementing them, and the Semantic Web movement, especially within libraries and related institutions. The article provides both conceptual and practical insight into the process of converting a legacy relational dataset to machine understandable semantic statements, a.k.a. 'triplification', and gives an overview of current software frameworks that can fulfill this goal. One important outcome of this effort and proof-of-concept is that a repository's content can be straightforwardly published as Linked Open Data. Another result is the ability to link to valuable external datasets, enabling a repository's data to become more contextualized and 'meaningful'. Finally, SPARQL querying shows the potential of triplifications to surpass the querying and use of local data. From both practical and software engineering points of view, the article describes an approach towards publishing a repository's content as Linked Open Data, which is of interest to librarians, repository managers and software developers who work for libraries.