Linked Data and Cultural Heritage

Abstract

The cultural heritage sector has traditionally been concerned with sharing resources and furthering human knowledge, with particular interest to the issues associated with metadata and interoperability, especially when it comes to the use of technology. These goals and interests in the cultural heritage sector are natural alignments with those of linked data; hence. there has been an increasing interest in the application of linked data in this sector. This article studies the implementation of linked data in the cultural heritage sector, through a systematic literature review of case studies of linked data implementation projects in this sector. The results reflect on the parties involved, the level of collaboration, and the motivation behind these projects. The study suggests that universities and national institutions were the main players in implementing such technologies in the cultural heritage sector, suggesting that there may be some barriers preventing smaller GLAM institutions from implementing linked data projects. The results further suggest that many linked data projects in this sector were primarily exploratory projects, and often performed in a collaborative manner. They further indicate that the most common motivating factors behind these projects were research needs, a desire to contribute to linked data as a movement, and other specific user needs. Reflecting on this systematic literature review, this article makes a set of recommendations for future work to increase the use of linked data in the cultural heritage sector and to remove barriers to adoption.