Linked.Art: Networking Digital Collections and Scholarship

'Linked.Art: Networking Digital Collections and Scholarship' brings together researchers and experts from some of the leading art museums in the UK and US. In a spirit of technological cooperation and collaboration they will work to unlock the data within their collections and provide a transformative foundation for digital scholarship and public access. Partners include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian Institution, The V&A, The National Gallery of Art (US), The Museum of Modern Art (New York), The Frick Collection, and the American Numismatics Society.

The network is proposed and supported by an experienced team at the University of Oxford, which itself embodies the multidisciplinary approach of the wider network, building on a partnership between the e-Research Centre, the Centre for Digital Scholarship, and the University's Gardens Libraries and Museums: the Ashmolean Museum, the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, the Museum of the History of Science, the Museum of Natural History, and the Pitt Rivers Museum.

At the core of the network's activities is the Linked.Art model, initially developed at the J Paul Getty Trust. The model provides a template by which digital records describing works of art can be organised and structured in a consistent manner, so that information from different cultural heritage institutions can be compared and combined. At a technical level, this allows digital connections to be made between collections on a global scale using Linked Data, which in turn can enables computational algorithms to assist complex scholarly investigations - as well as providing for more straightforward voyages of discovery!

Experts in the research network will work together to discuss and debate how machines should apply and interpret a standardised set of concepts and relationships - such as what the work of art is, what it depicts, when it was created, sold (or stolen) and exhibited. They will consult with academics to ensure the relevance and utility of the Linked.Art model which will underpins this 'web of data', so providing for a step change in opportunities for digital art history and provenance scholarship.

Primary beneficiaries beyond academia will be the art museums directly engaged with the network (listed in the full Pathways to Impact). Successful establishment of the network will ultimately lead to definition and delivery of a complete Linked.Art model, which will benefit art museums through the lowered individual costs of delivering a Linked Data platform - the overheads of refining the model will be shared amongst the collective efforts of the network participants. The models will be documented and shared with the community on a public website, with explanations of both how and when they can be used, examples of what a conforming implementation might produce, and "recipes" or "walk-throughs" for how institutions have used the models to solve their own, real, problems.

A secondary benefit of a completed model will, in due course, be the improved discoverability of any single museum's collection, given improved means to cross-link between collections sharing common data structures via Linked.Art standards. This discoverability will extend to automated retrieval and processing by assistive algorithms, opening collections to new approaches of digital scholarship, thereby increasing awareness and understanding of collection content.

During the initial network phase, participating museums will benefit from:
* the assurance that their local use cases, if shared by others, will be met by the Linked.Art data model
* recognition of their contribution to advancing the field of Linked Data in cultural heritage
* direct access to other experts in the field for discussion of the best solutions for addressing the challenges of cultural heritage data

The wider art museum and cultural heritage sector will also benefit from the leadership and advocacy activities undertaken by the network, building knowledge, experience and innovation capacity in the UK and US. The network will engage with sector bodies such as the American Art Collective, PHAROS consortium, and UK University Museums Group. Linked.Art will be incorporated into material delivered at the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School, which is attended by a range of industry professionals and practitioners.

General benefits to the sector include:
* documentation of a shared and consistent data model for use in art museums around the world
* advancement of the shared mission of providing easy access to institutional collections and research, encouraging other organisations to follow suit
* the cost-savings for institutions around the world to not have to design, document, and implement their own data model and conforming software
* simpler availability of museums data to external programmers wishing to consume collections information and become involved in the wider art historical information ecosystem
* an expanding body of experience and practice ready to be extended into cultural heritage applications beyond works of art

An ongoing governance structure will also be discussed to ensure the longevity and sustainability of the work, including the potential to have the model incorporated under the umbrella of an existing standards organization such as the IIIF Consortium, W3C, DCMI or ICOM.