On cleaning our collection data with interactive data transformation tools

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Seth van Hooland, Ruben Verborgh, and Rik Van de Walle’s Free Your Metadata group have been hard at work looking at the dataset from Cooper-Hewitt.

The first in a number of articles in various publications on their work with our collection has been published.

It provides a good introductory piece to their work using Google Refine and the way in which other institutions with ‘messy data’ can now use ‘interactive data transformation tools’ to clean it up in ways that were previous extremely time consuming.

Linked Data hold the promise to derive additional value from existing data throughout different sectors, but practitioners currently lack a straightforward methodology and the tools to experiment with Linked Data. this article gives a pragmatic overview of how general purpose Interactive Data transformation tools (IDts) can be used to perform the two essential steps to bring data into the Linked Data cloud: data cleaning and reconciliation. these steps are explained with the help of freely available data (Cooper-hewitt National Design museum, New York) and tools (google refine), making the process repeatable and understandable for practitioners.

Read online: (free PDF)

Van Hooland, Seth, Ruben Verborgh, and Rik Van de Walle. Joining the Linked Data Cloud in a Cost-Effective Manner. Information Standards Quarterly, 2012 Spring/Summer, 24(2/3):24-28.

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About Seb Chan

Seb Chan is currently the Director of Digital & Emerging Media, Smithsonian, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Prior to joining Cooper-Hewitt he led the Digital, Social and Emerging Technologies department at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, where he oversaw the implementation of Open Access and Creative Commons licensing policies and many projects exploring new ways for visitors and citizens to engage and contribute to the Powerhouse’s collection. Chan was a member of the Australian Government’s Government 2.0 Taskforce and, as a consultant, has helped organisations and institutions all over the world strategise and implement cutting-edge technologies in the cultural sector. He also writes about museums, technology and digital strategy at http://www.freshandnew.org.