Linked Open Greek Pottery

FAIN: HAA-261261-18

University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA 22903-4833)
Tyler Jo Smith (Project Director: January 2018 to May 2022)

The development of a model for aggregating information about dispersed collections of ancient Greek pottery based on the concepts of linked open data to provide greater access to the collections and to allow new ways of analyzing the materials. 

Linked Open Greek Pottery: Kerameikos.org is an international effort to define the intellectual concepts of Archaic and Classical Greek pottery following the methodologies of Linked Open Data (LOD). These concepts include categories such as shapes, artists, styles, and production places. When linked externally to other LOD thesauri, such as the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus, Kerameikos.org allows for the normalization and aggregation of disparate museum and archaeological datasets into an information system that facilitates broader public access (e.g., Pelagios Commons). Beyond the definition of pottery concepts, following open web standards, Kerameikos.org will standardize and document an ontology and model for exchanging pottery data, provide easy-to-use interfaces to visualize geographic and quantitative distributions of Greek pottery, and publish a series of data manipulation web services enabling archaeologists and museum professionals to contribute data to this ecosystem.

Associated Products

Kerameikos.org (Web Resource)
Title: Kerameikos.org
Author: Ethan Gruber
Abstract: Kerameikos.org is a collaborative project dedicated to defining the intellectual concepts of pottery following the tenets of linked open data and the formulation of an ontology for representing and sharing ceramic data across disparate data systems. While the project is focused primarily on the definition of concepts within Greek black- and red-figure pottery, Kerameikos.org is extensible toward the definition of concepts in other fields of pottery studies.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://kerameikos.org

Tyler Jo Smith and Linked Open Greek Pottery (Article)
Title: Tyler Jo Smith and Linked Open Greek Pottery
Author: n/a
Abstract: A news story published by thee Office of the Provost and Vice-President for Research at the University of Virginia. [PLEASE NOTE: there is no 'Media Coverage' option on this form].
Year: 2019
Primary URL: http://magazine.arts.virginia.edu/stories/tyler-jo-smith-and-linked-open-greek-pottery
Access Model: open access
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: UVA ARTS
Publisher: University of Virginia Arts Magazine

Linked Open Greek Pottery: Kerameikos.org (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Linked Open Greek Pottery: Kerameikos.org
Author: Tyler Jo Smith
Author: Ethan Gruber
Author: Renee Gondek
Abstract: An overview of the project and summary of progress to date (March 2019).
Date Range: March 18, 2019
Location: NEH Project Director's Meeting
Secondary URL Description: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2597608

Kerameikos.org: A Network Science Approach tot he Study of Greek Pottery (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Kerameikos.org: A Network Science Approach tot he Study of Greek Pottery
Author: Ethan Gruber
Author: Renee Gondek
Author: Tyler Jo Smith
Abstract: A description of the project parameters and goals for a mixes audience of archaeologists, anthropologists, and digital humanists.
Date Range: March 22, 2019

Kerameikos.org: Current Progress and Future Plans (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Kerameikos.org: Current Progress and Future Plans
Author: Tyler Jo Smith
Author: Ethan Gruber
Author: Renee M. Gondek
Abstract: Kerameikos.org is a collaborative project to define the intellectual concepts of ceramics studies according to the principles of Linked Open Data. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the project’s scope is to create URIs for concepts within the scope of Archaic and Classical Athenian Greek pottery, including shapes, potters, painters, production places, techniques, styles, etc. Importantly, the project links to URIs defined in other thesauri, such as the Getty vocabularies, Wikidata, and Pleiades, thus forming a bridge between disparate information systems. As a proof of concept, Kerameikos.org intends to aggregate several thousand vases from numerous collections into a digital infrastructure that can facilitate geographic and distribution analyses. This aggregation model is based on the emerging Linked Art (https://linked.art/) JSON-LD profile of CIDOC-CRM, with archaeological extensions derived from specifications developed by ARIADNEplus. In this poster, we will discuss our activities up to this point and where we expect to go in the future.
Date Range: December 4, 2020.
Location: University of London and British Library (virtually)
Primary URL: https://ics.sas.ac.uk/events/linked-pasts-6
Primary URL Description: Institute of Classical Studies, University of London

The Digital Futures of Ancient Objects: Discussing Next Steps for Collaborative Digital Humanities Projects, invited panel participant (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: The Digital Futures of Ancient Objects: Discussing Next Steps for Collaborative Digital Humanities Projects, invited panel participant
Author: Ethan Gruber
Author: Renee M. Gondek
Author: Tyler Jo Smith
Abstract: Abstract added March 31, 2021: The focus of the proposed workshop would be on recent work that leverages digital tools in the study of classical antiquity and the itineraries of ancient objects. As participation in the Getty Institutes and other Digital Humanities-oriented working groups has only been available to a small number of digital practitioners, we aim to share a general overview of the work conducted at the meetings of the Digital Institutes, as well as contributions from scholars presenting a relevant short case study of their own work or thinking-in-progress. We are particularly interested in projects which address the ways that digital tools can help scholars better understand the provenance of ancient objects, as well as how this can be visualized and spatially oriented.Informal discussion of works in progress and discussions of problems of methodology are welcome, with the understanding that this is meant to be a constructive Forum for thinking through problems, rather than a formal academic presentation of any complete academic project. In addition to surveying the most recent advances in digital research relating to mapping, modeling, and analysis of ancient objects and spaces, we hope to discuss questions such as "what should happen when a digital project is complete?" and "how can we plan for the future stewardship of digital projects - especially those with multiple authors?" Although we might look towards examples of text-based projects as examples for best (and less-than-stellar) practice, the scope of the panel would be limited to tools developed to solve the particular problems posed by material culture of classical antiquity and charting its' past and future itineraries.The ultimate goal of the workshop is to open the work of small groups of DH practitioners to the larger archaeological community in order prevent research replication, as well as facilitate possible collaborations and a larger conversation about key issues in Digital Humani
Date Range: January 4, 2020
Location: Archaeological Institute of America annual meeting, Washington DC, 4 January 2020.
Primary URL: https://www.archaeological.org/programs/professionals/annual-meeting/
Primary URL Description: Archaeological Institute of America

Pots and Pedagogy, invited panel participant for From Illustration to Context: Figure-Decorated Pottery in Pedagogical Settings (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Pots and Pedagogy, invited panel participant for From Illustration to Context: Figure-Decorated Pottery in Pedagogical Settings
Author: Tyler Jo Smith
Abstract: This workshop seeks to demonstrate how advances in figure-decorated pottery studies can be applied pedagogically in ways that move beyond simple illustration. Participants, who come from a range of educational and instructional backgrounds, will briefly introduce each section using specific illustrated examples culled from their own teaching. These examples illustrate how figured pottery worksas a tangible and material bearer of meaning and how this can be utilized in the variety of learning situations.
Date Range: January 4, 2020
Location: Annual Meeting of the Society for Classical Studies, Washington DC
Primary URL: https://classicalstudies.org/annual-meeting/2020-annual-meeting

Linked Art for Archaeological Data Exchange (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Linked Art for Archaeological Data Exchange
Author: Tyler Jo Smith
Author: Ethan Gruber
Author: Renee Gondek
Abstract: Tim Berners-Lee introduced the concept of Semantic Web, where he suggested using the ideas of Open Data, semantically described resources and links, as well as usable (machine readable) interfaces and applications for creating a Giant Global Graph. In 2016 the FAIR principles were introduced [MW16]: Research data and its metadata have to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. Linked Data is an essential part of the FAIR principles: “TheSemantic Web isn’t just about putting data on the web. It is about making links, so that a person or machine can explore the web of data. [TBL06].” Publishing research data as HTTP URIs with RDF content containing links to other resources makes data FAIR! On top of that, these data should be open for access, re-use and universal participation. A five star rating system of openness [MH12] was introduced to rate Linked Data, i.e. “Linked Open Data (LOD) is Linked Data which is released under an open licence. [TBL06]. ” Furthermore, LOD have to be usable for scientists and programmers to take advantage of all the LOD power. Following the LOUD principles[RS18] will make LOD even more FAIR. Merging all these principles to create FAIR and LOUD research data results in the Sphere 7 Data Model, which enables a wide array of digital humanities and archaeological (web-)applications using LOUD and FAIR data. The Linked Data Cloud already offers research data repositories for certain archaeological and humanities domains. Popular examples of FAIR LOUD providers are: Nomisma.org Kerameikos.org, Pelagios, OpenContext, Portable Antiquities Scheme, ARIADNE and there are more to come. The development of more and more repositories poses challenges in handling the complex facets of data quality and completeness.
Date: 06/15/2021
Primary URL: https://2021.caaconference.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2021/06/CAA2021_Detailed-Programme_16June.pdf
Primary URL Description: CAA Conference Session abstract and list of presentations
Secondary URL: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4956819
Secondary URL Description: Digital Object Identifier link
Conference Name: Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology 2021

Linked Open Data Vocabularies and Recognizing Intellectual Contributions via ORCID (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Linked Open Data Vocabularies and Recognizing Intellectual Contributions via ORCID
Author: Abigail Bradford
Author: Renee Gondek
Author: Ethan Gruber
Author: Tyler Jo Smith
Abstract: In 2018, the classical archaeology-oriented Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) issued an “Addendum, Guidelines for the Evaluation of Digital Technology and Scholarship in Archaeology,” recommending that departments should evolve their positions on the recognition of the intellectual effort involved in digital research and publication (3D/VR, databases, Geographic Information Systems, etc.) with respect to tenure and promotion, stating that a “digital product should be considered to be of the same value as a paper publication since it must undergo a rigorous vetting process just as its print counterpart (AIA 2018).” Similarly, earlier this year, the Society for American Archaeology published similar documentation for departments of archaeology and anthropology in the United States, extending beyond the scope of the AIA’s proposal to include Public Archaeology as well (SAA 2019). These are the two most prominent archaeology membership organizations in the United States, and it is clear that computation methodologies in scholarship and dissemination are increasingly in the mainstream in archaeology as a whole, and no longer a niche within certain departments; digital tools are inseparable from analog ones in cataloging and analyzing information and publishing new knowledge. In order to remain apace of these changes, it is also incumbent upon digital publishers to alter their workflows so that the scholarly profile of an academic can be populated and each contributor recognized for his or her work. Indeed, this is particularly important for the frequently neglected student participants looking to strengthen their CVs and any junior faculty member seeking promotion and tenure. Kerameikos.org, an international, collaborative project to define the intellectual concepts of Archaic and Classical Greek pottery in accordance to theprinciples of Linked Open Data, has made recent progress in this area by formalizing contributions to the project through current standards.
Date: 06/15/2021
Primary URL: https://2021.caaconference.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2021/06/CAA2021_Detailed-Programme_16June.pdf
Primary URL Description: Conference session and list of presentations (abstracts not available online).

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