PhiloBiblon: From Siloed Databases to Linked Open Data via Wikibase: Proof of Concept

FAIN: PW-277550-21

University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA 94704-5940)
Charles Bailey Faulhaber (Project Director: July 2020 to present)

A one-year Foundations project to explore how Wikibase/FactGrid could move four siloed databases into a single online platform for access to scholarly research on medieval Iberia, including mapping of PhiloBiblon to Linked Open Data (LD) and Resource Description Framework (RDF), creating a prototype of certain modules, examining links between database access points and libraries, testing a model, and posting to GitHub.

UC Berkeley requests a one-year HCRR Foundations grant to explore the use of Wikibase on FactGrid. a database for historians as a technology platform for PhiloBiblon, which has supported scholarly research on medieval Iberia since 1975. The project will (1) study how Wikibase/FactGrid can move PhiloBiblon’s four siloed databases to an online platform with Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable data; (2) show how to map PhiloBiblon’s complex data model to LD/RDF as instantiated in Wikibase; (3) evaluate the Wikibase data entry module and create prototype discovery modules; (4) study Wikibase’s LD access points to and from libraries and archives; (5) test the Wikibase data export module for JSON-LD, RDF, and XML on PhiloBiblon data; (6) place software and documentation on GitHub. We hope to demonstrate that this project developed in the FactGrid collaboratory, can serve as a model for low-cost light-weight database development for similar academic projects with limited resources.

Associated Products

PhiloBiblon y el mundo wiki. Propuesta de una colaboración (Blog Post)
Title: PhiloBiblon y el mundo wiki. Propuesta de una colaboración
Author: Charles B. Faulhaber
Abstract: Announcement of NEH grant and description of its purpose: a pilot project to study the feasibility of mapping all of the PhiloBiblon data into Wikibase, using FactGrid: A database for historians
Date: 05/23/2021
Primary URL: https://update.lib.berkeley.edu/wp-admin/post.php?post=34866&action=edit
Primary URL Description: Blog supported by the UC Berkeley Library
Website: PhiloBiblon blog

ESBOZOS SOBRE LA EVOLUCIÓN Y EL FUTURO DE UN PIONERO DE LAS HUMANIDADES DIGITALES HISPÁNICAS: EL PROYECTO PHILOBIBLON (Article)
Title: ESBOZOS SOBRE LA EVOLUCIÓN Y EL FUTURO DE UN PIONERO DE LAS HUMANIDADES DIGITALES HISPÁNICAS: EL PROYECTO PHILOBIBLON
Author: Charles B. Faulhaber
Author: Óscar Perea Rodríguez
Abstract: This article is a succinct review of the historic and technological development of PhiloBiblon, one of the pioneer Digital Humanities projects as applied to the study of the primary sources of the medieval and early modern literatures of the Iberian peninsula. The guiding thread of its history are the four bibliographies that comprise it: BETA (Bibliografía Española de Textos Antiguos), BITECA (Bibliografia de Textos Antics Catalans, Valencians i Balears), BITAGAP (Bibliografia de Textos Antigos Galegos e Portugueses), and BIPA (Bibliografía de la Poesía Áurea). The various media used for publication of the databases, from paper to the web by way of CD-ROM, are also reviewed. The way in which the program functions, especially on the web, is explained concisely; and, finally, PhiloBiblon’s longterm goals are set forth, especially its transformation into a semantic web database using Linked Open Data.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://www.revista.unam.mx/vol.18/num1/art02/
Primary URL Description: Link to Revista Digital Universitaria
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Revista Digital Universitaria
Publisher: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

El manuscrito del Cancionero de Baena (PN1): Descripción codicológica y evolución histórica (Article)
Title: El manuscrito del Cancionero de Baena (PN1): Descripción codicológica y evolución histórica
Author: Óscar Perea Rodríguez
Author: Charles B. Faulhaber
Abstract: The present article attempts to establish as accurately as possible the chronological trajectory of the unique codex of the Cancionero de Baena (PN1 in the Dutton nomenclature). It begins with a detailed examination of the codicological aspects of the manuscript, which serve to date its origin to around 1465. This origin, combined with the historical data, supports a conjecture that the manuscript probably belonged to Gonzalo de Beteta, an official of both Enrique IV and the Catholic Kings. It would have passed from him to his grandson, Jorge de Beteta y Cárdenas, who gave it to the Real Biblioteca de El Escorial in 1576. The article then follows the vicissitudes of the manuscript from its disappearance from the Escorial at the beginning of the 19th c. until its sale in London in 1824 and its acquisition in 1836 by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, its current home. In passing, the article refutes the thesis that the manuscript would have belonged to the library of Isabel I in 1503 and would have been left by her, along with other books, to the Capilla Real of the cathedral of Granada, whence it would have passed to El Escorial
Year: 2018
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.7203/MCLM.5.10664
Primary URL Description: DOI
Secondary URL: https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/MCLM/article/view/10664/12387
Secondary URL Description: Journal URL
Access Model: Open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Magnificat. Cultura i literatura medievals
Publisher: Universitat de València

PhiloBiblon y el mundo wiki (Article)
Title: PhiloBiblon y el mundo wiki
Author: Charles B. Faulhaber
Abstract: After a brief review of the technological changes in PhiloBiblon since 1987, there follows a description of the current project, “PhiloBiblon: From Siloed Databases to Linked Open Data via Wikibase: Proof of Concept”. The current rigid structure, with its ten relational tables and almost 1,300 data fields, is abandoned in favor of a much more flexible structure of “triples,” records based on a series of statements of the type Entity + Property + Entity, using the system of Wikidata, in which two entities Q are linked by a property P, e.g., Santillana (Q2877) writes (P50) the “Comedieta de Ponza” (Q390408).
Year: 2033
Primary URL: https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/MCLM/article/view/22985
Primary URL Description: Volume URL
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Magnificat, Cultura i Literatura Medievals
Publisher: Universitat de València

Philobiblon as a Digital Tool for Historians of Medieval Iberia (Article)
Title: Philobiblon as a Digital Tool for Historians of Medieval Iberia
Author: Óscar Perea Rodríguez
Author: Charles B. Faulhaber
Abstract: This article provides a succinct review of the history and technological development of PhiloBiblon, one of the pioneer Digital Humanities projects for the study of the primary sources of the medieval and early modern literatures of the Iberian Peninsula. The warp and weft of its history are the four bibliographies that comprise it: BETA (Bibliografía Española de Textos Antiguos), BITECA (Bibliografia de Textos Antics Catalans, Valencians i Balears), BITAGAP (Bibliografia de Textos Antigos Galegos e Portugueses), and BIPA (Bibliografía de la Poesía Áurea). We describe how the program functions on the web, paying particular attention to the use of PhiloBiblon’s key identifiers. Then we explain the proposed evolution of the project from siloed databases to Linked Open Data via FactGrid, a Database for Historians. Precisely because of this pending change, we wish to show medievalists other than literary and linguistic specialists, especially historians, how to make good use of PhiloBiblon.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.21001/itma.2023.16.15
Primary URL Description: DOI
Secondary URL: https://repositori.udl.cat/handle/10459.1/463798
Secondary URL Description: URI
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Imago temporis: medium Aevum
Publisher: Universitat de Lleida

FactGrid, una base de datos para datos históricos, y su relación con Philobiblon (Article)
Title: FactGrid, una base de datos para datos históricos, y su relación con Philobiblon
Author: Patrica García Sánchez-MIgallón
Abstract: This paper sets forth the relation established between two Digital Humanities projects: FactGrid, a database for Historians, and PhiloBiblon, a biobibliographical database created in the 1970s. The technical details of both projects are specified as well as their use of DH for development. In addition, it updates the steps that have been taken to integrate all PhiloBiblon data in the FactGrid environment. The future is attractive and promising for the relation between both HD projects.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.51472/JESO20231207
Primary URL Description: DOI
Secondary URL: https://www.janusdigital.es/articulo.htm?id=244
Secondary URL Description: Journal article
Access Model: Open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: JANUS Estudios sobre el Siglo de Oro
Publisher: Universidade da Coruña

PhiloBiblon and the Wiki World: Sustainable Technology (Book Section)
Title: PhiloBiblon and the Wiki World: Sustainable Technology
Author: Charles B. Faulhaber
Editor: Ricardo Pichel
Abstract: Brief overview of PhiloBiblonn and plans to make it available throug Linked Open Data.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.silexediciones.com/?s=pichel
Primary URL Description: Publisher website
Access Model: Pay
Publisher: Sílex
Book Title: “Tenh’eu que mi fez el i mui gran ben.”Estudos sobre cultura escrita medieval dedicados a Harvey L. Sharrer.
ISBN: 978841907735

Volver a un archivo nunca es perder el tiempo. Descripción codicológica e identificación del texto del ms. 100 del Archivo Ducal de Alba (Book Section)
Title: Volver a un archivo nunca es perder el tiempo. Descripción codicológica e identificación del texto del ms. 100 del Archivo Ducal de Alba
Author: Lourdes Soriano Robles
Editor: Josep Antoni Iglesias Fonseca
Editor: Francisco E.M. Gimeno Blay
Abstract: : Codicological description and identification of the text copied in manuscript 100 of the Biblioteca de la Casa de Alba (Madrid, Palacio de Liria). The work is Quatro questiones by Alonso de Madrigal and this manuscript is the only known proof of a work which was printed several times during the 16th century.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/86021
Primary URL Description: Publisher's website
Access Model: Open access
Publisher: PUV - Publicacions Universitat de València
Book Title: Ut amicitiam omnibus rebus humanis anteponatis. Miscelánea de estudios en homenaje a Gemma Avenoza Vera
ISBN: 978-84-9133-56

Oracions rimades i obres devotes en vers. Textos inèdits o poc coneguts localitzats a través de BITECA (Article)
Title: Oracions rimades i obres devotes en vers. Textos inèdits o poc coneguts localitzats a través de BITECA
Author: Mahiques Climent, Joan
Abstract: This paper, based on the analysis of data from BITECA (Bibliografia de textos antics catalans, valencians i balears), presents and edits several unpublished or little-known witnesses of rhymed works and devotional poems dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. Its starting lines are as follows: «Quan vos venc, Maria, l’àngel Gabriel», «Estant Elisabet», «Ara sus, companya, sus», «Ave, llum i estela clara», «Regina excel·lent», «No sens turment, dolor incomprensible», «Glòria teniu infinida», «Vós qui fés la santa vida», «Beata Caterina, verge fuist e regina» «Si se’n va monsènyer sant Joan», «Jesucrist nasqué la nit de Nadal», «Sang, està fixa», «O gloriosa Verge Maria, neta e pura», «Saviesa de Déu lo Pare», «Ador-te devotament, veritat increada».
Year: 2021
Primary URL: http://rua.ua.es/dspace/handle/10045/122048
Primary URL Description: journal website
Access Model: Open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Ítaca: Revista de Filología
Publisher: Universitat de Alacant

Las Partidas en catalán (Book Section)
Title: Las Partidas en catalán
Author: Gemma Avenoza
Editor: Ricardo Pichel Gotérrez
Editor: José Manuel Fradejas Rueda
Editor: Enrique Jerez
Abstract: Review of the textual tradition of the Siete partidas in Catalan
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://www.iberoamericana-vervuert.es/BuscaTotal.aspx?C1=Las%20siete%20partidas%20del%20rey%20sabio
Primary URL Description: Publisher's website
Access Model: Pay
Publisher: Iberoamericana Vervuert
Book Title: Las Siete Partidas del Rey Sabio una aproximación desde la filología digital y material
ISBN: 978-84-9192-2

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