PhiloBiblon: From Siloed Databases to Linked Open Data via Wikibase

FAIN: PW-290580-23

University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA 94704-5940)
Charles Bailey Faulhaber (Project Director: July 2022 to present)

A project to migrate PhiloBiblon’s four siloed databases of medieval Iberian primary source texts to a Wikibase data model for greater access to resources and documentation. 

UC Berkeley requests a 2-year HCRR grant to map PhiloBiblon, a database that has supported research on medieval Iberia since 1975, to Wikibase, the software that underlies Wikipedia. The project will (1) move PhiloBiblon’s four siloed databases to an online Wikibase platform (FactGrid: A database for historians); (2) map its complex relational data model to Linked Open Data (LD) / Resource Description Framework (RDF) triplestores; (3) implement a new website; (4) create LD access points to and from libraries and archives; (5) train PhiloBiblon staff in the use of the Wikibase/FactGrid platform; (6) place open access software and documentation on GitHub. The Wikibase platform will allow PhiloBiblon to take advantage of the semantic web and decrease sustainability costs. Moreover, this project can serve as a model for low-cost light-weight database development for similar academic or community-based projects with limited resources, particularly those from underserved minorities.

Associated Products

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: Patricia 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

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