Semantic Statistics for Social, Behavioural, and Economic Sciences: Leveraging the DDI Model for the Linked Data Web

October 15-19, 2012

Course Instructors:

Richard Cyganiak (DERI - Digital Enterprise Research Institute, Galway, Ireland)
Arofan Gregory (ODaF - Open Data Foundation, Tucson, Arizona, USA)
Wendy L. Thomas (MPC - Minnesota Population Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
Joachim Wackerow (GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Mannheim, Germany)

Goals

The previous year's workshop resulted in the creation of a draft RDF vocabulary for the discovery of microdata (unit-record data), based on the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) model.  One goal will be to build on this model, finalizing it and possibly expanding it to cover a broader set of use cases. A second DDI-based vocabulary was drafted, focusing on an extension of SKOS to describe official classifications used by government agencies and statistical producers - this also should be finalized as a critical set of metadata. DDI further provides mechanisms for addressing some problematic issues within the Web of Linked Data such as provenance, ownership, and versioning, and these themes could be explored. The existing outline and draft of a best practice paper on the publication of microdata and the related metadata into the Linked Data Web will be discussed and may be put forward as a standard for use with data in this domain for dissemination of the Web. Core knowledge on the DDI model and Semantic Web Technologies will be taught.

Description of the workshop

The movement towards more open access to data is being fueled by government initiatives as well as the research community. Statistical data and metadata is already being standardized within the Linked Data Web with the Data Cube vocabulary, based on the SDMX model. There is no equivalent for the discovery and possible use of microdata. In addition, microdata are often confidential, and this aspect of the problem is one which will be a point of discussion in the workshop - how best to advertise the existence of data which cannot be openly exposed? Other aspects of the problem such as quality and documentation issues and provenance need similarly to be addressed.

The Semantic Web and DDI experts approach these issues from different perspectives. By sharing our perspectives, and learning from each other’s experience the goal of the workshop is to develop a best practice for the publication of microdata and related metadata into the Linked Data Web, which might be put forward as a standard for use with data in this domain for dissemination on the Web.

This workshop will examine the metadata model of the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) used in the Social, Behavioural, and Economic (SBE) sciences, and design an implementation of that model using the Semantic Web standards (RDF, OWL, etc.). Invited participants will represent the user community (data librarians, archivists, researchers, and data producers), DDI experts, and experts in the Semantic Web technologies and standards.

The demand for discovery of both aggregate statistics and the underlying data is strong, and growing through open government initiatives and the efforts of many data producers, data archives, and research centers. Further, Linked Data technologies are becoming increasingly popular within universities, as the basis for tools which can be used to assist research and teaching. Working together to lay out best practices on the publication of microdata and related metadata into the Linked Data Web will benefit both communities and assist researchers in gaining access to digital resources.

Requirements

The workshop is open to anyone interested in the topic. The workshop is held in English.

Maximum number of participants (including instructors): 25