Research summary
Linked open data refers to information that is shared on the web under an open licence and linked based on certain principles and technologies. Linked open data technologies offer an opportunity to combine cultural content from across the web so humans and machines can collaborate to make sense of it. As Canada Research Chair in Collaborative Digital Scholarship, Dr. Susan Brown is trying to make this complex set of technologies more usable by researchers, cultural institutions and the public. She is also addressing the challenges involved in using linked open data to represent diversity.
Along with producing a major work in feminist literary history, she and her research team are analyzing, evaluating and creating what is needed-such as technologies, interfaces, infrastructure, organizations and human processes-to make collaborative online cultural scholarship more valuable, trustworthy and accessible. Their research has broad implications, especially given the increasing role of online platforms in civil and political processes.