Tools of Knowledge: tracking scientific instruments and their makers over time and space
Resource type
Abstract
Abstract
In the work of tracking instruments in physical collections and textual sources, and through time and space, digital tools are becoming increasingly important. This paper will present some of the outcomes of the Tools of Knowledge project, funded by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council. The major part of the project has involved remodelling Gloria Clifton’s SIMON database (Scientific Instrument Makers, Observations & Notes, containing information about makers in the UK and Ireland from 1550-1914), as a semantic database – that is, one that is structured to create relationships within and add meaning to data. This talk will introduce the new database, which has sought to make the rich information and implicit knowledge of SIMON newly accessible and searchable, along with ways in which the project has begun to visualise the data. The project has also sought to demonstrate how such data can be linked to additional sources about instruments and how we might record and visualise information about the ‘lives’, or itineraries, of individual objects. Our proof-of-concept work seeks to show how linked open data repositories can preserve and share existing research data and prompt new knowledge and enquiries.
Project(s)
Tools of Knowledge: Modelling the Scientific Instrument Trade, 1550–1914
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Arts and Humanities Research Council | AH/W005328/1 |
Event title
XLII Scientific Instrument Commision Symposium
Publisher
Scientific Instrument Commission
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In Copyright
Additional information
Full abstract available via the official URL