Looking for ontologies and structured data about World War One. A paper in a panel on Linked Open Data and the First World War at Digital Humanities 2015 in Sydney.

1. 'Small ontologies, loosely joined': linked
open data for the First World War
Digital Humanities 2015
Mia Ridge, Open University
@mia_out http://miaridge.com

2. 'Somewhere in France'

3. Official records have more detail
‘Aug 8th Left OVERTON GULLY at 0130 and proceeded
to RHODDENDRUM SPUR arrived there at
0800. Proceeded under fire to cross ridge into
safety. Remained in gully until 1200 during which time
several shrapnel shells struck and did damage. 11th
and half the 3rd Squadrons then rushed over the crest
line of the hill and reinforced firing line on CHUNUK
BAIR and remainder of the 3rd and 4th Squadrons
joining us at 1400. Kept enemy back with greatest
difficulty (from 1800 t0 2000 had only 85 men)
Relieved by OTAGO infantry at 2015. Fought all night.’

4. ...linked by military jargon

5. Sample military structure
1. Battalion (usually 300-1300 soldiers)
2. Regiment/Brigade (two or more battalions)
3. Division (three or four regiments/brigades)
4. Corps (two or more divisions)
5. Army (e.g. by Oct 1916 the BEF consisted of
the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Armies)
6. General Headquarters/British Expeditionary
Force (BEF)

6. My goalMilitaryunit
Places
Events
Diaries
Histories
Hierarchy
Militaryrecords
IDs
Dates
Person
Letters
Diaries
Photos
Names
Memoirs

7. What did others near Rhododendron
Spur on August 8th document?
Militaryunit
Places
Events
Diaries
Histories
Hierarchy
Militaryrecords
IDs
Dates
Person
Letters
Diaries
Photos
Names
Memoirs

8. Centenary projects

10. Amateur digitisation

11. However.

12. The reality
http://lov.okfn.org/dataset/lov/terms?q=war

13. The reality
Datahub.io

14. Modelling WWI military units

15. Thousands of structured pages -
thanks @merozcursed

16. Plan to...

17. Thanks to:
• CENDARI project
• Trinity College Dublin
• Gavin Robinson
@merozcursed
• Everyone who shared
data
Mia Ridge, Open University
@mia_out