What is Linked Open Data? Europeana Launches Linked Open Data Pilot and Animation

via LIBER:

Linked Open Data is gaining traction in the information world right now. Europeana has just launched an animation to explain what it is and why it’s a good thing, both for users and for data providers.
Europeana is facilitating developments in Linked Open Data by publishing data for 2.4 million objects for the first time under an open metadata licence – CC0, the Creative Commons’ Public Domain Dedication.
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Metadata that is openly available is re-usable by anyone. Linked to external data sources, such as GeoNames, it’s enriched and can also be re-used by its providers as the basis of improved services to users.
The concept of Linked Open Data is attracting Europe’s major national libraries: the Bibliothèque nationale de France recently launched its rich linked data resource, while the national libraries of the UK, Germany and Spain, among many other cultural institutions, have been publishing their metadata under an open licence.
The World Wide Web Consortium has also put cultural Linked Data high on its agenda, notably via the reports of the Library Linked Data Incubator Group, co-chaired by Europeana’s Antoine Isaac.

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