Computational Thinking, Cultural Analytics and Wikidata 

With Harald Klinke

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Today, art historical research is based on data. A computational and quantitative approach to the history of art requires volume of data, a variety of data and open data. Since we would like to embed each artwork in a cultural web of meaning, it would be best to have semantic data. However, what do the terms “open”, “semantic” and “data” actually mean?

In this workshop, we look at data sources for art history, data structures and levels of open data. We dive into several collections and find out how visualizing them helps us understand the history of art. At the center of our discussion is Linked Open Data. We particularly query Wikidata’s SPARQL endpoint. Thus, we are gaining data literacy through experience, discuss advantages and disadvantages of Wikidata and have a look at its alternatives.

We will use tools and data in the cloud. No programming skills required.

Dr. Harald Klinke, M.Sc. is currently teaching Digital Art History at the LMU Munich, Germany. He studied art history, media theory, painting, philosophy and business informatics in Karlsruhe, Berlin, Göttingen and Norwich (UK). From 2008 to 2009, he worked as a Lecturer of Visual Studies (Bildwissenschaft) at the Art History Department at the University of Göttingen, where he developed the modules for the key qualification “Visual Literacy”. From 2009 to 2010, he conducted research, supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation, as a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, New York. He is editor-in-chief of the International Journal for Digital Art History and member of the Program Committee of the DFG Focus Program “The Digital Image”.