musicSpace: improving access to musicology's data sources

Description/Abstract

A significant barrier to the research endeavours of musicologists is the sheer amount of potentially relevant information that has accumulated over centuries. Although musicology's data sources are increasingly available online, the heterogeneity of this data, the plethora of providers, and, moreover, the limitations of current search tools means that extracting large tranches of factual information or running multi-part search queries is still enormously time consuming. The 'musicSpace' project is using cutting-edge Semantic Web and Web2.0 technologies to develop an advanced search interface that will integrate access to musicology's data sources. This will make previously intractable search queries tractable, enable musicologists to spend their research time more efficiently, and ultimately aid the attainment of new knowledge