Implementing the EHRI-KG: From declarative mapping rules to a three-layered KG construction architecture

Herminio García-González, Mike Bryant

Keywords: Knowledge Graph construction, architecture, declarative mapping rules, EHRI, ShExML

Abstract: Conducting transnational research with primary source material relating to the Holocaust can be a complex endeavour, mainly due to the fragmentation and dispersal of much important material across different holding institutions and jurisdictions. The EHRI Portal acts as an aggregator of archival descriptions with the aim of lowering the barriers to the discovery of and access to source material. Building on earlier work, we set out to offer this data in a format more amenable to semantic technologies, as well as aligned with the ICA's new Records in Contexts standard for archival description. In this paper, we explore the EHRI Knowledge Graph three-layered architecture (batch conversion, validation and continuous update) and reflect on the challenges encountered and the solutions involved, to finally establish a discussion on further needs and future points of development within the Knowledge Graph Construction community and its toolset. We believe that this work can be helpful for other practitioners seeking to implement similar architectures, while serving as a use case for future work which will allow users to further streamline their developments and reduce the overall implementation time.

Submission Number: 7