Tech Talk: Seila González Estrecha

Enslaved.org: A knowledge representation in WikiBase of people, events and places in the historical slave trade

Seila González Estrecha

Michigan State University

Abstract:

The Enslaved.org project brings together multiple siloed datasets in a Wikibase representation of People, Places, and Events within the historical slave trade. A goal of this project is to develop a tool for scholars and the public to interact with this data to better understand the lives of enslaved Africans and their descendants. The vague definitions for places, with limited geographical information, presents challenges for this project including identifying the best approaches to represent the data. In this context, the meaning of place does not only include the concept of space but also the ethno-identity of many of those who were enslaved. This talk addresses the solutions taken by Enslaved.org in order to represent space, event, and people information and various challenges, including the technology behind the project and the motive to use Wikibase. It also covers the influence of places to disambiguate people records and the ontology alignment between the Wikibase graph and the owl ontology developed for Enslaved.org.

Bio:

Seila González Estrecha manages and oversees the design and development of all software at Matrix, including all frontend and backend aspects of web applications, designing databases architecture, decision made for tools and technologies to be implemented, roadmap of software development of any Matrix products, identifying issues and common patterns, and developing standard operating procedures. She has experience implementing semantic web-based systems and standards for ontology-centered knowledge graphs, including work on knowledge graph modularization, ontology design patterns, interdisciplinary knowledge graph development, ontology alignment, data integration and implementation of SPARQL queries. Gonzalez directs the work of developers to ensure the adherence to best practices. She has experience in multiple programming languages and types of databases. Prior to coming to MSU, Gonzalez worked in the private sector as a java software engineer and GIS software developer.