Overview
SoNAR is an advanced research data marketplace developed by the Berlin State Library and the Berlin School of Library and Information Science. It addresses a persistent challenge faced by scholars who use historical network methods: locating and accessing suitable data for their research.
The project builds on its successful 2019–2021 pilot. By consolidating diverse cultural heritage datasets into a unified social knowledge graph, SoNAR enables researchers to explore and acquire data for historical network analysis more efficiently.
Work Packages
WP 1: Implementing Infrastructure and Services
Lead: Berlin State Library
- WP 1.1: Backend infrastructure development
- WP 1.2: Transformation rules and historical network ontology development
- WP 1.3: Frontend development / User Interface Design
WP 2: Product Management
Lead: IBI/HU
- WP 2.1: Product evaluation
- WP 2.2: Stakeholder management
- WP 2.3: Technology evaluation and OER development
Project Partners
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
The Institut für Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft (IBI), known internationally as the Berlin School of Library and Information Science, derives its mission from the perpetual change of information societies. IBI researchers investigate how to enable knowledge access, curation, discovery, and distribution across people, space, and time, and through information infrastructures.
This includes observational, hermeneutic, experimental and design approaches to understand, design and transform interactions between individuals, information, infrastructures (both technical and institutional) and society.
The Information Retrieval teaching and research unit focuses on the challenges of effectively retrieving information objects. This area encompasses all processes of information processing and provision, from information organization and preparation to storage and indexing, as well as presentation and visualization. Particular research priorities of the group include interactive information retrieval, research data management, data and information literacy, the use of knowledge organization systems (KOS) for improved information processing and search, and issues of heterogeneity and interoperability of information systems and information structures. Furthermore, system- and user-centered evaluation concepts are developed and implemented using various methods.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin / Berlin State Library
Established in 1661, the Berlin State Library is a premier hub for national and international research, housing renowned historical collections. It provides the essential infrastructure for libraries, archives, and museums both within Germany and abroad through central bibliographic services such as the Union Catalogue of Serials and the Kalliope Union Catalog. Together with its partners, the library actively drives innovation, conducting collaborative projects to test new technologies and continuously optimize data-related services.
Advisory Board
Data Sources
Several data repositories will be integrated into the SoNAR data marketplace:
Authority records about persons, corporate bodies and conferences, geographical names, subject headings, and work titles
Finding aids and related authority records about archival holdings, in particular personal papers and manuscript collections
Metadata about serials and related authority records, e.g., mainly journals and newspapers
Metadata cover museum objects like paintings, films, photographs, three dimensional objects (vases, cars etc.)
Full text of historical newspapers from the collections of the Berlin State Library
Authority records of persons, corporate bodies, and families linked with archival finding aids maintained by holding organizations
About
GitHub
Contact
E-mail:
sonar@sbb.spk-berlin.de