ABSTRACT
Using Mapping the Independent Media Community (MIMC) as a case study, this chapter examines the affordances and limitations of Linked Open Data as a method for sharing and distributing data. MIMC is a data-driven project that employs digital methodologies to interrogate the complex network of independent film and video production and exhibition in the United States between 1973 and 1987. Following a discussion of the MIMC database design, we examine the possibilities of data sharing and data analysis. As we explore suitable metadata schemas and ontologies to share the MIMC data, we demonstrate how the implementation of Linked Data raises ethical and practical questions around the standardization of self-reported data, representation of knowledge, and the persistence of authority.
