Report on Japan Search Activities in FY2020
This article provides an overview of Japan Search's activities in fiscal 2020 (from April 2020 to March 2021).
Table of Contents
Official release of Japan Search
After a beta version of Japan Search released to the public on February 27, 2019, we continued to improve it with user feedback, and finally launched its official version with some additional functions and new website design on August 25, 2020.
At the time of the official launch, the My Note function was updated to allow users more free editing and new functions such as Work Space, which enables collaborative editing of Galleries, were additionally released.
Cooperation
In fiscal 2020, we established new partnerships with 9 aggregators and 44 databases which were newly connected to Japan Search.
New database in fiscal 2020
As of the end of March 2021, Japan Search collaborates with 25 aggregators and approximately 22 million metadata from 118 databases are accessible from Japan Search. We will continue to further expand our cooperation in the future.
Conversion to JPS RDF schema
Japan Search converts aggregated metadata to Japan Search’s data schema, the JPS RDF schema, and publishes it as linked open data through an API. As of the end of March 2021, approximately 20 million metadata from 100 databases data providers agreed to provide through the API have been converted into the JPS RDF schema.
* Please check the API column of the Databases page (display mode: table) or the Statistics page to check if the database is available in the API.
In addition, along with the official release, we added an English translation to the "For developers" page which explains the JPS RDF schema.
Gallery
In July 2020, 100 additional galleries were published to the public. As of the end of March 2021, a total of 219 galleries are available and we plan to add more galleries in the near future.
Promote utilization of digitized content
Trial use of Project and Work Space functions
The Project function and Work Space function were originally provided only to partners, but since December 2020, they have been available to non-partner organizations and individuals upon application.
The "Use case" page provides an overview of each function and examples of their use.
GIF IT UP 2020
As an integrated portal in Japan, we cooperated in GIF IT UP 2020, a GIF animation creation contest held by Europeana in cooperation with the GIF animation sharing and search service GIPHY, assisting with PR in Japan and providing open licensed materials to make GIFs. There were 18 entries using the content of Japan Search, and one of them won the GIPHY Backdrop Category.
PR
Events
In September 2020, to celebrate the official release of Japan Search, we sponsored an online forum titled “The 4th Digital Archive Forum for Industry-Academia-Government, The Japan Search Challenge: What can digital archives contribute in the aftermath of a pandemic?” (link to the Cabinet Office’s website).
At the 22nd Library Fair in November 2020, we held an online forum on the topic “Toward enlargement of collaboration and utilization on the libraries” for librarians to introduce how to connect their database to Japan Search and the concept of developing secondary use conditions.
Furthermore, to promote the use of Japan Search, we co-hosted the event "2020 Urban Data Challenge Kyoto: Japan Search Town" (linked to the National Diet Library’s website) with the UDC 2020 Kyoto prefectural block from October to December 2020, and " Using Japan Search—Ideas for education, research, and community activities" in March 2021.
Lectures and Contributions
We hold lectures about Japan Search at events and academic conferences hosted by other organizations. We also participated in three international conferences (DCMI Virtual 2020, ICADL 2020, CIDOC 2020) and made presentations on Japan Search.
Past lectures and articles are summarized on the "Archive" page.
SNS
Since April 2019, Japan Search has been providing information on new databases, content, events and lectures and tips on how to use Japan Search through official Twitter (@ jpsearch _ go). In September 2020, we opened the official YouTube channel of Japan Search and started recording and distributing events. In the future, we plan to release tutorial videos that explain how to use Japan Search.
Commendation
In December 2020, Japan Search won the Digital Infrastructure Award and the Grand Prize at the JEPA Electronic Publishing Awards 2020.
Conclusion
This year was a memorable year for Japan Search as it was officially released.
Japan Search successfully released the official version and has been expanding its cooperation and utilization, thanks to our partners, users and supporters. In the future, Japan Search will continue to improve its functions, expand its cooperation with local archives, and promote the use of digital archives.
We deeply appreciate your continued support.