Kieswhere

Kieswhere is a term used in information science to describe a framework for recording and locating knowledge items across distributed digital ecosystems. The core idea is to attach explicit location and contextual information to each item so systems can locate, verify, and reuse information more reliably.

In Kieswhere, knowledge items are treated as nodes in a graph linked to provenance, location, and access metadata. A typical model includes identifiers, titles, creators, timestamps, and pointers to storage locations, with a standardized where predicate supporting spatial, temporal, and contextual queries. Interoperability is pursued through mappings to standards such as RDF, JSON-LD, and Dublin Core.

Applications include digital libraries, institutional repositories, research data management, and cultural heritage archives. Kieswhere-enabled workflows aid cross-repository search, provenance tracing, and curation by making the origin and location of items explicit.

Implementation commonly uses a graph database or triplestore with APIs to query and update location metadata. Projects emphasize modularity, allowing existing schemas to be extended with kieswhere annotations while preserving compatibility.

Critics cite metadata overhead, privacy and security concerns, and the difficulty of achieving broad interoperability. Adoption depends on governance, documentation, and clear policies for data sharing and access control.

See also: metadata, provenance, ontologies, digital libraries.