Nanopublication beyond the Sciences

The information expressed in humanistic datasets is inextricably tied to a wider discursive environment that is irreducible to complete formal representation. Humanities scholars must wrestle with this fact when they attempt to publish or consume structured data. The practice of “nanopublication”, which originated in the e-science domain, offers a way to maintain the connection between formal representations of humanistic data and its discursive basis. In this paper we describe nanopublication, its potential applicability to the humanities, and our experience curating humanities nanopublications in the PeriodO period gazetteer.