This paper describes the preliminary work leading to a project to build a web services visualisation
tool that addresses the multi‐dimensional metadata used to describe cultural datasets, especially
those created by researchers to meet specific research ends. The project will utilise the Knalij service
developed by Steven Melnikoff (Information Physics, The University of Melbourne) together with
datasets curated using the eScholarship Research Centre’s Online Heritage Resource Manager
(OHRM) system. In the first instance it is proposed that the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and
the Australian Women’s Register datasets be used to operationalise the tool. Using offline
visualisation tools, the study of both embedded and implied complex network structures within
standards‐based Humanities datasets has revealed significant potential for analysis, navigation,
discovery, and the development of new research methods. In October 2011 Knalij was awarded the
USA challenge.gov prize for the most innovative uses of National Library of Medicine data. Knalij
offers an interactive web service that can visualise the whole of PubMed in real time. This is a
landmark achievement that opens up web services, real‐time visualisation capability for complex
Humanities datasets with both synchronic and diachronic variables. As noted in the Knalij press
release in October: ‘We visualized the entirety of cancer research since 1800 and displayed the
progression through the decades. Our maps are searchable, interactive, and ready for researchers to
discover trends, patterns, and connections. This is the first time that anyone has visually displayed
the entire scope of cancer research in one searchable application. We are very excited to present this to the world'. The paper will focus on Australian Humanities research‐driven datasets and explore a range of uses from project management and documentation to the revelation of novel insights and understandings.Australian Academy of the Humanities; the ANU College of Arts and Social Science
