Metagrid iis a project of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAGW)for the online networking of humanities resources. The Metagrid web service enables you to set up, manage and analyze links between identical entries from different websites and databases. Metagrid focuses on the networking of personal data. To the involved partner projects and their users, Metagrid offers a number of advantages:
- Simplified and centralized linking of biographical datasets available online.
- The links between resources are bilateral, not unilateral. If (A) → (B), then (B) → (A) is also linked automatically.
- Increased visibility of participating projects on the Internet.
- Metagrid provides a single-point-of-entry to many relevant humanities databases.
The Metagrid Widget is directly integrated into the websites of the participating projects and presents the links generated by Metagrid. If, for instance, a researcher is interested in Friedrich Traugott Wahlen, she may start her research on the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland. Via the Metagrid widget, she can select the link to the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland (Dodis), where she can read short biographies, elections written, signed or received documents. By using the Metagrid widget on the Dodis Elections page, she will also receive a direct link to the entry on Elections in the Archives of Agrarian History.
The linked records are not only displayed in the widget, they are also available via Metagrid search.