The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model a Standard for

The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model a Standard for the Integration of Cultural Information Martin Doerr FORTH, Greece Chair, CIDOC CRM Special Interest Group Trondheim August 21, 2003 Trondheim, August 21, 2003 1

The CIDOC CRM Cultural Diversity and Data Standards q Cultural information is more than a domain: u Collection description (art, archeology, natural history…. ) u Archives and literature (records, treaties, letters, artful works. . ) u Administration, preservation, conservation of material heritage u Science and scholarship – investigation, interpretation u Presentation – exhibition making, teaching, publication q But how to make a documentation standard ? u Each aspect needs its methods, forms, communication means u Data overlap, but do not fit in one schema u Understanding lives from relationships, but how to express them? Trondheim, August 21, 2003 2

The CIDOC CRM Historical Archives…. Type: Title. Subtitle: Date: Creator: Publisher: Subject: Text Protocol of Proceedings of Crimea Conference II. Declaration of Liberated Europe February 11, 1945. The Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The President of the United States of America State Department Postwar division of Europe and Japan Metadata Documents About… Trondheim, August 21, 2003 “The following declaration has been approved: The Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States of America have consulted with each other in the common interests of the people of their countries and those of liberated Europe. They jointly declare their mutual agreement to concert… …. and to ensure that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world…… “ 3

The CIDOC CRM Images, non-verbose… Type: Title: Date: Publisher: Source: Copyright: References: Image Allied Leaders at Yalta 1945 United Press International (UPI) The Bettmann Archive Corbis Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin Photos, Persons Metadata About… Trondheim, August 21, 2003 4

The CIDOC CRM Places and Objects TGN Id: 7012124 Names: Yalta (C, V), Jalta (C, V) Types: inhabited place(C), city (C) Position: Lat: 44 30 N, Long: 034 10 E Hierarchy: Europe (continent) <– Ukrayina (nation) <– Krym (autonomous republic) Note: …Site of conference between Allied powers in WW II in 1945; …. Source: TGN, Thesaurus of Geographic Names Places, Objects About… Title: Yalta, Crimean Peninsula Publisher: Kurgan-Lisnet Source: Liaison Agency Trondheim, August 21, 2003 5

The CIDOC CRM Explicit Events, Object Identity, Symmetry E 52 Time. Span 1945 February E 39 Actor P 11 E 53 Place 7012124 P 82 at some par time tici patwithin ed in P 7 took place at E 7 Activity “Crimea Conference” E 39 Actor P 86 falls within E 38 Image P 6 by 7 is r e fer E 65 Creation Event E 39 Actor ed rm o f r e p P 14 * P 81 ongoing throughout E 52 Time-Span P 9 cre 4 ha ate s d red to E 31 Document “Yalta Agreement” 11 -2 -1945 Trondheim, August 21, 2003 6

The CIDOC CRM Outcomes q The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model is u A collaboration of the International Council of Museums u An ontology of 80 classes and 130 properties for culture and more u With the capacity to explain dozens of (meta)data formats u Accepted by ISO TC 46 in Sept. 2000, now ISO/CD 21127 accepted Committee Draft q Serving as: u u intellectual guide to create schemata, formats, profiles A language for integration of existing sources and querying: “Identify elements with common meaning” u Transportation format for data integration / migration / Internet Trondheim, August 21, 2003 7

The CIDOC CRM Top-level Classes relevant for Integration refer to / identifie E 41 Appellations E 55 Types refer to / refine E 39 Actors E 28 Conceptual Objects E 18 Physical Stuff participate in affect or / refer to location E 2 Temporal Entities E 52 Time-Spans within Trondheim, August 21, 2003 at E 53 Places 8

The CIDOC CRM A Classification of its Relationships u Identification of real world items by real world names. u Classification of real world items. u Part-decomposition and structural properties of Conceptual & Physical Objects, Periods, Actors, Places and Times. u Participation of persistent items in temporal entities. — creates a notion of history: “world-lines” meeting in space-time. u Location of periods in space-time and physical objects in space. u Influence of objects on activities and products and vice-versa. u Reference of information objects to any real-world item. Trondheim, August 21, 2003 9

Possible Encoding of Data as CIDOC CRM instance (XML-style) Epitaphios GE 34604 (entity E 22 Man-Made Object ) P 30 custody changed by, P 24 changed ownership by E 10 Transfer of Custody, E 8 Acquisition Event ) Transfer of Epitaphios GE 34604 (entity P 28 custody surrendered by Metropolitan Church of the Greek Community of Ankara (entity E 39 Actor ) P 23 transferred title from Metropolitan Church of the Greek Community of Ankara (entity E 39 Actor ) P 29 custody received by Museum Benaki (entity E 39 Actor ) P 22 transferred title to Exchangable Fund of Refugees (entity P 40 Legal Body ) P 2 has type national foundation (entity E 55 Type ) P 14 carried out by (entity E 39 Actor ) Exchangable Fund of Refugees P 4 has time-span GE 34604_transfer_time (entity E 52 Time-Span ) P 82 at some time within 1923 - 1928 (entity E 59 Time Primitive ) P 7 took place at Greece (entity E 53 Place ) P 2 has type (entity E 55 Type ) nation republic (entity E 55 Type ) P 86 falls within Europe (entity E 53 Place ) P 2 has type continent (entity E 55 Type ) Trondheim, August 21, 2003 TGN data 10

The CIDOC CRM -Application Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM Example: Partial DC Record about a painting Type. DCT 1: image Type: painting Title: Garden of Paradise Creator: Master of the Paradise Garden Publisher: Staedelsches Kunstitut Trondheim, August 21, 2003 11

The CIDOC CRM … q …captures the underlying semantics of relevant documentation structures in a formal ontology. q Ontologies are formalized knowledge: clearly defined concepts and relationships about possible states of affairs of a domain. q They can be understood by people and processed by machines to enable data exchange, data integration, query mediation. q Semantic interoperability in culture can be achieved by an “extensible ontology of relationships” and explicit event modeling, that provides shared explanation rather than prescription of a common data structure. q The ontology is the language S/W developers and museum experts can share. Therefore it needs interdisciplinary work. That is what CIDOC has done… Trondheim, August 21, 2003 12

The CIDOC CRM -Application Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM E 41 Appellation E 23 Information Carrier Object: PA 310 -1 A? ? ied n de i ced by du was pro is d by Name: Garden of Paradise E 12 Production carr Event: 0003 ied en tif is by Name: Master of the out b Paradise Garden y E 39 Actor ULAN: 4162 oc um in ente d E 31 Document nti fie db y Docu: 0001 has type E 65 Creation Event E 55 image Type DCT 1: AAT: painting Event: 0004 carried out by E 82 Actor Appellation Name: Staedelsches Kunstitut is ide was created by E 55 Type E 82 Actor Appellation id ed i f ti is …. . E 39 Actor: 0003 has typ e E 55 Type (AAT: background knowledge not in the DC record) Trondheim, August 21, 2003 Type: Publication Creation 13

The CIDOC CRM -Application Repository Indexing Ontology expansion CIDOC CRM Actors Background knowledge / Authorities Trondheim, August 21, 2003 Events Objects Thesauri extent CRM entities Derived knowledge data (e. g. RDF) Sources and metadata (XML/RDF) 14

The CIDOC CRM … q Can be used as core ontology q To organize and standardize major facets q and the relationships between those, q and to provide a model to mediate between compound terms and description elements summing up to an equivalent meaning (e. g. “clay pot” and Pot, material: clay). Trondheim, August 21, 2003 15

The CIDOC CRM Activities: Modification/Production Event E 7 Activity P 14 carried out by (performed) 0, n E 39 Actor in the role of 1, n E 11 Modification Event 0, n 1, n E 55 Type 0, n P 32 used general technique (was technique of) E 18 Physical Stuff P 126 employed (was employed by) P 31 has modified (was modified by) 1, n P 45 consists of (is incorporated in) P 33 used specific technique (was used by) E 24 Physical Man-Made Stuff 0, n E 29 Design or Procedure Trondheim, August 21, 2003 0, n P 68 usually employs (is usually employed by) 0, n E 57 Material 16

The CIDOC CRM Where are we? q The CRM has a very good ontological commitment (scholars agree with the formalized concepts), a rapidly growing community of users and interested parties. q There is no alternative to formal ontologies for semantic interoperability. q There is a huge gap of knowledge between scholars and technologists, in both directions q There is a huge potential of immediate, practical application, but also for further research. Trondheim, August 21, 2003 17