Il ruolo delle core ontologiesnel ciclo di vita del prodotto culturale digitaleIl caso CIDOC-CRMOleg Missikoff - Prima giornata di studi sul SW Culturale Roma, 6 luglio 2004

Life-cycle of a digital/virtual cultural resource Identification Acquisition Description Binding Access Feedback Policies Stategies Marketing Feedback analysisDigitisationPurchaseCreationInfo atomsMetadataOntologiesSemanticannotations User- profiling Story- telling Info obj. Portal technology Software agents eLearning modules On-line questionn. Polls Forums Interviews Mailing list

The Three Levels of KnowledgeLanguageEventTimeAttributeClassCratere di VixArchivio di StatoLouvreExcavation

The Conceptual LayersUpperDomain OntologyCore OntologyLower Domain OntologySpecializationAggregationThe Ontology ChestnutTop-down?Or Bottom-up?Middle-out!CIDOC CRM

The CIDOC CRMThe CIDOC CRM is a Conceptual Reference Model proposed by the Comit International pour la DOCumentation of the International Council of MuseumsIt is an objectoriented domain ontology for the interchange of rich and heterogeneous cultural heritage information from museums, libraries and archivesIts purpose is to provide a building block for supporting the development of a global Semantic Cultural WebIt is maintained by the CIDOC CRM Special Interest Group, a diverse international group of museum information professionals with an official mandate from ICOM/CIDOC to develop and promote the standard.

The CIDOC CRM (2)Work on the CIDOC CRM formally began in 1996, although it is the evolutionary descendent of CIDOC data standards initiatives going back to 1980The primary function of the CIDOC CRM Special Interest Group (CIDOC CRMSIG) over the last five years has been to test and refine the CIDOC CRM in preparation for publication by ISO, the International Organization for StandardizationThe CIDOC CRM was accepted by ISO as "Committee Draft" ISO/CD 21127, and its publication as a full International Standard is due late in 2004.

The CIDOC CRM (3)The CIDOC CRM is comprised of a class hierarchy of 81 named classes, interlinked by 132 named properties Because it follows object oriented design principles, the classes in the hierarchy inherit properties from their parents, also known as superclassesFrom the various terminologies in use for object-oriented models, for ease of understanding by non-computer experts, the following have been selected :Entity for anything that may be called class, entity or node.Link for anything that may be called attribute, reference, link, or property.Superclass - Subclass relations refer to isA relations, subclass superclass, parent class - derived class, generalization - specialization, etc.

Top-level Entities relevant for IntegrationE39 ActorsE55 TypesE28 Conceptual ObjectsE18 Physical StuffE2 Temporal EntitiesE41 Appellationsrefer to / identifieatwithin

A typical problem: chronology mgmtInformation should be positioned in the appropriate time-space contextDates are often vaguely expressed:Beginning of 800 First half of XIX centuryBetween 1825 and 1830 Circa 1827 ...

timebeforeP82 at some time withinP81 ongoing throughoutafterintensityThe CIDOC CRM and Time Duration (P83,P84)

The CIDOC CRM and Time (2)P81: Time-Span E52 at least covering Time Primitive E61P82: Time-Span E52 at most within Time Primitive E61P83: Time-Span E52 had at least duration Dimension E54P84: Time-Span E52 had at most duration Dimension E54

E61 Time PrimitiveBelongs to: Value TypeSubclass of: Primitive ValueScope Note: This entity is a primitive value that should implement appropriate validation and interval logic for date ranges and precision relevant to cultural documentation.

The entity is referenced by:Time-Span: at most withinTime-Span: at least covering

E52 Time-SpanBelongs to: Time TypeSubclass of: CRM EntityScope note: A determination of a range of dates or duration without any further connotations to be used to confine periods, events, and any other phenomena valid for a certain time. A time appellation is a verbal form which refers to a time-span. The time-span itself is a temporal extent in the sense of Galilean physics. Different time-appellations may express the same time-span.Examples: from 12-17-1993 to 12-8-1996, 14h30 16h22 4th July 1945, 9.30 am 1.1.1999 to 2.OO pm 1.1.1999, Duration of the Ming Dynasty.

E54 DimensionBelongs to: Measure TypeSubclass of: CRM Entity

Scope note: This entity is an abstract class for properties that are measured by some calibrated means and result in numerical values. Dimensions should be recorded according to ISO standards, or using internationally recognized non SI units whenever possible (ISO 31:1992, Quantities and units; ISO 1000:1992, SI units and recommendations for the use of their multiples and of certain other units).

Examples: currency: 26.00, length: 4 cm, diameter: 26 mm, weight: 150 lbs, density: 0.85 gm/cc, luminescence: 56 ISO lumens, tin content: 0.46 %, "taille au garrot": 5 hands, C14 date: 2460 years, etc.

ConclusionsThe core ontology approach could provide support in the construction of new applications. In fact, usually, domain experts lack specific skills. For this reason, having an Upper Domain Ontology and as many Lower Domain Ontologies as possible could enable an economy of scale. It will result in a reduction of human work and, meanwhile, very useful guidelines.

Ontology building process Domainexperts Knowledge engineersDiscussion and agreement about contents supported by a groupware environment (HarmoConsys)DomainOntologyContents representation SymOntoX

Grazie per la vostra attenzione!