ArCo: the Italian Cultural Heritage Knowledge Graph

ArCo is the Italian Cultural Heritage knowledge graph, consisting of a network of seven vocabularies and 169 million triples about 820 thousand cultural entities. It is distributed jointly with a SPARQL endpoint, a software for converting catalogue records to RDF, and a rich suite of documentation material (testing, evaluation, how-to, examples, etc.). ArCo is based on the official General Catalogue of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (MiBAC) - and its associated encoding regulations - which collects and validates the catalogue records of (ideally) all Italian Cultural Heritage properties (excluding libraries and archives), contributed by CH administrators from all over Italy. We present its structure, design methods and tools, its growing community, and delineate its importance, quality, and impact

Expressing Without Asserting in the Arts

Critical debate as well as uncertain or subjective claims are pivotal elements in arts scholarly analysis. Asserting such statements in RDF is hindered by the correct representation of uncertain or evolving aspects. In this article we examine and discuss the need and usefulness of expressing without asserting (EWA) arbitrary claims as RDF named graphs. We examine effectiveness of prior approaches to EWA and we propose a solution, called conjectures, to express and retrieve statements whose truth value is not specified

Ontologijos ir technologiniai sprendimai skaitmeninio kultūros paveldo integravimui ir prieigai: Lietuvos patirtis

 Web technologies are the key for the implementing and ensuring the full range of user needs in the digital age. On the other hand, the issue of unified representation of digital content from diverse memory institutions in order to ensure semantic integrity still remains a matter of urgency. Semantic interoperability of information and data is essential in an integrated system. In this paper, we analyze and describe an ontology-based metadata interoperability approach and how this approach could be applied for memory institution data from diverse sources which do not support ontologies. In particular, we describe the use of the CIDOC CRM ontology as a mediating schema within Lithuania’s Information System of the Virtual Electronic Heritage (hereinafter ”VEPIS”) The paper introduces the role of the CIDOC CRM based Thesaurus of Personal Names, Geographical Names and Historical Chronology (hereinafter “BAVIC”), which operates as a core ontology within VEPIS by allowing to understand things and relationships between things as well as identify the time and space of things. The paper also focuses on trust of the cultural information on the Web. Users make trust judgments based on provenance that may or may not be explicitly offered to them. In particular, we describe how provenance is managed within digital preservation and access processes within VEPIS and define whether this management meets the W3C Provenance Incubator Group’s Requirements for Provenance on the Web. The paper is based on the results of the research initiated in 2018–2019 at the Faculty of Communication and the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of Vilnius University by authors of this paper.Saityno technologijos sudaro galimybę tenkinti įvairiapusiškas informacines skaitmeninės eros vartotojų reikmes. Kita vertus, iki šiol aktuali problema išlieka atminties institucijų į saityną teikiamo skaitmeninto turinio semantinis integralumas. Informacijos ir duomenų turinio semantinis suderinamumas ypač aktualus integruotoms sistemoms. Straipsnyje apibūdinama ontologijomis grindžiamų metaduomenų koncepcija. Straipsnyje aprašomas CIDOC/CRM ontologijos kaip tarpininkavimo schemos vaidmuo VEPIS sistemoje. Straipsnis taip pat supažindina su Asmenvardžių, vietovardžių ir istorinės chronologijos tezauru (BAVIC), VEPIS atliekančiu pamatinės ontologijos vaidmenį (leidžia suprasti esybes ir jų santykius, jų santykį su laiku ir erdve). Kita straipsnyje analizuojama problema yra susijusi su kultūros informacijos turinio patikimumu saityne. Vartotojai apie informacijos ir duomenų patikimumą sprendžia remdamiesi proveniencija, kuri gali arba negali būti jiems tiesiogiai pateikiama. Straipsnyje analizuojama, kaip proveniencija yra valdoma VEPIS skaitmeninto turinio ilgalaikio išsaugojimo ir jos sklaidos procesų metu, ir kartu nustatoma, ar šie procesai atitinka proveniencijos saityne W3C Provenance Incubator Group reikalavimus. Straipsnyje remiamasi Vilniaus universiteto Komunikacijos fakulteto ir Matematikos fakulteto 2018–2019 m. straipsnio autorių inicijuoto tyrimo rezultatais

Uncertainty in Hypothetical 3D Reconstructions: Technical, Visual and Cultural ‘Transitions’

Uncertainty assessment is fundamental when dealing with digital 3D reconstructions of hypothetical artefacts. In this framework, a range of uncertainty scales based on different classifications and visualisation techniques have been proposed through time without reaching a standard. Besides this, we argue that, even starting from a very simple uncertainty scale (which can also become more complex if needed) and assuming that it becomes widespread, a variety of challenges arise at different levels: at least a technical, a visual and a cultural one, which are here analysed describing the different kinds of 'transitions' that they can convey. At a technical level, the uncertainty scale can be applied to different levels of detail (allowing transitions between them), can be communicated through platforms (generating transitions of knowledge) and hopefully by means of (a transition to) standard exchange formats. At a visual level, a transition should be guaranteed between different uncertainty visualisation techniques, but also to infographics representing uncertainty data in more complex ways. At a cultural level, we should take into account that this transition of knowledge may occur in different domains and have different targets, in a balance between complexity and adaptation depending on the audience we refer to. We conclude with two goals for the future: the integration of the uncertainty documentation as a property in the CIDOC CRM ontology for cultural heritage and the visualisation of uncertainty directly on suitable online viewers

Formally defining the time-space-archaeological culture relation: problems and prospects

Locating archaeological cultures in time and space is a major challenge of archaeolog- ical research. Despite more than a century of scientific research in archaeology, a satisfactory solution has yet to be proposed. Past attempts to look into the problem focused on sharpening the definition of types of material culture artefacts, a more accurate chronological dating of such objects, various probabilistic methods or GIS solution for defining the time-space borders of archaeological cultures. However, the proposed approaches did not fully consider how the nature of archaeological cultures and their consequent dating and geographic positioning play a crucial role in assigning spatio-temporal borders. We propose to shift the operating logical paradigm in archaeology, from a crisp, Aristotelian-based logic, to fuzzy logic, in our opinion more suitable for reasoning in archaeology. We also introduce the rough sets theory to deal with chronological and geographic positioning of archaeological cultures. Both concepts have, in our opinion, substantial advantages over the traditional algebra and logic rules (implicitly) applied so far

Collaborative Research on Academic History using Linked Open Data: A Proposal for the Heloise Common Research Model

International audienceThe paper presents a proposal for the Heloise Common Research Model (HCRM), to be implemented for the European research network on digital academic history – Heloise. The objective of Heloise is to interlink databases and other digital resources stemming from several research projects in the field of academic history, to provide an integrated database for federated research on the network databases. The HCRM defines three layers: the Repository Layer, the Application Layer and the Research Interface Layer, which are presented in detail. As part of the application and research interface layer, essential concepts are the symogih.org ontology and a Heloise network-specific thesaurus. The concepts have been tested on a sample of Heloise network’s datasets as a part of a prototype of the envisaged platform that the authors have started implementing. The paper concludes with future developments to be accomplished within the Heloise network

Pattern-based design applied to cultural heritage knowledge graphs

Ontology Design Patterns (ODPs) have become an established and recognised practice for guaranteeing good quality ontology engineering. There are several ODP repositories where ODPs are shared as well as ontology design methodologies recommending their reuse. Performing rigorous testing is recommended as well for supporting ontology maintenance and validating the resulting resource against its motivating requirements. Nevertheless, it is less than straightforward to find guidelines on how to apply such methodologies for developing domain-specific knowledge graphs. ArCo is the knowledge graph of Italian Cultural Heritage and has been developed by using eXtreme Design (XD), an ODP- and test-driven methodology. During its development, XD has been adapted to the need of the CH domain e.g. gathering requirements from an open, diverse community of consumers, a new ODP has been defined and many have been specialised to address specific CH requirements. This paper presents ArCo and describes how to apply XD to the development and validation of a CH knowledge graph, also detailing the (intellectual) process implemented for matching the encountered modelling problems to ODPs. Relevant contributions also include a novel web tool for supporting unit-testing of knowledge graphs, a rigorous evaluation of ArCo, and a discussion of methodological lessons learned during ArCo development

Services for Content Creation and Presentation in an Iconographical Digital Library

Content creation and presentation are key activities in a multimedia digital library (MDL). The proper design and intelligent implementation of these services provide a stable base for overall MDL functionality. This paper presents the framework and the implementation of these services in the latest version of the “Virtual Encyclopaedia of Bulgarian Iconography” multimedia digital library. For the semantic description of the iconographical objects a tree-based annotation template is implemented. It provides options for autocompletion, reuse of values, bilingual entering of data, automated media watermarking, resizing and conversing. The paper describes in detail the algorithm for automated appearance of dependent values for different characteristics of an iconographical object. An algorithm for avoiding duplicate image objects is also included. The service for automated appearance of new objects in a collection after their entering is included as an important part of the content presentation. The paper also presents the overall service-based architecture of the library, covering its main service panels, repositories and their relationships. The presented vision is based on a long-term observation of the users’ preferences, cognitive goals, and needs, aiming to find an optimal functionality solution for the end users.* This work is partly funded by Bulgarian NSF under the project D-002-189 SINUS "Semantic Technologies for Web Services and Technology Enhanced Learning"

Metainformation scenarios in Digital Humanities: Characterization and conceptual modelling strategies

Requirements for the analysis, interpretation and reuse of information are becoming more and more ambitious as we generate larger and more complex datasets. This is leading to the development and widespread use of information about information, often called metainformation (or metadata) in most disciplines. The Digital Humanities are not an exception. We often assume that metainformation helps us in documenting information for future reference by recording who has created it, when and how, among other aspects. We also assume that recording metainformation will facilitate the tasks of interpreting information at later stages. However, some works have identified some issues with existing metadata approaches, related to 1) the proliferation of too many “standards” and difficulties to choose between them; 2) the generalized assumption that metadata and data (or metainformation and information) are essentially different, and the subsequent development of separate sets of languages and tools for each (introducing redundant models); and 3) the combination of conceptual and implementation concerns within most approaches, violating basic engineering principles of modularity and separation of concerns. Some of these problems are especially relevant in Digital Humanities. In addition, we argue here that the lack of characterization of the scenarios in which metainformation plays a relevant role in humanistic projects often results in metainformation being recorded and managed without a specific purpose in mind. In turn, this hinders the process of decision making on issues such as what metainformation must be recorded in a specific project, and how it must be conceptualized, stored and managed. This paper presents a review of the most used metadata approaches in Digital Humanities and, taking a conceptual modelling perspective, analyses their major issues as outlined above. It also describes what the most common scenarios for the use of metainformation in Digital Humanities are, presenting a characterization that can assist in the setting of goals for metainformation recording and management in each case. Based on these two aspects, a new approach is proposed for the conceptualization, recording and management of metainformation in the Digital Humanities, using the ConML conceptual modelling language, and adopting the overall view that metainformation is not essentially different to information. The proposal is validated in Digital Humanities scenarios through case studies employing real-world datasetsThis work was partially supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under its Competitive Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Research Programme (FJCI-2016-28032)S