CIDOC CRM, a Standard for the
Integration of Cultural Information
The
Martin Doerr, Stephen Stead
Center for Cultural Informatics
Institute of Computer Science
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas
Zagreb, Croatia
May 24, 2005
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
1
The CIDOC CRM
Outline
 Problem statement – information diversity
 Motivation example – the Yalta Conference
 The goal and form of the CIDOC CRM
 Presentation of contents
 About using the CIDOC CRM
 State of development
 Conclusion
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
2
The CIDOC CRM
Cultural Diversity and Data Standards
 Cultural information is more than a domain:
 Collection description (art, archeology, natural history….)
 Archives and literature (records, treaties, letters, artful works..)
 Administration, preservation, conservation of material heritage
 Science and scholarship – investigation, interpretation
 Presentation – exhibition making, teaching, publication
 But how to make a documentation standard ?
 Each aspect needs its methods, forms, communication means
 Data overlap, but do not fit in one schema
 Understanding lives from relationships, but how to express them?
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
3
The CIDOC CRM
Historical Archives….
Type:
Title:
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…
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 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…… “
4
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…
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
5
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
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
6
The CIDOC CRM
Approach
 Create an ontology for schema semantics
 Primitive concepts in order to construct local source semantics, more
detailed (paths) than the sources (local as view)
 Find constants of discourse, robust against knowledge revision and
change of view (persons, places, events, objects…)
 Strict scope restrictions (not domain restriction):
 descriptions of knowledge about the past, compilation of elements for
reasoning about possible pasts (research oriented).
 things/documents that could be in museums or cultural sites, no
administrative tasks and processes
 no specialist terminology (i.e. classes found as data in the sources)
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
7
The CIDOC CRM
Explicit Events, Object Identity, Symmetry
E39 Actor
E52 TimeSpan1945
February
E53 Place
7012124
P82 at some time
within
E7 Activity
E39 Actor
“Crimea Conference”
E38 Image
P86 falls within
E65 Creation
Event
E39 Actor
*
P81 ongoing throughout
E31 Document
“Yalta Agreement”
E52 Time-Span
11-2-1945
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
8
Historical events as meetings…
t
Brutus
Caesar’s
mother
coherence
volume of
Caesar’s death
Caesar
Brutus’
dagger
coherence
volume of
Caesar’s birth
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
S
9
Deposition event as meetings…
t
lava and
ruins
ancient
Santorinian
coherence volume of
volcano eruption
house
volcano
coherence
volume of house
building
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Santorini - Akrotiti
S
10
Information exchange as meetings…
t
coherence volume of
second announcement
Victory!!!
coherence volume of
first announcement
other
Soldiers
2nd Athenian
Victory!!!
1st Athenian
runner
coherence volume of
the battle of
Marathon
Marathon
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Athens
S
11
The CIDOC CRM
……….
 …captures the underlying semantics of relevant documentation
structures in a formal ontology.
 Ontologies are formalized knowledge: clearly defined concepts and
relationships about possible states of affairs of a domain.
 They can be understood by people and processed by machines to
enable data exchange, data integration, query mediation.
 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.
 The ontology is the language S/W developers and museum experts
can share. Therefore it needs interdisciplinary work. That is what
CIDOC has done…
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
12
The CIDOC CRM
Outcomes
 The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model
 A collaboration with the International Council of Museums
 An ontology of 80 classes and 132 properties for culture and more
 With the capacity to explain dozens of (meta)data formats
 Accepted by ISO TC46 in Sept. 2000, now
ISO/CD 21127 accepted Committee Draft, proposed as DIS
 Serving as:


intellectual guide to create schemata, formats, profiles
A language for analysis of existing sources for integration
“Identify elements with common meaning”
 Transportation format for data integration / migration / Internet
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
13
The CIDOC CRM
The Intellectual Role of the CRM
Conceptualization
?
approximates
explains,
motivates
Data structures &
Presentation models
organize
World Phenomena
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Data
Legacy
Legacy
bases
systems
systems
Data in various forms
14
The CIDOC CRM
Encoding of the CIDOC CRM
 The CIDOC CRM is a formal ontology (defined in TELOS)
 But
CRM instances can be encoded in many forms: RDBMS, ooDBMS,
XML, RDF(S).
 Uses Multiple isa – to achieve uniqueness of properties in the schema.
 Uses multiple instantiation - to be able to combine not always valid
combinations (e.g. destruction – activity).
 Uses
Multiple isA for properties to capture different abstraction of
relationships.
 Methodological aspects:
 Entities are introduced only if anchor of property ( if structurally relevant).
 Frequent joins (shot-cuts) of complex data paths for data found in
different degrees of detail are modeled explicitly.
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
15
Justifying Multiple Inheritance:
achieving uniqueness of properties
Single Inheritance form:
Multiple Inheritance form:
Museum Artefact
Canister
museum number
museum number
collection
collection
material
material
Ecclesiastical item
container
lid
Museum Artefact
belongs to church
Holy Bread Basket
Ecclesiastical item
Canister
container
lid
belongs to church
Holy Bread Basket
container
lid
Repetition of properties !
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Unique identity of properties !
Possible Encoding of Data
as CIDOC CRM instance (XML-style)
Epitaphios GE34604 (entity E22 Man-Made Object)
P30 custody transferred through, P24 changed ownership through
Transfer of Epitaphios GE34604 (entity E10 Transfer of Custody, E8 Acquisition Event
P28 custody surrendered by
Metropolitan Church of the Greek Community of Ankara (entity E39 Actor )
P23 transferred title from
Metropolitan Church of the Greek Community of Ankara (entity E39 Actor )
P29 custody received by
Museum Benaki
(entity E39 Actor )
P22 transferred title to
Exchangeable Fund of Refugees (entity P40 Legal Body )
P2 has type
national foundation (entity E55 Type )
P14 carried out by
Exchangeable Fund of Refugees (entity E39 Actor )
P4 has time-span
GE34604_transfer_time
(entity E52 Time-Span )
P82 at some time within
1923 - 1928
(entity E61 Time Primitive)
P7 took place at
(entity E53 Place )
Greece
P2 has type
(entity E55 Type )
nation
republic (entity E55 Type )
TGN data
P89 falls within
Europe
(entity E53 Place )
P2 has type
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
continent (entity E55 Type )
17
The CIDOC CRM
What does and what it does not
 Idea: Not being prescriptive creates much flexibility !
 The CRM can be used as data format for transport / migration /
presentation (but for not designed for data entry)
 It does not propose what to describe
 It allows to interprete what museums, archives actually describe
 It tries to formalize concepts which help data integration and resource
discovery (not all information)
 Focused on data structure semantics, integration, information about
the past
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
18
The CIDOC CRM
Top-level Entities relevant for Integration
E55 Types
refer to / refine
E39 Actors
E28 Conceptual Objects
E18 Physical Stuff
participate in
affect or / refer to
location
E2 Temporal Entities
E52 Time-Spans
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
at
E53 Places
19
The CIDOC CRM
A Classification of its Relationships
 Identification of real world items by real world names.
 Classification of real world items.
 Part-decomposition and structural properties of Conceptual &
Physical Objects, Periods, Actors, Places and Times.
 Participation of persistent items in temporal entities.
— creates a notion of history: “world-lines” meeting in space-time.
 Location of periods in space-time and physical objects in space.
 Influence of objects on activities and products and vice-versa.
 Reference of information objects to any real-world item.
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
20
The CIDOC CRM
Example: The Temporal Entity Hierarchy
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
21
The CIDOC CRM
Example: Temporal Entity
E2 Temporal Entity
Scope Note:
This class comprises all phenomena, such as the instances of E4 Periods,
E5 Events and states, which happen over a limited extent in time.
In some contexts, these are also called perdurants. This class is disjoint
from E77 Persistent Item. This is an abstract class and has no direct
instances. E2 Temporal Entity is specialized into E4 Period, which applies
to a particular geographic area (defined with a greater or lesser degree of
precision), and E3 Condition State, which applies to instances of E18
Physical Stuff.
— Is limited in time, is the only link to time, but not time itself
— spreads out over a place or object (physical or not).
— the core of a model of physical history, open for unlimited
specialisation.
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
22
The CIDOC CRM
Example: Temporal Entity- Subclasses
E4 Period
 binds together related phenomena
 introduces inclusion topologies - parts etc.
 Is confined in space and time
 the basic unit for temporal-spatial reasoning
 E5 Event
 looks at the input and the outcome
 introduces participation of people and presence of things
 the basic unit for weak causal reasoning
 each event is a period if we study the process
 E7 Activity
 adds intention, influence and purpose
 adds tools
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
23
The CIDOC CRM
Temporal Entity- Main Properties
E2 Temporal Entity
 Properties: P4 has time-span (is time-span of):
E52 Time-Span
 Properties: P7 took place at (witnessed):
E53 Place
E4 Period
E4 Period
E4 Period
E5 Event

P9 consists of (forms part of):
P10 falls within (contains):
Properties: P11 had participant (participated in):
E39 Actor
P12 occurred in the presence of (was present at): E77 Persistent Item
E7 Activity
 Properties: P14 carried out by (performed):
E39 Actor
P20 had specific purpose (was purpose of): E7 Activity
P21 had general purpose (was purpose of): E55 Type
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
24
The CIDOC CRM
Termini postquem / antequem
P82 at some time
AD461
within
*
*
Death of
Leo I
P11 had participant:
P93 took o.o.existence:
P92 brought i. existence:
Pope Leo I
before
P14 carried out by
(performed)
Death of
Attila
P82 at some time
* within
P4 has time-span
(is time- span of)
Attila
meeting
Leo I
before
AD452
before
P14 carried out by
(performed)
Attila
before
Birth of
Leo I
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
P82 at some time
AD453
within
Birth of
Attila
Deduction: before
25
The CIDOC CRM
The Participation Properties
P12 occurred in the presence of (was present at)
E5 Event 
E77 Persistent Item
 P11 had participant (participated in)
E5 Event 
E39 Actor
E7 Activity 
E39 Actor
 P22 transferred title to (acquired title through)
E8 Acquisition Event 
E39 Actor
 P23 transferred title from (surrendered title of)
E8 Acquisition Event 
E39 Actor
 P14 carried out by (performed)
 P28 custody surrendered by (surrendered custody through) E10 Transfer of Custody  E39 Actor
 P29 custody received by (received custody through)
E10 Transfer of Custody  E39 Actor
 P96 by mother (gave birth)
E67 Birth 
E21 Person
 P99 dissolved (was dissolved by)
E68 Dissolution 
E74 Group
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
26
The CIDOC CRM
Activities
CIDOC Notion
E59 Primitive Value
E1 CRM Entity
0,n
0,n
P2 has type
(is type of)
P3 has note
0,n
E62 String
0,1
E55 Type
E5 Event
E7 Activity
1,n
E39 Actor
P14 carried out by (performed)
0,n
P14.1 in the role of
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
27
The CIDOC CRM
Activities: Measurement Event
E13 Attribute Assignment
E16 Measurement Event
1,1
1,n
P40 observed dimension
(was observed by)
P39 was measured by
(measured)
0,n
E70 Stuff
0,n
0,n
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
P43 has dimension
(is dimension of)
1,1
E54 Dimension
P90 has value
P91 has unit
(is unit of)
28
The CIDOC CRM
Activities: Condition Assessment
E7 Activity
1,n
P14 carried out by (performed)
0,n
E39 Actor
P14.1 in the role of
E14 Condition Assessment
E2 Temporal Entity
1,n
1,n
P34 was assessed by (concerned)
P35 has identified (identified by)
0,n
0,n
E18 Physical Stuff
E3 Condition State
P44 has condition (condition of)
0,n
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
1,1
29
The CIDOC CRM
Activities: Acquisition Event
E7 Activity
E8 Acquisition Event
P22 transferred title of (acquired title through) 0,n
0,n
0,n
1,n
P23 transferred title from (surrendered title through)
P24 transferred title of (changed ownership through)
0,n
E39 Actor
0,n
0,n
P52 is current owner of (has current owner)
0,n
0,n
0,n
E18 Physical Stuff
0,n
P51 is former or current owner of (has former or current owner)
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
30
The CIDOC CRM
Activities: Move
P20 had specific purpose (was purpose of)
0,n
0,n
E7 Activity
0,n
P21 had general purpose (was purpose of)
0,n
E55 Type
E9 Move
1,n
1,n
P25 moved by (moved)
1,n
P26 moved to (was destination of)
P27 moved from (was origin of)
0,n
0,n
P55 has current location (currently holds)
0,1
0,n
E19 Physical Object
1,n
0,1
0,n
P53 has former or current location (is ~ of)
P54 has current permanent location (is ~ of)
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
E53 Place
0,n
0,n
31
The CIDOC CRM
Activities: Modification/Production Event
E7 Activity
P14 carried out by (performed)
P14.1 in the r ole of
1,n
E11 Modification Event
0,n
0,n
0,n
E39 Actor
E55 Type
0,n
P32 used general technique (was technique of)
0,n
1,n
E18 Physical Stuff
P126 employed (was employed by)
P31 has modified (was modified by)
1,n
P45 consists of (is incorporated in)
P33 used specific technique (was used by)
0,n
0,n
E24 Physical Man-Made Stuff
0,n
0,n
E29 Design or Procedure
0,n
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
P68 usually employs (is usually employed by)
0,n
E57 Material
32
The CIDOC CRM
Entity: Modification Event
Properties:
P1 is identified by (identifies): E41 Appellation
P2 has type (is type of): E55 Type
P11 had participant (participated in): E39 Actor
P14 carried out by (performed): E39 Actor
(P14.1 in the role of : E55 Type)
P31 has modified (was modified by): E24 Physical Man-Made Stuff
P12 occurred in the presence of (was present at): E77 Persistent Item
P16 used specific object (was used for): E19 Physical Object
(P16.1 mode of use: E55 Type)
P32 used general technique (was technique of): E55 Type
P33 used specific technique (was used by): E29 Design or Procedure
P17 was motivated by (motivated): E1 CRM Entity
P19 was intended use of (was made for): E71 Man-Made Stuff
(P19.1 mode of use: E55 Type)
P20 had specific purpose (was purpose of): E7 Activity
P21 had general purpose (was purpose of): E55 Type
P126 employed (was employed in): E57 Material
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
inherited properties
declared properties
inherited properties
declared properties
inherited properties
declared properties
33
The CIDOC CRM
Time Uncertainty, Certainty and Duration
P81 ongoing
throughout
Duration (P83,P84)
after
“intensity”
before
time
P82 at some
time within
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
34
The CIDOC CRM
Time-Span
E1 CRM Entity
E53 Place
E2 Temporal Entity
E77 Persistent Item
E52 Time Span
P86 falls within
(contains)
E3 Condition State
P7 took place at
(witnessed)
P10 falls within
(contains)
E4 Period
P9 consists of
(forms part of)
E41 Appellation
P82 at some
time within
P81 ongoing
throughout
E49 Time Appellation
E61 Time Primitive
E50 Date
E5 Event
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
35
The CIDOC CRM
Example: Place
E53 Place
 A place is an extent in space, determined diachronically with regard to a
larger, persistent constellation of matter, often continents by coordinates, geophysical features, artefacts, communities, political
systems, objects - but not identical to.
 A “CRM Place” is not a landscape, not a seat - it is an abstraction from
temporal changes - “the place where…”
 A means to reason about the “where” in multiple reference systems.
 Examples: figures from the bow of a ship, African dinosaur foot-prints in
Portugal
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
36
The CIDOC CRM
Place
P88 consists of
(forms part of)
P7 took place at
(witnessed)
P26 moved to
(was destination of)
E53 Place
E12 Production Event
E9 Move
P27 moved from
(was origin of)
P108 has produced
(was produced by)
P25 moved
(moved by)
E44 Place Appellation
E46 Section Definition
E47 Spatial Coordinates
E48 Place Name
E45 Address
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
P58 defines section of
(has section definition)
E18 Physical Stuff
E24 Ph. M.-Made Stuff
E19 Physical Object
37
The CIDOC CRM
Extension Example: Getty’s TGN
P89 falls within
E53 Place
E39 Actor
E74 Group
P87 is identified by
(identifies)
E44 Place Appellation
E13 Attribute Assignment
carries
out
E52 Time-Span
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Place Naming
P4 has time-span
E4 Period
Community
38
Example from the TGN
TGN1001441
P89 falls within
Kuyunjik
TGN7017998
Nineveh
People of Iraq
carry
out
Nineveh naming
Nineveh naming
20th century
1st mill. BC
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
P4 has time-span
City of Nineveh
39
The CIDOC CRM
Stuff
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
40
The CIDOC CRM
Physical Stuff
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
41
The CIDOC CRM
Conceptual Object
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
42
The CIDOC CRM
Actor
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
43
The CIDOC CRM
Appellation
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
44
The CIDOC CRM
Changing Stuff
P92 brought into existence
(was brought into existence by)
E63 Beginning of Existence
P123 resulted in
(resulted from)
E64 End of Existence
P93 took out of existence
(was taken o.o.e. by)
E81 Transformation
E77 Persistent Item
P124 transformed
(was transformed by)
E11 Modification Event
P31 has modified
(was modified by)
E18 Physical Stuff
E24 Ph. M.-Made Stuff
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
P111 added
(was added by)
P112 diminished
(was diminished by)
E79 Part Addition
E80 Part Removal
45
The CIDOC CRM
Taxonomic discourse
E7 Activity
E1 CRM Entity
E65 Creation Event
E28 Conceptual Object
E83 Type Creation
P137 is exemplified
by (exemplifies)
E17 Type Assignment
P42 assigned
(was assigned by)
E55 Type
P136.1 in the
taxonomic role
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
P137.1 in the
taxonomic role
46
The CIDOC CRM
Specific and general Use
E1 CRM Entity
P15 was influenced by
(influenced)
E7 Activity
E55 Type
P16 used specific object
(was used by)
E70 Stuff
P16.1 mode of use
E55 Type
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
47
The CIDOC CRM
Visual Contents and Subject
P62.1 mode of
depiction
E55 Type
E1 CRM Entity
E24 Physical Man-Made Stuff
P67 refers to
(is referred to by)
P128 carries
(is carried by)
E73 Information Object
P138.1 mode of
depiction
P65 shows visual item
(is shown by)
E84 Information Carrier
P138 represents
(has representation)
E36 Visual Item
E38 Visual Image
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
48
The CIDOC CRM - Application
Knowledge Life-Cycle
 Data and knowledge acquisition needs:
— sequence and order, completeness, case-specific language and
constraints to guide and control data entry.
— ergonomic documentation units, optimized to specialist needs (Metadata!)
— work-flow on series of analogous items, item-centric.
— Low interoperability needs (capability to be mapped!)
 Integration / comprehension needs (CRM!):
— break up document boundaries, relate to wider context,
— match shared identifiers of items, compile alternatives
— no preference direction or subject, relationships and top classes
— High interoperability needs (mapping to global schema)
 Interpretation, story-telling
— explore context, paths, analogies (orthogonal to data acquisition)
— present in order, resolve alternatives (enforce constraints)
— deduction and induction
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
49
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Repository Federation
Access integration
Metadata
repositories
Identity provision
(KOS)
use
Data Processing
services
classify
Gazetteers
extract
Corpora
Knowledge integration
Research
databases
analyse
Secondary
sources
refer to
Primary
sources
Museum Object
ICS-FORTH October 6Documentation
- 9, 2003
Archives
Libraries
clean
50
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Data Warehouse of Relations
Core level
CIDOC
CRM
Detail level
extension level
Actors
Background
knowledge /
Authorities
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Events
Objects
Thesauri
extent
CRM entities
Derived
knowledge
data (e.g. RDF)
Sources
and
metadata
(XML/RDF)
51
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Methodological aspects
 Epistemological aspects:

Historical (also scientific, medical etc.) knowledge is incomplete and
undecidable. Its elements have different statistical stability against
knowledge revision:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Existence in discourse (London, Caesar, birth of Caesar, WW II, “take-over
of Tikal”, King Arthur, Aphrodite)
Existence in real life (Master of the Paradise Garden)
Identity (London, Caesar, Aphrodite, Shakespeare)
Relations (where was El Greco born??)
 Documents are not surrogates of entities, they provide relations.
 Entities are represented in (local or global) authorities, that provide a
shared notion of identity…
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
52
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Query “Friends of Friends”
Document based retrieval
Content
2. query
input: “Κώστας”
output: “George”
Source 2
Content
Read output:
find “Kostas”,
guess
“Κώστας”
1. query
input: “Martin”
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Source 1
53
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Dynamic Linking via shared IDs
Join across sources by dynamic linking
id
Content
get id
L
i
n
k
.
.
.
.
output: “George”
Source 2
t
a
b
l
e
id
get id
Join
id
Content
L
i
n
k
query
.
.
.
.
input: “Martin”
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Source 1
t
a
b
l
e
match
Dyn amic
li nk
L
i
n
k
t
a
b
l
match
e
“Κώστας” /
“Kostas”
.
.
.
.
Authority service
54
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
55
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM
Example: Partial DC Record about a Technical Report
Type: text
Title: Mapping of the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set to the CIDOC CRM
Creator: Martin Doerr
Publisher: ICS-FORTH
Identifier: FORTH-ICS / TR 274 July 2000
Language: English
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
56
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM (RDF style)
…..
E41 Appellation
Name: Mapping of the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set to the CIDOC CRM
E65 Creation Event
E33 Linguistic Object
carried
out by
E39 Actor
is identified
by
Actor:0001
Event: 0001
E82 Actor Appellation
Name: Martin Doerr
Object: FORTH-ICS /
TR-274 July 2000
E7 Activity
Event: 0002
carried out by
E39 Actor
is identified
by
Actor:0002
E82 Actor Appellation
Name: ICS-FORTH
E55 Type
Type: Publication
E75 Conceptual Object Appellation
Name: FORTH-ICS / TR-274 July 2000
E56 Language
Lang.: English
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
has type
E55 Type
Type:FORTH Identifier
(background knowledge
not in the DC record)
57
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM
Example: Partial DC Record about a painting
Type.DCT1: image
Type: painting
Title: Garden of Paradise
Creator: Master of the Paradise Garden
Publisher: Staedelsches Kunstinstitut
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
58
The CIDOC CRM -Application
Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM
…..
E41 Appellation
Name: Garden of Paradise
E82 Actor Appellation
Name: Master of the
Paradise Garden
E12 Production Event
E73 Information Carrier
Event: 0003
Object: PA 310-1A??
E39 Actor
ULAN: 4162
E31 Document
Docu: 0001
E82 Actor Appellation
has type
Name: Staedelsches Kunstinstitut
was created by
E55 Type
E65 Creation Event
E55image
Type
DCT1:
Event: 0004
carried out
by
E39 Actor
Actor: 0003
AAT: painting
E55 Type
(AAT: background knowledge
not in the DC record)
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
Type: Publication Creation
59
The CIDOC CRM - Lessons
Mapping experience

Semantic Interoperability is defined by capability of mapping.
Standardization and mediation/transformation cannot be separated.

Mapping is relatively simple:


Specialist databases mostly employ a flat schema, reducing complex relationships
into simple fields

Source fields frequently map to composite paths under the CRM, making
semantics explicit by a small set of primitives.

CRM is free from cardinality constraints
Domain experts easily learn schema matching


IT experts don’t understand meaning, underestimate it or are bored with it
Intuitive tools for domain experts needed:

Separate decoding/encoding from semantic matching
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
60
The CIDOC CRM
Benefits of the CRM
(From Tony Gill)
 Elegant and simple compared to comparable Entity-Relationship
models
 Coherently integrates information at varying degrees of detail
 Readily extensible through O-O class typing and specializations
 Richer semantic content; allows inferences to be made from
underspecified data elements
 Designed for mediation of cultural heritage information
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
61
The CIDOC CRM
Benefits of the CRM
 As an explanatory and mediation model, the CRM:

does not enforce constraints
— optional properties, multivalued properties, multiple instantiation

contains redundant paths
— “short cuts” of secondary processes, complex indirections

contains abstractions at various levels
— of entities and
— of attributes/properties
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
62
The CIDOC CRM
Conclusions

Applying our methodology, we encounter a surprise
compared with common preconceptions:
 Nearly no domain specificity (e.g.“current permanent location”),
generic concepts appearing in medicine, biodiversity etc..
 Rather a notion of scientific method emerges, such as
“retrospective analysis, taxonomic discourse” etc.
 Extraordinary small set of concepts
 Extraordinary convergence: adding dozens of new formats hardly
introduces any new concept
 This approach is economic, investment pays off.
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
63
The CIDOC CRM
Conclusions
 The CRM is NOT a metadata standard,
 it should become our language for semantic interoperability,
 it is a Conceptual Reference Model for analyzing and designing cultural
information systems
 The CRM is in the end of the ISO standardization
process:
 Dissemination for wide understanding and consensus.
 Extended application tests, development of tools.
 Community building for experience exchange.
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
64
The CIDOC CRM
State of Development
 Version 4.0 accepted by ISO as Draft International
Standard.
 Ongoing collaboration with IFLA-FRBR: An ontological
interpretation of FRBR as specialization of the CIDOC
CRM.
 looking into further specializations and collaboration
for harmonization (e.g. TEI)
Several translations : Japanese, Greek, French
(finished), German (on-going)
ICS-FORTH October 6 - 9, 2003
65