Chair: Stephen STEAD, UK
The tutorial will first address semantic problems and requirements to integrate digital information into large scale, meaningful networks of knowledge that support not only access to source documents but also information use and reuse. The pros and cons of developing global ontologies are discussed. In particular, it is argued that core ontologies play a fundamentally different role to that played by specialist terminologies in practical knowledge management.
Then, the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model is presented as an example of such a global model. It is a core-ontology and new ISO standard (ISO 21127, accepted Sept. 2006) designed for the semantic integration of information from museums, libraries, and archives. It has been developed by CIDOC, the International Committee for Documentation of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and an international multidisciplinary team of experts. The CIDOC CRM concentrates on the definition of relationships, rather than terminology, in order to support mediation, transformation and integration between heterogeneous database schemata and metadata structures. It is a product of re-engineering the dominant common meanings from the most characteristic schema elements in use in these institutions. It is not prescriptive, but provides a controlled language to describe common high-level semantics that allow for information integration at the schema level. This integration has been demonstrated in a large range of different domains including cultural heritage, e-science and biodiversity.
The CRM foresees domain-specific extensions. An example that will be presented in detail is the integration of the conceptual model contained in the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), developed by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), with the CIDOC CRM.Participants with some background in information modelling should be able to use the CIDOC CRM in their applications after this course and some further reading.