1. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 1 The CIDOC CRM, a Standard for the Integration of Cultural Information Martin Doerr Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas Institute of Computer Science Monterey, California, February 19, 2002 Center for Cultural Informatics

2. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 2 The CIDOC CRM Outline Problem statement – information diversity Motivation example – the Yalta Conference The goal of the CIDOC CRM Presentation of contents Methodological considerations State of development Conclusion

3. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 3 The CIDOC CRM Cultural Diversity and Data Standards  Aspects of cultural information:  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 data 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?

4. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 4 The CIDOC CRM Historical Archives…. Type:Text Title: Protocol of Proceedings of Crimea Conference Title.Subtitle: II. Declaration of Liberated Europe Date: February 11, 1945. Creator:The Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The President of the United States of America Publisher:State Department Subject:Postwar division of Europe and Japan “ 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…… “ Documents Metadata About…

5. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 5 The CIDOC CRM Images, non-verbose… Type:Image Title: Allied Leaders at Yalta Date: 1945 Publisher:United Press International (UPI) Source:The Bettmann Archive Copyright:Corbis References:Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin Photos, Persons Metadata About…

6. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 6 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

7. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 7 The CIDOC CRM Capture Underlying Semantics…  Diversity requires many (meta)data standards  Related Information does not match one format or query  We have recognized (already 1994 with Museum Benaki): Event-centric models can integrate many kinds of retrospective (historical) information (and may be more).  CIDOC has engaged in interdisciplinary work to create semantic content models, so-called: domain ontologies  Ontologies are formalized knowledge: clearly defined concepts and relationships about possible states of affairs of the domain

8. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 8 The CIDOC CRM Explicit Events, Object Identity, Symmetry carried out participated in has created E31 Document “Yalta Agreement” E7 Activity “Crimea Conference” E65 Creation * E38 Image falls within took place at refers to E52 Time-Span February 1945 at least covering at most within E39 Actor E53 Place 7012124 E52 Time-Span 11-2-1945

9. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 9 The CIDOC CRM Outcomes  The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model  A collaboration with the International Council of Museums  An ontology of 75 classes and 106 properties for culture and more  With the capacity to explain dozens of (meta)data formats  Accepted by ISO TC46 in Sept. 2000, now Committee Draft  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

10. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 10 The CIDOC CRM The Intellectual Role of the CRM Legacy systems Legacy systems Data bases World Phenomena ? Data structures & Presentation models Conceptualization abstracts from approximates explains, motivates organize refer to Data in various forms

11. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 11  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. The CIDOC CRM Encoding of the CIDOC CRM

12. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 Justifying Multiple Inheritance: achieving uniqueness of properties belongs to church Ecclesiastical item Holy Bread Basket container lid Museum Artefact museum number material collection Single Inheritance form: Museum Artefact museum number material collection Multiple Inheritance form: Canister container lid belongs to church Ecclesiastical item Canister container lid Holy Bread Basket Repetition of properties ! Unique identity of properties !

13. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 13 custody_changed_by, Transfer of Epitaphios GE34604 (entityTransfer of Custody, Acquisition) custody_surrendered_by Metropolitan Church of the Greek Community of Ankara (entityActor) transfers_title_from Metropolitan Church of the Greek Community of Ankara (entityActor) custody_received_by Museum Benaki (entityActor) transfers_title_to Exchangable Fund of Refugees (entity Legal Body ) has type national foundation (entityType) carried out by Exchangable Fund of Refugees (entityActor) has time-span GE34604_transfer_time (entity Time-Span) at most within 1923- 1928 (entityTime Primitive) took place at Greece (entityPlace) has type nation (entityType) republic (entityType) falls within Europe (entityPlace) has type continent (entityType) Possible Encoding of Data as CIDOC CRM instance ( XML-style ) TGN data title_changed_by Epitaphios GE34604 (entity Man-made Object )

14. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 14 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

15. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 15 The CIDOC CRM Top-level Entities relevant for Integration participate in Actors Types Conceptual Objects Physical Entities Temporal Entities Appellations affect or / refer to refer to / refine refer to / identifie location at within Places Time-Spans

16. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 16  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. The CIDOC CRM A Classification of its Relationships

17. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 17 The CIDOC CRM Example: The Temporal Entity Hierarchy

18. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 18 The CIDOC CRM Example: Temporal Entity  Temporal Entity  Scope Note: This is an abstract entity and has no examples. It groups together things such as events, states and other phenomena which are limited in time. It is specialized into Period, which holds on some geographic area, and Condition State, which holds for, on, or over a certain object. — consists of related or similar phenomena, — 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.

19. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 19 The CIDOC CRM Example: Temporal Entity- Subclasses  Period  binds together related phenomena  introduces inclusion topologies - parts etc.  Is confined in space and time  the basic unit for temporal-spatial reasoning  Event  looks at the input and the outcome  the basic unit for causal reasoning  each event is a period if we study the process  Activity  brings the people in  adds purpose

20. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 20 The CIDOC CRM Temporal Entity- Main Properties  Temporal Entity  Properties: has time-span (is time-span of): Time-Span  Period  Properties: consists of (forms part of): Period falls within (contains): Period took place at (witnessed): Place  Event  Properties: had participants (participated in): Actor occurred in the presence of (was present at): Stuff  Activity  Properties: carried out by (performed): Actor had specific purpose (was purpose of): Activity had as general purpose (was purpose of): Type

21. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 21 The CIDOC CRM Termini postquem / antequem Pope Leo IAttila meeting Leo I carried out by (performed) carried out by (performed) Birth of Leo I Birth of Attila Death of Leo I Death of Attila * has time-span (is time-span of) * has time-span (is time-span of) was death of (died in) was death of (died in) brought into life (was born) brought into life (was born) * has tim e-span (is time- span of) at most within at most within at most within AD453 AD461 AD452 before Deduction: before had participants: took o.o.existence: brought i. existence:

22. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 22 The CIDOC CRM The Participation Properties had participants (participated in) Event  Actor  carried out by (performed) Activity  Actor  transferred title to (acquired title of)Acquisition  Actor  transferred title from (surrendered title of)Acquisition  Actor  custody surrendered by (surrendered custody)Transfer of Custody  Actor  custody received by (received custody) Transfer of Custody  Actor  has formed (was formed by) Formation  Group  dissolved (was dissolved by) Dissolution  Group  by mother (gave birth) Birth  Person  brought into life (was born) Birth  Person  was death of (died in) Death  Person

23. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 23 0,n 1,1 0,n 1,n Activity Type Event CIDOC Entity String has notes CIDOC Notion has type is type of The CIDOC CRM Activities

24. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 24 0,n Measurement Attribute Assignment Physical Entity Dimension value unit has dimension (is dimension of) was measured (measured) observed dimension (was observed) The CIDOC CRM Activities: Measurement

25. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 25 0,n 1,1 0,n Activity Condition Assessment Physical Entity Condition State has conditions (condition of) assessed by (concerns) has identified (identified by) Actor carried out by (performed) in the role of Temporal Entity The CIDOC CRM Activities: Condition Assessment

26. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 26 0,n Activity Acquisition Actor Physical Object is current owner of (has current owner) is former or current owner of (has former or current owner) acquires title of (transferred title to) transferred title of (changed ownership by) surrenders title of (transferred title from) The CIDOC CRM Activities: Acquisition

27. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 27 The CIDOC CRM Activities: Move

28. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 28 0,n Activity Modification Physical Entity has produced (was produced by) Actor carried out by (performed) in the role of Type used general technique (was technique of) Man-Made Entity Design or Procedure used specific technique (was used by) Material consists of (is incorporated in) usually employs (is usually employed by) The CIDOC CRM Activities: Modification/Production

29. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 29 The CIDOC CRM Entity 11: Modification Properties: is called (identifies): Appellation has type (is type of): Type had participants (participated in): Actor carried out by (performed): Actor (in the role of : Type) has produced (was produced by): Physical Man-Made Stuff took into account (was taken into account by): Conceptual Object occurred in the presence of (was present at): Stuff used object (was used for): Physical Object (mode of use: String) used general technique (was technique of): Type used specific technique (was used by): Design or Procedure was motivation for (motivated): Conceptual Object motivated the creation of (was created for): Conceptual Object was intended use of (was made for): Man-Made Object (mode of use: String) had specific purpose (was purpose of): Activity had as general purpose (was purpose of): Type declared properties inherited properties declared properties inherited properties

30. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 30 time after at most within at least covering before “ intensity ” The CIDOC CRM Time Uncertainty, Certainty and Duration duration

31. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 31 Condition StatePeriod Event Date Time AppellationPeriod Appellation AppellationTemporal Entity Time Span CIDOC Entity Place has time-span (is time-span of) falls within (contains) consists of (forms part of) falls within (contains) consists of (forms part of) is called (identifies) is identified by (identifies) took place at (witnessed) The CIDOC CRM Time-Span

32. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 32 The CIDOC CRM Example: Place  Place  A place is an extent in space, determined diachronically wrt 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

33. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 33 The CIDOC CRM Place Address Place Name Spatial Coordinates Section DefinitionPhysical Object Place Appellation Place consists of (forms part of) defines section of (has section definition) is located on or within (has section) identifies (is identified by) has former or current location (is former or current location of ) Move moved to (occupied) moved from (vacated) moved (moved by) Production has produced (was produced by) happened at (witnessed)

34. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 34 Attribute Assignment Place NamingGroup Actor Place Time-Span Community Place Appellation falls within is identified by (identifies) assigns name Period to community identified by carries out has time-span to place took place at has time-span The CIDOC CRM Extension Example: Getty’s TGN

35. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 35 Nineveh naming People of Iraq TGN7017998 1st mill. BC City of Nineveh Kuyunjik falls within is identified by (identifies) assigns name to community identified by carry out has time-span to place took place at has time-span Example from the TGN 20 th century Nineveh is identified by (identifies) Nineveh naming assigns name TGN1001441

36. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 36 The CIDOC CRM Physical Stuff

37. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 37 The CIDOC CRM Conceptual Object

38. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 38 The CIDOC CRM Actors

39. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 39 The CIDOC CRM -Application Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM 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 Example: Partial DC Record about a Technical Report

40. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 40 was created by is identified by E41 Appellation Name: Mapping of the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set to the CIDOC CRM ….. E33 Linguistic Object Object: FORTH-ICS / TR-274 July 2000 E72 Actor Appellation Name: Martin Doerr E65 Creation Event: 0001 carried out by is identified by E72 Actor Appellation Name: ICS-FORTH E7 Activity Event: 0002 carried out by is identified by E55 Type Type: Publication has type was taken into account by E75 Conceptual Object Appellation Name : FORTH-ICS / TR-274 July 2000 E55 Type Type: FORTH Identifier has type is identified by E56 Language Lang.: English has language The CIDOC CRM -Application Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM (RDF style) E39 Actor Actor:0001 E39 Actor Actor:0002

41. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 41 Type: image Title: Garden of Paradise Creator: Master of the Paradise Garden Publisher: Staedelsches Kunstinstitut Example: Partial DC Record about a painting The CIDOC CRM -Application Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM

42. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 42 is identified by E41 Appellation Name: Garden of Paradise ….. E23 Iconographic Object Object: PA 310-1A?? E72 Actor Appellation Name: Master of the Paradise Garden E39 Actor ULAN: 4162 E12 Production Event: 0003 carried out by is identified by E72 Actor Appellation Name: Staedelsches Kunstinstitut E39 Actor Actor: 0003 E65 Creation carried out byis identified by E55 Type Type: Publication Creation has type is documented in E31 Document Docu: 0001 was created by has type was produced by The CIDOC CRM -Application Mapping DC to the CIDOC CRM E55 Type AAT: painting E55 Type DCT1: image Event: 0004

43. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 43 The CIDOC CRM -Application Repository Indexing ActorsEventsObjects Derived knowledge data (e.g. RDF) Thesauri extent CRM entities Ontology expansion Sources and metadata (XML/RDF) Background knowledge / Authorities CIDOC CRM

44. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 44 The CIDOC CRM Proposition about Restructuring Data  Data acquisition needs different structure from presentation:  Acquisition (can be motivated by the CRM): — sequence and order, completeness, constraints to guide and control data entry. — ergonomic, case-specific language, optimized to specialist needs — often working on series of analogous items  Integration / comprehension (target of the CRM): — restore connectivity with related subjects, — match and relate by underlying common concepts — no preference direction or subject  Presentation, story-telling (can be based on CRM) — explore context, paths, analogies orthogonal to data acquisition — present in order, allow for digestion — support abstraction

45. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 45  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 The CIDOC CRM About the CRM

46. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 46  1. Will the CRM require me to change my documentation? Answer:  No. It makes no prescriptions.  You may, however, orient your document structures according to CRM constructs, so that an automatic transfer into a CRM-compatible form is possible.  2. What is the benefit of standardisation? Answer:  You can communicate the meaning of your data structures in a unique way to any user of the CRM. The CIDOC CRM Frequently asked questions

47. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 47  3. What does compatibility with the CRM mean? Answer:  That the parts of my data structure with the same scope can be explained by the CRM as:  Subset: data can be transformed into a CRM instance and back.  Superset: A CRM instance can be transformed... and back.  Overlap: equivalent parts can be transformed...  Extension: The CRM can be consistently extended by refinement or generalization such that my data structure becomes a subset.  Still to be defined precisely. Major consensus issue. The CIDOC CRM Frequently asked questions

48. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 48  4. What does the CRM cover? Answer: Potentially the whole world as physical history in human perception!  At the moment: CIDOC Information Categories, DC, EAD, 90% of SPECTRUM, most of FRBR, fits with OPENGIS, and many proprietary formats.  The mapping exercise has verified the stability of model, its extensibility and the effectiveness of the methodology.  Experience of 5-10 years development by interdisciplinary groups, several implementations. The CIDOC CRM Frequently asked questions

49. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 49  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 The CIDOC CRM Benefits of the CRM (From Tony Gill)

50. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 50  Proposed to ISO as Committee Draft. The structure is stable since four years.  Currently the SIG is elaborating minor extension to satisfy archeology, Natural History and relationships to Digital Libraries. Process will close in July.  Elaboration of improved documentation, scope note formulation, presentation until end of 2002.  Acceptance as standard expected by 2003. The CIDOC CRM State of Development

51. ICS-FORTH February 19, 2002 51  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 ISO standardization process:  Dissemination for wide understanding and consensus  Extended application tests  Elaboration of details and documentation  Consensus The CIDOC CRM Conclusions