Infrastructure project
Completed
Semantics4Art&Architecture
Development of a sustainable research infrastructure for ontology-based documentation and indexing of art and architecture
Duration
2019 - 2021
With the Heidelberg University Library and the Herder Institute, a nationally established infrastructure institution in the community of specialists and a research institution with relevant experience in this particular field of art documentation have grouped to jointly and sustainably implement, consolidate and optimize an e-research technology already in use for the history of art and architecture – the so-called Wissenschaftliche KomunikationsInfrastruktur (WissKI) (= "Scientific Communication Infrastructure").
The aim is to set up a powerful information system for the collection of object and person-related information, of data on provenance and research status, and of visual and, if necessary, multimedia sources, as well as the documentation of all steps in the research process. In connection with projects already carried out, as well as current projects of the applicants and cooperating institutions,the new infrastructure aims to create a generic solution for a multitude of questions around the history of art and buildings.
As a result, two application ontologies were developed: the “Building and Furnishing Ontology (BAFO)” at the Herder Institute and the Heidelberg Application Ontology for Catalogues Rores at Heidelberg University Library.
The BAFO ontology consists of classes and properties required for cataloging building objects and their associated furnishings in the sense of an object catalog. This includes the accurate representation of both simple and complex, often heterogeneous structures, as well as the historical dimension of the buildings.
The Heidelberg Application Ontology for Catalogues raisonnés lists classes and properties that have been specified for the description of artworks in a catalogue raisonné.
Both ontologies were published as OWL in the University of Heidelberg’s data repository, heiDATA, accompanied by XML documentation for WissKI-Pathbuilder (research data on semantic data modeling for art and architecture (arthistoricum.net)).
BAFO was additionally implemented as a WissKI instance in a sample template and illustrated using an example of an architectural ensemble.
The BAFO ontology consists of classes and properties required for cataloging building objects and their associated furnishings in the sense of an object catalog. This includes the accurate representation of both simple and complex, often heterogeneous structures, as well as the historical dimension of the buildings.
The Heidelberg Application Ontology for Catalogues raisonnés lists classes and properties that have been specified for the description of artworks in a catalogue raisonné.
Both ontologies were published as OWL in the University of Heidelberg’s data repository, heiDATA, accompanied by XML documentation for WissKI-Pathbuilder (research data on semantic data modeling for art and architecture (arthistoricum.net)).
BAFO was additionally implemented as a WissKI instance in a sample template and illustrated using an example of an architectural ensemble.
Remter of the Marienburg Castle. Christofer Herrmann / Herder-Institut, Free access - no reuse
