Interoperate with whom? Archaeology, formality and the semantic web
Interoperate with whom? Archaeology, formality and the semantic web
‘Interoperability’ is often cited as a fundamental end-goal for archaeological information systems, but the highly abstract nature of this supposed benefit sits uneasily with the task-oriented realities of day-to-day data management. The approach most frequently advocated is to increase the number of formal standards used by the system. This increases the possibilities for system integration, but raises additional barriers to entry that reduce the potential pool of systems to interoperate with. Semantic technologies in particular (and associated ontological approaches, such as the CIDOC CRM) have frequently faced accusations that the costs associated with development outweigh the perceived benefits of use.
This paper identifies several different communities that publish Cultural Heritage information and argues that in order to encourage contribution across the spectrum, a multi-level conception of digital semantics should be established. This is especially necessary for data-driven microproviders – the group within which most archaeologists fall – as they are currently poorly served by most of the semantic technologies developed to date.
We discuss this problem in reference to current doctoral research being undertaken in archaeological data integration. We argue that technologies that either heavily front-load or defer dealing with semantic complexity are unlikely to be viable across the user spectrum. An approach which offers multiple ‘pay-off points’ is inherently more attractive to potential adopters.
semantic web, linked data, collaboration
Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology
Isaksen, Leif
ecb71d6b-bea8-423c-8685-33d4c2658467
Martinez, Kirk
5f711898-20fc-410e-a007-837d8c57cb18
Earl, Graeme
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Gibbins, Nicholas
98efd447-4aa7-411c-86d1-955a612eceac
Keay, Simon
52b4cdfd-fc5e-4fa0-bd3e-8dd896624f41
Isaksen, Leif
ecb71d6b-bea8-423c-8685-33d4c2658467
Martinez, Kirk
5f711898-20fc-410e-a007-837d8c57cb18
Earl, Graeme
724c73ef-c3dd-4e4f-a7f5-0557e81f8326
Gibbins, Nicholas
98efd447-4aa7-411c-86d1-955a612eceac
Keay, Simon
52b4cdfd-fc5e-4fa0-bd3e-8dd896624f41
Isaksen, Leif, Martinez, Kirk, Earl, Graeme, Gibbins, Nicholas and Keay, Simon
(2011)
Interoperate with whom? Archaeology, formality and the semantic web.
In Proceedings of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology.
Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology.
8 pp
.
(In Press)
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
‘Interoperability’ is often cited as a fundamental end-goal for archaeological information systems, but the highly abstract nature of this supposed benefit sits uneasily with the task-oriented realities of day-to-day data management. The approach most frequently advocated is to increase the number of formal standards used by the system. This increases the possibilities for system integration, but raises additional barriers to entry that reduce the potential pool of systems to interoperate with. Semantic technologies in particular (and associated ontological approaches, such as the CIDOC CRM) have frequently faced accusations that the costs associated with development outweigh the perceived benefits of use.
This paper identifies several different communities that publish Cultural Heritage information and argues that in order to encourage contribution across the spectrum, a multi-level conception of digital semantics should be established. This is especially necessary for data-driven microproviders – the group within which most archaeologists fall – as they are currently poorly served by most of the semantic technologies developed to date.
We discuss this problem in reference to current doctoral research being undertaken in archaeological data integration. We argue that technologies that either heavily front-load or defer dealing with semantic complexity are unlikely to be viable across the user spectrum. An approach which offers multiple ‘pay-off points’ is inherently more attractive to potential adopters.
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Accepted/In Press date: 2011
Venue - Dates:
Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology 2010, Granada, Spain, 2010-04-06 - 2010-04-09
Keywords:
semantic web, linked data, collaboration
Organisations:
Web & Internet Science, Archaeology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 204523
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/204523
PURE UUID: 4a7486d0-72e1-43d7-a22c-eeec8379b682
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Date deposited: 30 Nov 2011 15:21
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:59
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