Knowledge Technologies
in Cultural Heritage

Position Statement

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Content

Background

Questions

Statements

Discussion

Background

Cultural Heritage is Inherently 3 dimensional

of multidisciplinary nature

involving all kinds of complex data

characterized by an increasing volume of 3D digital content

We argue the necessity of

fostering the comprehension, adoption and use of knowledge intensive technologies for coding and sharing 3D CH media content

We are not alone

.. or maybe we are alone indeed?

Our vision goes beyond some of the existing CH systems which support knowledge management (through ontologies) and:simply try to present a unified view of heterogeneous datasets and

support searching at a semantic level

but are unaware of the semantics associated with the 3D content itself.

An example: A Semantic Distributed System

Aims at: presenting contextualised CH information

furnishing artifacts with appropriate context

by semantically integrating 3D objects with 2D images, sounds, text, references.

distributed semantic application, developed with the aim of presenting contextualised cultural heritage information - in our case the archaeological finds, or artefacts, of Etruscan Italy.

Through the use of ontologies, the system presents a unified view of heterogeneous datasets and supports searching at a semantic level. Within the cultural heritage sphere, much work is being carried out on furnishing artefacts with appropriate context. However, a platform built upon the distributed search paradigm, although useful in many respects, does not convey how an artefact sits within a broader setting. Instead, we propose narrative concepts as a way of reconciling artefacts with this context.

A community of domain experts (e.g. archaeologists) is supported in contributing their knowledge through a comprehensive authoring process. In our TARCHNA system, annotated narrative content, buttressed by references to real world artefacts, is disseminated to a variety of platforms through a semantic web service. The entire approach is developed upon a multi-tiered architecture, allowing for the separation of functionality, yet supporting an open approach to interoperability.

Knowledge Technologies
for 3D Cultural Heritage

Do exist although some in their infancy

They also poor in from different disciplines and from different perspectivesArchitecture, Virtual Reality, Anthropology, Anatomy, Geoscience

Stakeholders

Cultural operators (museums, digital libraries, virtual exhibitors, dealers, collectors ...)

CH scholars, scientists and practitioners (archaeologists, restorators, )

The public (democratization of heritage)

We have questions for every group!

Question: Evolving

How existing and emerging knowledge-based CH systems can be evolved into knowledge-based 3D digital shape modeling systems?

Ontology mapping

Ontological standards

Other standards (shape representations)

Question: Accessing

Do cultural operators (at any levels) need a new model of access to 3D CH?

Browse and keyword search still works but seems to be adequate

Semantic search is becoming popular (and feasible)

Other paradigms like narrative concepts and reasoning are emerging

Question: Similarity

How one can compare 3D CH models at a high conceptual level?

Can be based on existing knowledge &

reasoning capabilities require at least first order logic and ontological organization of metada

Related question:

How one can validate 3D CH models?

Questions: A long list

Do the various virtual heritage tools have any particular characteristics? ...

Position Statement: Managing

A large part of the European CH exists in 3D digital collections (e.g. virtual museums, digital libraries, scientific repositories) which are becoming more and more demanding in terms of management, preservation, and delivery mechanisms. Developing a holistic view of a heritage is essential.In particular when it is fragmented

Position Statement:
Intelligent Search

Users would like to perform content- and context-based (semantic) searching to retrieve 3D models or other detailed documentation, using:text

3D objects

ontology classifications

or the combination of the above.

Position Statement: Annotating

The unavoidable manual annotation of explicit semantics cannot be considered a practical approach, especially when the number of resources is expected to grow fast.

Knowledge-aware segmentations, and automated annotation and feature extraction are very much needed.Do CH 3D artifacts have particular characteristics that further enable such automation?

Position Statement: Communicating

3D artifacts are commonly considered as perfect data carriers, This is particular true in the case of CH

Particular geometric semantics of either the whole 3D CH object, or its segments, or its condition usually contain/provide valuable interpretations Presumably more valuable than just visual

Position Statement: Sharing

There is significant information flowing through the digital life-cycle of a 3D CH objectConventional bookkeeping is tedious, cumbersome, expensive and prone to errors

one can be guided & supported with a knowledge-based platform for performing the single steps involved:

Position Statement: Sharing (cont.)

data acquisition (3D scanning, registration, merging)

archiving & retrieval (classification of data, storage of 3D content and metadata, and retrieval of data from a repository)

virtual presentation (level-of-detail-driven simplification, association of material properties, texturing, and viewing);

virtual reconstruction & restoration (composition /assembling of parts, data conversion, modification/deformation of models, and morphing between two different objects);

prototyping & replication (fairing, generation of a uniform polygonal mesh);

deformation monitoring (comparison of geometric deviation of artifacts or buildings over time).

Position Statement: Caution

Identify and carefully consider barriers that could prevent knowledge technologies to lead us to intelligent CH

Be pragmatic. Consider cases where knowledge technologies have the potential to be used to build robust real-life solutions.