What Is Conceptual Modelling?

Cesar Gonzalez-Perez Information Modelling for Archaeology and Anthropology Software Engineering Principles for Cultural Heritage Information Modelling for Archaeology and Anthropology This book contains multiple diagrams expressed in ConML. See www.conml.org for more information on ConML. This book also makes extensive reference to the Cultural Heritage Abstract Reference Model (CHARM). See www.charminfo.org for more information on CHARM. ConML and CHARM are research outcomes of Incipit CSIC (www.incipit.csic.es) and can be used freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). Most of the many examples used throughout this book have been made up by the author to better illustrate the different modelling techniques. No particular state- ments or views on the world should be assumed from them. Interior photographs correspond to Praza das Praterías in Santiago de Compostela, Spain; excavation at 95 George Street, Sydney, Australia; the National Museum of China in Beijing, China; a river mill in Begonte, Lugo, Spain; and Maes Howe in Orkney, Scotland. They were taken jointly by the author and Isabel Cobas. This book was prepared by the author using Microsoft Word 2016 for editing and layout, and Microsoft Visio 2016 for the figures. The ConML diagrams were composed by using the Visio stencil at http://www.conml.org/Resources_ Templates.aspx. There is a Spanish language edition of this book, titled “Modelado de Información para Arqueología y Antropología: Principios de Ingeniería de Software para Patrimonio Cultural”, and with ISBN 978-1537766706. Cesar Gonzalez-Perez Information Modelling for Archaeology and Anthropology Software Engineering Principles for Cultural Heritage 123 Cesar Gonzalez-Perez Incipit, CSIC Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña Spain ISBN 978-3-319-72651-9 ISBN 978-3-319-72652-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72652-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017961095 © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To the memory of my father, for his curiosity, idealism, and passion. Preface This book is the result of over 20 years of research and practice in the interdisci- plinary area of information technologies and cultural heritage. In the 1990s, we had not heard yet of the “digital humanities”, but we were aware that archaeology, anthropology and other areas in the humanities desperately needed proposals to help manage the increasing amounts of information that they were generating, and sustain the associated knowledge-generation practices. Today, this trend has only intensified, and the application of solid, high-quality engineering principles to the construction of information systems and knowledge-generation approaches in the humanities is paramount. In particular, research in the humanities depends very much on the information that is managed, how it is shaped and structured (i.e. “modelled”), and how knowledge is generated from it through interpretive pro- cesses. In the absence of a rigorous approach, we may end up being unable to use our valuable information for the intended goals. The software and knowledge engineering disciplines have been using conceptual modelling for a while and exporting it to other fields such as biomedicine or business organization. However, robust applications of conceptual modelling to the humanities are scarce. In this book, we apply proven principles and techniques from the software and knowledge engineering fields to the problems of cultural heritage. Also, we show how these principles and techniques have been adapted and extended to cope with the peculiarities of the humanities and, specifically, archaeology and anthropology. This book is primarily aimed at students and teachers of data management, information modelling and related areas in any field related to cultural heritage, such as archaeology, anthropology, art, museology, geography, history, architec- ture, archival science, literature, and even sociology or soil sciences. Other spe- cialists in cultural heritage such as researchers, heritage managers or heritage professionals working in industry can also use this book in a self-paced manner to learn about the topic. This book assumes no previous exposure by the reader to information technologies and no knowledge whatsoever of conceptual modelling, ontologies or other topics in software or knowledge engineering. Technical detail is kept low or vii viii Preface moderate, and special technical asides used to provide highly specialized or complex details only when needed are marked “Technical”. You can safely skip these sections if not interested in the philosophical or engineering underpinnings of things. Specific words or phrases being discussed are shown in double quotes, like “this”. Single quotes, like ‘this’, are used to refer not to the words but to the underlying concepts. Bibliographic references mentioned in the text are indicated by numbers in brackets, like this [15]. There is a reference list at the end of each chapter. In addition, most of the chapters in this book end with a summary of the contents presented, as well as some exercises that you can use to verify how well you have understood them. Solutions to the exercises are provided at the end of this book. This book is organized into five parts of increasing complexity. First, a general philosophical introduction to conceptual modelling is provided, to develop a con- textual feel of the approach and a better understanding of the technical issues that are described later. Secondly, the basics of conceptual modelling are introduced, using the ConML (www.conml.org) language as an infrastructure, and employing examples from everyday life and, as often as possible, cultural heritage. Then, advanced topics in conceptual modelling are presented, in order to fully cover the necessary aspects of ConML that will allow the reader to develop and understand complex conceptual models. After this, a proposed conceptualization of cultural heritage is presented, using the Cultural Heritage Abstract Reference Model (CHARM, www.charminfo.org) as a reference, so that conceptual models of cultural heritage can be easily constructed. Finally, various usage scenarios and applications of cultural heritage modelling are described, giving practical tips on how to use different techniques to solve real-world problems. You are free to read only the first few parts if you are only interested in an overview of the topic, or jump to the last parts if you are already familiar with it. If you are learning about conceptual modelling in cultural heritage for the first time and you are interested in obtaining a comprehensive view, then I suggest that you read this book cover to cover. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the contributions that many people have made to the materials presented in this book. Most specially, the ConML modelling language has benefited from the input of Charlotte Hug and Patricia Martín-Rodilla. Parts of Chap. 19 have been co-written with César Parcero-Oubiña, and his input, as well as David Barreiro’s, has been crucial to the whole chapter. The definitions of culture, cultural heritage, cultural value and heritage value that are discussed in Part IV have been refined from the results of a series of internal workshops at Incipit CSIC (www.incipit.csic.es), with contributions by Ana Ruiz-Blanch, A. César González-García, César Parcero-Oubiña, Cristina Sánchez-Carretero, David Barreiro, Felipe Criado-Boado, Joan Roura-Expósito, Juan Castro-Cal, Patricia Martín-Rodilla and Ruth Varela. In turn, the initial version of the Cultural Heritage Abstract Reference Model (CHARM) was developed by a core team led by the author plus Alejandro Güimil-Fariña, Camila Gianotti, César Parcero-Oubiña, Charlotte Hug, Patricia Martín-Rodilla, Pastor Fábrega-Álvarez and Rebeca Preface ix Blanco-Rotea, with additional input from Cristina Mato-Fresán, Lucía Meijueiro and Rocío Varela-Pousa. The whole manuscript was revised by Isabel Cobas. In addition, my co-workers at Incipit CSIC have been courageous enough as to not only accept a stranger

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