Conceptual Modelling for Digital Humanists #1680
Description
Title of the resource
Conceptual Modelling for Digital Humanists
Resource type
Hosted resource
Authors, editors and contributors
Author: Panos Constantopoulos, Contributors: Vicky Dritsou, Makis Kapetis, Spilios Spiliopoulos
Topics (keywords)
data modelling, knowledge representation, information organization, ontologies
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course one should be able to:
- Understand the methods of conceptual modelling.
- Construct a conceptual model based on domain analysis.
- Appreciate the scope of an ontology and use that as the basis for modelling.
Abstract
This course is an introduction to conceptual modelling. We discuss the principles and techniques employed to formulate conceptual models, as well as elements of good modelling practice. Conceptual models describe a domain in terms of categories analogous to those of human cognition, so they are appropriate especially for analysis and upstream design tasks. They underpin the design and use of information structures for organizing knowledge and documenting objects of inquiry. Especially in the humanities, information structure can be complex, while data can be ambiguous or incomplete, often admitting multiple and context-dependent interpretations, which models should be able to accommodate. We also introduce and discuss a class of conceptual models called ontologies which enjoy formality and wide scope and are ideally adopted by a community of practice. As such, ontologies support data integration and reuse and provide the basis for developing semantically interoperable data collections and systems. We provide a short overview of CIDOC CRM as a standard (ISO 21127) ontology for the cultural domain. Step-by-step examples are given, as well as a small set of exercises.
Expected date of completion
28-02-2027