Semantics4Art&Architecture. Consolidation of a sustainable research infrastructure for ontology-based documentation and indexing of art and architecture

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Peter Haslinger; Dr. Veit Probst
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 401756994

The Herder-Institut from Marburg, a research institute with relevant experience in the field of art documentation and the UB Heidelberg, already established in its field as a part of the national infrastructure, have joined forces. Together they will operate already existing e-research technology used in the history of art and architecture, cooperating in the long-term in its implementation, consolidation and optimization. The aim is to construct an efficient system for the organization of information relating to both objects and people. It will include data concerning provenance and research status using visual, and where necessary, multimedia sources, as well documenting all steps of the research process. Optimized data modelling will cover the various areas used to document cultural heritage, and will comprise numerous elements for the digital documentation of these areas and include differentiated description criteria. Although the complexity of the data model is important, equally so is the detachability of individual modules, which via the interfaces should form a semantic network that is subject specific, but not project specific.The research software WissKI, currently used in numerous projects, will be evaluated, optimized and consolidated in cooperation with the stakeholders, to allow precise testing of abstract data models. The aim is to make the software generally usable and easily adaptable for further planed documentation of structures, art objects or photographs, and to make an operating model that is available for the long-term. A detailed analysis of requirements will also be carried out, which will build on the experience gained from existing WissKI projects and will also include further usage scenarios in the areas of art history and the history of architecture. The result should be, in addition to consolidated documentation software for art history, a “toolbox” containing adaptable templates of data models and best practice handouts. In this way new, optimized WissKI applications will be possible that go beyond current usage. Potential users will include many institutions in the fields of art history and the history of architecture, as well as archaeological institutions at home and abroad.An active Wisski community and network of stakeholders will be established, to promote the lasting acceptance and establishment of ontology-based, semantic documentation.

• DFG Programme: Research data and software (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Partner Organisation: Philipps-Universität Marburg; Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für; Kunstgeschichte - Bildarchiv Foto Marburg; Germanisches Nationalmuseum (GNM); Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg ; Department Medienwissenschaft und Kunstgeschichte ; Institut für Kunstgeschichte; Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte
• Participating Institution: Uniwersytet Wroclawski; Instytut Historii Sztuki
• Co-Investigators: Dr. Maria Effinger; Barbara Fichtl; Dr. Dietmar Popp