CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model

The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model provides the extensible ontology for concepts and information in cultural heritage documentation. It is the international standard (ISO 21127:2006)^[1] for controlled exchange of cultural heritage information. Archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions are encouraged to use the CIDOC CRM to enhance accessibility of knowledge.

The task of the CIDOC CRM is to collect the various information of cultural heritage systematically and to provide the general framework of their formal semantics. Thus every single information can be assigned to the concepts of the CIDOC CRM. At the same time this process creates important pre-conditions for the information integration, because the CIDOC CRM can be used as a source for the development of tools for scheme transformation and scheme integration as well. The CIDOC CRM supports the formulation of needs for information systems and can serve as guideline and help for semantic, data, or database modeling.

Technologies like XML and RDF are supported by the CIDOC CRM.

History

The CIDOC CRM emerged from the Documentation Standards Group^[2] in the International Committee for Documentation of the International Council of Museums CIDOC. Until 1994 the entity-relationship model for museum information was created. In 1996 the method was changed to object-oriented modeling, thus 1999 resulting in the first "CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM)". In 2000 the procedure to establish the CIDOC CRM as international Standard (ISO) started.

External links

References

[1] ISO 21127:2006 (Information and documentation -- A reference ontology for the interchange of cultural heritage information)

[2] CIDOC Documentation Standards Group

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