The Object Biography in NFDI4Objects

THE OBJECT BIOGRAPHY IN NFDI4OBJECTS Förderkennzeichen: 501836407 NFDI4Objects ist Teil der Meeting “Windows on Data”, 2 December 2025 Anja Gerber, [email protected] A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO NFDI4OBJECTS Who we are NFDI4Objects aims to meet the infrastructural needs of researchers and practitioners who work on the material remains of around three million years of human and environmental history. What brings us together The specific needs of our community stem from the connection between objects and their archaeological contexts and often complex object biographies. We are a consortium of ●Universities & Universities of Applied Sciences ●Museums & Collections ●Non-University Research Institution ●Societies & Association ●Libraries & Archives ●Authorities (State / Federal) What NFDI4Objects offers… Enrichment of humanities consortiathrough object-related scientific data Expertise and offerings in the intersection of humanities and information sciences ●Study programs: Archaeoinformatics, Digital Humanities, Computational Archaeology ●Data quality ●Data literacy ●Software, interfaces & standards ●Interoperability, in particular the development and harmonization of metadata standards for a cross-consortium group of users What needs to be done ●Bridging the ‘digital divide’ between users and specialists, including between sub-disciplines ●Integration of our work into a uniform research data management strategy ●Creation of a broad range of services that supports the entire community ●Establishment of data-adequate long-term archiving (> 50 years) ●Expansion of data-supported networking with engineering, natural sciences, life sciences and social sciences Object Biography in NFDI4Objects ●Generation of heterogeneous and multidisciplinary research data in Task Areas 1-4 ("Documentation", "Collection", "Analytics and Experiments", "Protection") → e.g. excavation data, distribution of finds, collection and provenance information, laboratory analyses such as genome determination or material analysis, conservation measures, building research ●Various (meta)data, formats, systems, models, ontologies, authority files, terminologies, ... ●Orientation towards the object data lifecycle LIDO and CIDOC CRM for the NFDI4Objects Knowledge Graph ●based on CIDOC CRM and LIDO XML ●Terminologies for the uniform description of research data ●serves to integrate all data sources from the consortium and further networking within the NFDI ●provides a semantic layer to interlink objects, places, persons, and concepts for cross-domain search and reuse ●already in operation and can be used with initial data sets The NFDI4Objects Knowledge Graph Figure: Jakob Voß, Josef Heers, VZG, CC BY 4.0 ●Workflow: Development of an Object Core Metadata Profile Terminology to create a crosswalk to the NFDI Core Metadata Profile (DACT, schema.org, DataCite) using common core elements, among other things. ●Result: Pre-alpha version of an OCMDP Terminology in SKOS format. ●Potential: Generation of NFDI-compliant metadata for the integration of NFDI4Objects metadata into the NFDI federated knowledge graph. Florian Thiery, Anja Gerber, Lasse Mempel-Länger, CC BY 4.0. Object Core Metadata Profile (OCMDP) Material Heritage Crosswalk) Ontology (MaCHeCO) ●Workflow: Development of a Material Heritage Crosswalk Ontology to map interdisciplinary ontologies to CIDOC CRM classes using crosswalks. ●Result: Pre-alpha version of a MaCHeCO as OWL for mapping between, for example, CIDOC CRM, BFO, NFDI Core. ●Potential: Generation of NFDI-compliant (meta)data for the integration of NFDI4Objects data into the NFDI4Objects Knowledge Graph and also the NFDI federated Knowledge Graph. Florian Thiery, CC BY 4.0 Martin Doerr, via “The CIDOC CRM - an Ontological Approach to Semantic Interoperability of Metadata” (2003). OBJECT BIOGRAPHY IN NFDI4OBJECTS Fig.: Schematic representation of an object biography © Sarah Wagner, CC-BY 4.0 What is an Object Biography ●Transfers the concept of biography to material cultural heritage ●Attaches any information (contexts, paths, meanings, interpretations) to an object ○Objects (artifacts, plants, animals, rocks) ○Phases and contexts ○Actors, places, time (who? where? when? context?) ○Sources (pictorial and written material, data, findings, ...) ●Contexts/events include, for example ○Origin (commissioning, creation, production) ○Use ○Encounter (“discovery,” excavation, etc.) ○Collection/museum context ○Change of ownership/possession ○Reception history and cultural actions ○Modifications (addition of inscriptions, conservation and restoration measures) ○Research activities What is an Object Biography Fig.: Schematic representation of an object biography © Sarah Wagner, CC-BY 4.0 Fig.: Unknown (Apulian), red-figure oinochoe with cloverleaf-shaped mouth, 370 to 340 BC, Klassik Stiftung Weimar ●Introduced in academia by anthropologist Igor Kopytoff in 1986 in ‘The Biography of Things’: ○Objects are individuals due to their specific meaning and individual history. ○Focuses on social relationships between object and actor. ○Transitional moments are central → breaks in context and meaning. ●Term used especially in material culture ○such as art history, ethnology or archaeology, disciplines that explore the ‘life story’ of objects. What is an Object Biography ●Transfers the concept of object biography to the digital realm; ●Event-based data model: contextualisation of assigned object information, time, place, actors and sources across various events from creation/production to the present day; ●Who, when, where, what, how ●Networks data and information that is usually heterogeneous and distributed across various institutions; ●Object biography as a ‘maximum data set’ ●Takes into account information provenance, ambiguity and contradictions What is a digital Object Biography ●Enables integration of heterogeneous and distributed information, ●detailed presentation of provenance information above ownership/acquisition, ●based on the indication of the origin of information, as reconstruction, ●creates a meta-perspective on knowledge objects, as previous object documentation has been carried out from the perspective of the current collection, ●equal account of attributions by actors and groups outside a collection, a museum or a scientific context, such as societies of origin, popular culture, ec Chances of the digital Object Biography Beginning of Existence [E63] Object [E22] Usage [E7] Encounter [E7] Museum-/ Collection Affiliation [E7] Research Activity [E7] Modification [E11] Transfer of Custody [E10] E22 Human-Made Object E63 Beginning of Existence E65 Creation E12 Production E10 Transfer of Custody E11 Modification E5 Event E7 Activity E6 Destruction Destruction [E6] Objects and Events/Context Beginning of Existence [E63] Object [E22] Usage [E7] Encounter [E7] Museum-/ Collection Affiliation [E7] Research Activity [E7] Reception [E7] Destruction [E6] Transfer of Custody [E10] Production [E12] Creation [E65] E5 Event E7 Activity E6 Destruction E12 Production E22 Human-Made Object E63 Beginning of Existence E65 Creation Characteristics of the Data Model Beginning of Existence [E63] Object [E22] Production [E12] Time (E52) Actor (E21) Place (E53) p4 has time span p108i carried out by p7 took place at Factual modeling of characteristics and properties → not quite FAIR! How can information provenance or uncertainties be mapped in a structured way? p92i was brought into existence by p9 consists of E22 Human-Made Object E63 Beginning of Existence E12 Production E52 Time Span E21 Person E53 Place Characteristics of the Data Model Beginning of Existence [E63] Object [E22] Production [E12] Time Assignment (E13) Actor Assignment E13 Place Assignment E13 p140 was attributed by P140 was attributed by p140 was attributed by Features and properties are modeled using so-called assignment events. Events allow information to be better contextualized. p92i was brought into existence by p9 consists of E22 Human-Made Object E63 Beginning of Existence E12 Production E13 Attribute Assignment Characteristics of the Data Model Beginning of Existence [E63] Object [E22] Production [E12] Time Assignment [E13] Actor Assignment [E13] Place Assignment [E13] p140i was attributed by Person [E21] Group [E39] Corporate Body [E40] Source [E73] Verbatim [E31] Source Reference [E73] p129i is subject of p141 assigned p106i forms part of p9 consists of p70i is documented in p92i was brought into existence by Example: a production event [E12] in the object history to which an actor is assigned [E13]. Characteristics of the Data Model: Assigments Beginning of Existence [E63] Object [E22] Production [E12] Time Assignment (E13) Actor Assignment E13 Place Assignment E13 p140 was attributed by P140 was attributed by p140 was attributed by p92i was brought into existence by p9 consists of E22 Human-Made Object E63 Beginning of Existence E12 Production E13 Attribute Assignment Scope Note E13 Merkmalszuweisung: „Diese Klasse umfasst die Aktionen des Feststellens von Eigenschaften eines Gegenstandes oder von Beziehungen zwischen zwei Gegenständen oder begrifflichen Konzepten. [Sie] erlaubt die Dokumentation, wie die jeweilige Feststellung zu Stande kam, und wessen Meinung es war. Alle in solch einer Aktion zugewiesenen Merkmale oder Eigenschaften können auch so verstanden werden, als ob sie direkt am jeweiligen Gegenstand oder begrifflichen Konzept fest gemacht wurden, möglicherweise auch als eine Sammlung von widersprüchlichen Werten. [...]“. (Doerr / Lampe / Krause 2011, S. 56) Characteristics of the Data Model: Assigments Beginning of Existence [E63] Object [E22] Production [E12] Time Assignment [E13] Actor Assignment [E13] Place Assignment [E13] p140i was attributed by Person [E21] Group [E39] Corporate Body [E40] Source [E73] Verbatim [E31] Source Reference [E73] p129i is subject of p141 assigned p106i forms part of p9 consists of p70i is documented in p92i was brought into existence by Characteristics of the Data Model: Assigments https://wiss-ki.eu/ Implementation in WissKI ●Virtual research environment for scientific research data ○For documenting, researching and publishing cultural heritage ○DFG project, LIS (2009–2011, 2014–2016) ○Open source and free to download ○Web-based ○Modular and customisable ○Support for CIDOC CRM for semantic data indexing ○Ideal for the creation and use of linked open data ○Standard data support (GND, Geonames, Getty, etc.) ○Import/export interfaces (SPARQL, ODBC, REST API) Architecture of WissKI 10 ●Tool for implementing data models ●Mapping semantic paths to entry forms in the front end ●in most cases using CIDOC CRM WissKI Pathbuilder