D5.16 Report on making heritage science data FAIR (Open data in Heritage Science and Archaeology)

This deliverable reports on work carried out within SSHOC Task 5.6 - Issues in providing Open Data in Heritage Science and Archaeology. It focusses specifically on issues related to working with Heritage Science data and examines the accessibility and interoperability of such data. Starting with two distinct, but related, non-standard datasets, covering the documentation and study of old master paintings, the work created new fully semantic, linkable, shareable, machine-readable FAIR datasets mapped to the standard CIDOC-CRM ontology and other external Linked Open Data resources. The work also examined how such data mapping procedures and FAIR datasets could be incorporated into existing digital documentation software, such as the MOVIDA database software. This report begins by providing some background on the notion of FAIR data and the CIDOC CRM before going on to describe the work creating and using FAIR data.

The original, existing datasets are described along with some of the key concepts and technologies used within the mapping and modelling procedure. The report then goes on to describe some of the preliminary work carried out to develop some new tools and procedures that would be exploited during the main mapping process, including the development of automated processes to create web presentations (Simple Site, Simple IIIF Discovery and the Dynamic Modeller) and the re-formatting and opening up some existing semantic models developed in previous EU projects (IPERION-CH).

The mapping procedures for the two main datasets are then described including details of the processes used and the decisions made. Examples diagrams are provided for several of the key semantic models along with sections of the code used. In addition, to these general descriptions of the processed datasets, access details are also provided for live digital presentations where the full final data sets can be explored and visualised, via a new user-friendly website, complete with a range of predefined example queries to demonstrate the data stored in the system and the relationships that have been modelled. Options for direct access via standard machine-readable systems are also described. Additional access details are also provided for all of the software, web tools, datasets and data repositories created within the work.

An introduction to the MOVIDA software is then provided outlining its history and how it can exploit FAIR data. Details are then provided documenting the key metadata terms used to described objects and examinations within the MOVIDA software and how they can be mapped to CIDOC-CRM based ontologies. Discussion is also included in relation to where the direct mapping of existing terms and relationships are not immediately clear or where the further extension of the exiting ontologies could simplify or clarify the description of the included data. A summary of some initial next steps for both the mapping work and the practical application of CIDOC-CRM mapped data with MOVIDA are provided.