Argument

« Ontologies and standards for improving interoperability of archaeological data : from models towards practical experiences in various contexts » :

The documentation and data of archaeology - planned or preventive - and of cultural heritage, lead to the need for technical and semantic interoperability. The development and the use of ontologies, standards and languages devoted to archaeology intend to facilitate the integration, exchange and sustainability of cultural information. Some researchers have explored these approaches during the previous CAA (Perth 2013 sessions 4, 5 and 6 ).

Archaeology, and its documentation and data, are multidisciplinary and heterogeneous. In order to make the best use of conceptual reference models and their implementation in standards, a balance must be found between general approaches, which allow promote interdisciplinary exchanges, and specialized ones that preserve the unique aspects of archaeological research (contextualization, uncertainty, incompleteness, evolution analysis, review of dating, different spatial scales, subjectivity methods, observation and / or interpretation, allocation, etc.). The use of ontologies and standards for treatment of cultural heritage information (CIDOC-CRM / ISO 21127 ; Europeana Data Model ...), spatial information (INSPIRE, ISO 19115, GML, GeoSPARQL ...) or languages and thesauri (OWL, SKOS ...) already has a proven basis but it may be insufficient.

During their implementation in recording, study and management applications using archaeological data, various standards and conceptual models should ensure that archaeologists can choose the level of representation of information, from operational to continental scales. To encourage the use by cultural heritage specialists of languages and construction principles of ontologies, works specific to their domains have to be shown. This will involve presenting standards, and models, but also tools developed on recognized standards already adopted by the scientific community and cultural institutions. The use and reuse of archaeological data encoded in a standardized way, and metadata widely available also raises several points of discussion : the integrity of archaeological data, the risk of misinterpretation, the quality of recorded data, the need for labeling data, the level of specialization in data description and levels of generality imposed by interoperability, etc.

The purpose of using ontologies and standards is to enable interoperability and a large but controlled diffusion of archaeological and cultural heritage data in the general context of wide diffusion of big and open data. The session's goal is to provide practical use cases of ontologies and standards to address these issues. Theoretical aspects too difficult to be transposed will be avoided. Papers may focus on the more practical issues in the construction of ontologies, models and applications, from experience feedback analyzed, and available tools built on such approaches. Finally, communications will enable the various actors of archaeological research and cultural heritage to identify and evaluate, what can be used if they wish to engage in the use of standards for interoperability and wide dissemination of their data.

Proposals Guideline

The CAA 2014 Conference organizers invite proposers to read the paper proposal guidelines and make their submission accordingly (in English).

Format:

- Paper in a sessions (only Long paper sessions (LP)

A conventional format session of related 20 minute papers with 5 minute question time. Papers should present new and ground-breaking research.

A Poster is alsoo possible, indicate then poster instead of paper.

- participation to a Roundtable

A panel addressing a specific topic or issue, coordinated by one or more individuals. Presentations of the speakers will normally be followed by a discussant and general discussion.

- participation to a Workshop:

The conference will include a number of half and full day pre-conference workshops. Workshops will generally include practical work or other active participation of attendees above a technical subject with implementation of software and specific tools.

- Proposal structure paper in a session :

1 Metadatas

• Title of the paper
• abstract of 300-500 words
• Type (paper in a session, participation to a rountable/workshop)
• Topic = Title of the session (please choose one session)
• Comment

2 Authors

• Name, affiliation, mailing address and e-mail address of the paper authors(s)
• Corresponding author in case of numerous authors

3 File

Upload your summary

How to Submit

Key Dates :

• 3 September 2013 : Paper call
• 31 October 2013 : Paper call closed

We look forward to receiving your Proposal. Please take an account and submit your proposal via the CAA web site http://caa2014.sciencesconf.org/

If you have any technical problems in uploading your submission please send an email to caa2014-submission@sciencesconf.org

For more information about Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology(CAA) please visit the CAA International Home Page

We look forward to seeing your Proposal and seeing you in Paris in 2014.

The Local Organising Committee

• Dr Laurent Costa, CNRS UMR ArScan, Nanterre
• Pr François Djindjian, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne & UMR Arscan
• Pr François Giligny, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne & UMR Trajectoires
• Dr Paola Moscati, Research Director, CNR - Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo Antico, Rome
  
• Dr Hélène Noizet, Maître de Conférences Université Paris1 & LAMOP
• Dr Sandrine Robert, Maître de Conférences EHESS Paris & CGH-TERRES, EHESS