Dear All,

Please distribute this invitation as appropriate

Ontologies - Methods - Humanities - Informatics
Who:    CIDOC-CRM - Special Interest Group
Type of Meeting:        International Workshop, Papers and Discussion, CIDOC-CRM Development
Local Organizer:        Germanisches Nationalmuseum (GNM) - Kornmarkt 1
90402 Nu"rnberg
Contact:        Dr. Siegfried Krause
IT- Department of GNM
Tel.:   ++49(+911)1331-162
Fax:    ++49(+911)1331-193
Email:  [log in to unmask]
Time:   7th December - 10th of December
Fees:   0.00EUR
Participants:   facilities are restricted to 50 Persons
Registration:   Please register by email until 25th of November 2004.
Language:       Englisch
Main Topic:     Do Ontologies have an Influence on Scholarly Thinking in Cultural Sciences
Sub Topic:      Information Integration and Information Mapping
Contributions:  Presentations could be proposed until 20th of November.
30 minutes time for presentations.
Presentations will be published on the CIDOC-CRM Website.

Introduction

Most attempts to explain the CIDOC-CRM start with the statement: 'The CIDOC - CRM is an 'ontology'. Marking the CIDOC-CRM as an 'ontology'
emphasizes the different nature between an object oriented ontology like the CIDOC-CRM and other information modeling techniques like
ER-modeling. But what are expressions of this different nature?
One constantly cited argument for the use of the CIDOC-CRM states that the CIDOC-CRM simplifies the understanding between information
technology experts and their counterparts within the different cultural domains by providing a "common language". If this is true then the
CIDOC-CRM like other ontologies could be seen not only as a "common language" tool. Ontologies could play the role of polydisciplinary
scholarly mediators between and within disciplines by connecting currently separated concepts of methodological structures of 'knowledge'.
Clear indications in this direction were given e.g. in the 'typological discussion' in the Monterey SIG meeting 2002 between the
archaeological and biological classification processes, which were identified as being partly the same 'stuff'. Could ontologies really play
the role of scientific glue?
Even though the CIDOC-CRM is currently seen as a tool for documentation and information specialists, it is not difficult to foresee that
ontologies as knowledge representation tools will have a strong impact on methodological questions and research behavior for cultural
disciplines like archaeology, history, art history etc.
Does this establish the need for new disciplines like Cultural or Museum Informatics? Or do the old traditional cultural disciplines have to
integrate new concepts, new thinking in their methodological repertoire?
The CRM Workshop in Nuremberg held from the 7th December - 10th of December will offer a place for discussing questions and ideas in this
direction. Contributions are welcome in form of reports from projects or practical experiences and/or in discussing theoretical research
issues from various areas like philosophy, documentation, cultural and natural history and information sciences.
This workshop presents an open platform for a multidisciplinary exchange of new or unexpected ideas from and for people with various
interests in the stimulating atmosphere of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.

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  Dr. Martin Doerr              |  Vox:+30(2810)391625        |
  Principle Researcher          |  Fax:+30(2810)391638        |
                                |  Email: [log in to unmask] |
                                                              |
                Center for Cultural Informatics               |
                Information Systems Laboratory                |
                 Institute of Computer Science                |
    Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)   |
                                                              |
  Vassilika Vouton,P.O.Box1385,GR71110 Heraklion,Crete,Greece |
                                                              |
          Web-site: http://www.ics.forth.gr/isl               |
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