Editors’ Summary: Tiziana Pascuito’s “From Rigid Taxonomies to Networks of Relationships” uses a case study of Arabic manuscripts to highlight the utility of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, a cultural heritage ontology that allows for dynamic networks. The author demonstrates how traditional approaches classify documents into separate compartments, such as “Astronomy.” Using an ontology based on CIDOC-CRM makes visible connections and networks that were obscured in the traditional model. This case study highlights the potentials and difficulties of interoperability for cultural heritage. Specifically, the author highlights how new classifications can frame “collections of Oriental manuscripts not as exotic treasures to be admired in isolation, but as vibrant nodes in a global network of exchanges, influences, conflicts, and dialogues.”
Editors’ Choice: From Rigid Taxonomies to Networks of Relationships: When the Semantic Web Redesigns Cultural Narratives
