Heritage Vocabularies by RKDRKDartistsIconclassandThe Dutch Art and Architecture Thesaurus®

Reem Weda, MA. Information specialist terminologiesHeritage Thesauri Course, Nájera, Spain, 18-11-2015

Content Introduction The RKD RKD vocabularies

RKDArtists Iconclass Dutch Art & Architecture thesaurus

The Getty Vocabularies in LOD Discussion

RKD, Netherlands Institute for Art History, The Hague

RKD Collections• Art documentation• Library• Archives• Datasets ( web portal

RKDexplore)• Vocabularies:

RKDartists, Iconclass and Dutch AAT

Controlled Vocabularies RKD

RKDartists: biographic info 250.000 persons related to the arts

Iconclass: 28.000 classifications for art subjects

Dutch AAT: 36.000 generic concepts for heritage collections

RKD in the ‘cloud’

RKDexplore www.rkd.nl

Why still the need for thesauri vocabs?

Identify Synonyms• ‘salinity’ and ‘saltiness’• ‘VHS’ and ‘Very High Frequency’

Identify Homonyms Mercury (planet) Mercury (metal) Mercury (automobile) Mercury (mythical being)

For describing and cataloging cultural objects

• More effective exploration and use of collections

• People find more of what they want and what they need

• Standardised cataloging is the key to better acces to collections; it helps people to understand and use other collections that are working the same way.

Vocabularies neccesary :1. For translation2. For consistency3. For indication of relationships4. For labeling and browsing5. Information retrieval

Las señoritas de Avignon(five female nudes) 1907

MOMA, Public Domain US and Netherlands, but not in France and Spain?

Subjects human figures • females • nudes • brothel • prostitution • fruit • tribal art • African mask • Iberian art • Avignon (Provence, France)Style :Cubist

Bust of Jacob van Reygersberg (1625 - 1675)

Image from Getty's Open Content Program.

Materials and Techniques: marble with extensive drillworkMaterial: • marble Technique • carving • drillwork

CCO principles (2 out of 10)• Use controlled vocabularies

• Create local authorities that are populated with terminology from standard published controlled vocabularies as well as with local terms and names.

NB: RKD does this, but we don’t follow the CCO standard.

‘It’s difficult to get institutions to adapt standards’‘In the 21th century we must think beyond cataloging just for our own institutions’

RDK artists

Rembrandts artist recordhttps://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/66219

Artists Open Search web service

New web service for application developers e.g. collection management systems, websites and apps

Based on:Encoded Archival Context for Corporate Bodies, Persons,

and Families (EAC-CPF)

Search methods on a limited set of elements from RKDartists.

Usage: authorithy file

Artists Open SearchSearch on Paulus Potter (1625-1654)

https://rkd.nl/nl/opensearch-eac-cpf?q=part_name:(Potter,%20Paulus)

Artists Open SearchEAC-CPF data on Paulus Potter (1625-1654)

Wikipedia Authority control

• subject-specific classification system (iconographic)• Alfa-numerical codes with text correlates• Hierarchically ordered• Alphabetical Index• Bibliography (not online)• Multilingual (English, German, French, Italian ,Finnish and

Portuguese, Spanish translation is being worked on by DIBAM (Chile).

• Internationally used/free to use. • Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) and LOD

Main divisions:0 Abstract, Non-representational Art1 Religion and Magic2 Nature3 Human being, Man in general4 Society, Civilization, Culture5 Abstract Ideas and Concepts6 History7 Bible8 Literature9 Classical Mythology and Ancient History

Iconclass browser

Iconclass: Bible71D12 Joseph sold into slavery and taken to Egypt (Genesis 37:12-35)

Iconclass subjectsto index documents by themes, motifs, stories, situations, activities, gestures, events, ideas, messages, miracles.For instance:

31B6222 holding one's nose closed

33A11 baring the head, lifting one's hat

31B52 drunkenness

56F2 (personifications and symbolic representations of) Love; 'Amore (secondo Seneca)' (Ripa)

The Art & Architecture Thesaurus

AAT: Art & Architecture Thesaurus

ULAN: Union List of Artists Names

TGN: Thesaurus of Geographic Names

CONA: Cultural Object Name Authority

Getty vocabularies

They are all constructed as thesauri

Developed since 1980 43.000 concepts, and 255.000 terms Generic concepts for describing objects and images

No names of persons and unique events ‘Cathedal’ yes, but not ‘Chartres cathedral’ (CONA)

Strict editorial control, validation by sources Thesaurus construction follows ISO standard Multi-linguality international (even global) scope

CONA: Eiffel towerID: 700000116 Record Type: Built Work

Titles: Eiffel Tower (preferred,C,U,English-P,U,U)Tour Eiffel (C,U,French,U,U)Three-Hundred-Metre Tower

(H,U,undetermined,U,U)

Work Types: watchtower [300134522] (preferred) (AAT)

Creator Display:architect Eiffel, Gustave (French architect and engineer, 1832-1923) [500000800] (ULAN)

Locations: Paris [7008038] V (TGN)Display Materials:structural iron [300011010] (AAT)wrought iron (iron alloy) [300011012] (AAT) exposed frame construction [300310589] (AAT)

Structure of the AAT

AAT is organized for general use

FAQ: why aren't terms organised like I expect them to be. Why aren’t communion cups and chalices narrower terms to church plate?

Broader term: drinking vessels

Broader term: liturgical vessels

The AAT's organization stresses function and form over the context in which an object is used

The AAT links concepts to an alternate parent using polyhierarchical relationships

Communion cups

Definition of ‘thesaurus’• A semantic network of unique concepts

• Thesauri may be monolingual or multilingual

• Thesauri may have the following three relationships:

• Equivalence Relationships• Hierarchical Relationships• Associative Relationships

ISO 25964 – the international standard for thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies

Thesaurus relationsThe Equivalence Relationship

Hierarchy leading to ‘hacienda’

Hierarchical Position:

Objects Facet

.... Built Environment (hierarchy name) (G)

........ Built Complexes and Districts (hierarchy name) (G)

............ complexes (buildings) (G)

................ <complexes by function> (G)

.................... agricultural complexes (G)

........................ haciendas (G)

Note: Large Spanish landed estates common to 17th century Seville used as farms, or ranches. Also applies to Spanish-American estates and the main building of such a complex.

Thesaurus relations: Associative RelationshipExample for "watercolors" paintings

Relationship Type: 2212 produced byRelated Concept: watercolor brushes (<artists' brushes by function>, artists' brushes, ... Furnishings and Equipment)

Relationship Type: 2501 made of/requireRelated Concept: watercolor (water-base paint, <paint by composition or origin>, ... Materials)

Relationship Type: 2325 created byRelated Concept: watercolorists (<painters by technique, implement, or material employed>, implement, ... People)

OBJECTS

MATERIALS

AGENTS

Associated concepts

STYLES and

PERIODS

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTE

S

ACTIVITIES

copper alloy, bronze

knowledge, satire

Asian, Medieval

sketching, painting

Proofs (prints by function)

mirrorsarmors

7 facets

green, acid-free

sculptors, musicians

Dutch AAT translation

Dutch AAT translation• RKD handles translation of Getty AAT• We have translated 36.0000 of the now 43.000 concepts in the

Getty AAT.• There is a difference in content between the Dutch and the

American AAT, in number of concepts but also scope notes and hierarchy can differ.

• Reason: work continues on both sides and we don’t have a regular way of exchanging data yet (perhaps soon). We strive to make the difference as small as possible. Soon we’ll work in an updated version.

New concepts via the editorial group and then send to Getty Vocabs.Slow process.. But recently the 600th concept was added!

TESAURO DE ARTE & ARQUITECTURA

www.dibam.cl www.aatespanol.cl/taa/publico/buscar.htm

http://www.aatespanol.cl

LOD cloud (2010)

Getty web service

• The base URI is http://vocab.getty.edu/• SPARQL-endpoint• Standard presentation is SKOS or SKOS-XL• Mappings and ontology based on RDF/XML and Turtle• Published versions of lookup lists e.g.,languages, roles,

nationalities, place types, and bibliographic sources)ODC-By licenceThis [title or report or article or dataset] contains information from Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)® which is made available under the ODC Attribution License

Europeana and AAT

RKDexplore (and RKDArtists) : www.rkd.nlWebsite AAT-Ned: www.aat-ned-nlIconclass: www.iconclass.nl

Getty Vocabularieshttp://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/index.htmlSpanish AATwww.aatespanol.cl

Reem WedaInformation specialist terminologiesweda@rkd.nlaat@rkd.nl