CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model: Difference between revisions

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The '''[[International Council of Museums#CIDOC conceptual reference model|CIDOC]] Conceptual Reference Model''' ('''CRM)''') provides thean extensible [[Ontology (computerinformation science)|ontology]] for [[concept]]s and [[information]] in [[cultural heritage]] and [[museum]] [[Information science|documentation]]. It is the [[international standard]] ([[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]&nbsp;21127:20062023) for the controlled exchange of cultural heritage information.<ref name="iso_21127">[http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER{{cite web |title=34424&scopelist=PROGRAMME ISO 21127:20062023 – (Information and documentation — A reference ontology for the interchange of cultural heritage information) |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/85100.html |website=www.iso.org |publisher=[[International Standards Organization]] (ISO) |access-date=18 July 2025}}</ref> [[ArchiveArt gallery|Galleries]]s, [[library|libraries]], [[Museumarchive]]s, [[museum]]s ([[GLAM (industry sector)|museumsGLAM]]s), and other cultural institutions are encouraged to use the CIDOC CRM to enhance accessibility to museum-related information and [[knowledge]].

==History==

The CIDOC CRM emerged from the CIDOC Documentation Standards Working Group (DSWG)<ref>[{{cite web |title=The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model – Who we are |url=http://wwwcidoc.willpowerinfoics.mybyforth.co.ukgr/who_we_are.html |website=cidoc/wgdoc1.htmics.forth.gr CIDOC|publisher=[[International DocumentationCouncil Standardsof GroupMuseums]] (ICOM) |access-date=18 July 2025}}</ref> in the International Committee for Documentation of the [[International Council of Museums]]. Initially, until 1994, the work focused on developing an [[entity-relationship model]] for museum information, however, in 1996, the approach shifted to [[Object-Oriented Modeling|object-oriented modeling]] methodologies, resulting in the first ''"CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM)"'' in 1999. The process of standardizing the CIDOC CRM began in 2000 and was completed in 2006 with its acceptance as the ISO 21127 standard. The standard was updated and a revised edition was published in 2023.<ref name="iso_21127"/>

==Aims==

The overall aim of the CIDOC CRM is to provide a [[Reference_model|reference model]] and information standard that museums, and other cultural heritage institutions, can use to describe their collections, and related business entities, to improve information sharing.

<blockquote>

The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) provides definitions and a formal structure for describing the implicit and explicit concepts and relationships used in cultural heritage documentation...to promote a shared understanding of cultural heritage information by providing a common and extensible semantic framework that any cultural heritage information can be mapped to. It is intended to be a common language for ___domain experts and implementers to formulate requirements for information systems and to serve as a guide for good practice of conceptual modelling. In this way, it can provide the "semantic glue" needed to mediate between different sources of cultural heritage information, such as that published by museums, libraries and archives.<ref>[http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/ CIDOC CRM Homepage]</ref>

</blockquote>

By adopting [[Formal semantics of programming languages|formal semantics]] for the CIDOC CRM, the pre-conditions for machine-to-machine [[Interoperable|interoperability]] and [[information integration|integration]] have been established. Thus, CIDOC CRM is well placed to become an important information standard and reference model for [[Semantic Web]] initiatives, and serves as a guide for [[Data modeling|data]], or [[Database model|database]], modeling more generally. Technically speaking, CIDOC CRM lends itself to software applications that extensively use [[Extensible Markup Language|XML]] and [[Resource Description Framework|RDF]].<ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/tools.html |title=CIDOC CRM Tools and RDF mappings]] |access-date=2007-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614123434/http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/tools.html |archive-date=2007-06-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Many cultural heritage institutions are investigating or building applications that use CIDOC CRM.<ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/uses_applications.html |title=CIDOC CRM Applications] |access-date=2007-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613015856/http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/uses_applications.html |archive-date=2007-06-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Following the successful standardization of the CIDOC CRM, a new initiative, [[FRBRoo]], was begun in 2006 to harmonize it with the [[FRBR|Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records]] (FRBR). The aim of this initiative is to "provide a formal ontology intended to capture and represent the underlying semantics of bibliographic information and to facilitate the integration, mediation, and interchange of bibliographic and museum information."<ref>[http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/frbr_inro.html FRBoo Introduction] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616033312/http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/frbr_inro.html |date=2007-06-16 }}</ref><ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/docs/doer_le_boeuf.pdf |title=Martin Doerr, Patrick LeBoeuf, Modelling Intellectual Processes: The FRBR-CRM Harmonization, CIDOC Conference, September 11, 2006, Gothenburg, Sweden] |access-date=2007-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070726145715/http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/docs/doer_le_boeuf.pdf |archive-date=2007-07-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Further readingOntology==

The "CIDOC object-oriented Conceptual Reference Model" (CRM) is a [[Ontology (information science)#Domain ontologies and upper ontologies|___domain ontology]], but includes its own version of an [[upper ontology]].

The core classes cover:<ref>{{cite web|title=Graphical Representation of core CRM form|url=http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc_core_graphical_representation/graphical_representation.html|publisher=[[CIDOC]]|access-date=2013-10-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021110613/http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc_core_graphical_representation/graphical_representation.html|archive-date=2013-10-21|url-status=dead}}</ref>

* [http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/docs/cidoc_crm_version_4.2.1.pdf Nick Crofts, Martin Doerr, Tony Gill, Stephen Stead, Matthew Stiff (editors), Definition of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, October 2006. Version 4.2.1]

* [http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/159984.html Martin Doerr, Nicholas Crofts: ''Electronic Communication on Diverse Data. The Role of the oo CIDOC Reference Model'']

* [http://www.rlg.org/en/downloads/2002metadata/gill/index.html T. Gill: ''Making sense of cultural infodiversity: The CIDOC-CRM''. 2002]

* [http://www.museumsbund.de/cms/fileadmin/fg_doku/publikationen/CIDOC_CRM-Datenaustausch.pdf Regine Stein, Jürgen Gottschewski u.a.: ''Das CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model: Eine Hilfe für den Datenaustausch?'' Berlin, 2005] ''(German)''

; Space-Time

==External links==

: includes title/identifier, place, era/period, time-span, and relationship to persistent items

; Events

: includes title/identifier, beginning/ending of existence, participants (people, either individually or in groups), creation/modification of things (physical or conceptional), and relationship to persistent items

; Material Things

: includes title/identifier, place, the information object the material thing carries, part-of relationships, and relationship to persistent items

; Immaterial Things

: includes title/identifier, information objects (propositional or symbolic), conceptional things, and part-of relationships

Examples of definitions:<ref>{{cite web|title=Definition of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, Version 5.0.4|url=http://www.cidoc-crm.org/html/5.0.4/cidoc-crm.html|publisher=[[CIDOC]]|date=November 2011}}</ref>

* [http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/ The CIDOC CRM Website]

; Persistent Item

: a physical or conceptional item that has a persistent identity recognized within the duration of its existence by its identification rather than by its continuity or by observation. A Persistent Item is comparable to an [[Endurantism|endurant]].

; Temporal Entity

: includes events, eras/periods, and condition states which happen over a limited extent in time, and is [[Disjoint sets|disjoint]] with Persistent Item. A Temporal Entity is comparable to a [[Perdurantism|perdurant]].

; Propositional Object

: a set of statements about real or imaginary things.

; Symbolic Object

: a sign/symbol or an aggregation of signs/symbols.

==CIDOC CRM Implementations and Systems==

* The CIDOC CRM has been implemented in [[Web Ontology Language|OWL DL]] as [http://erlangen-crm.org Erlangen CRM/OWL] (ECRM)

* The ECRM (and thus CIDOC CRM) is used extensively in the WissKI system, an ontology based [[virtual research environment]] for managing primary research data in the area of [[cultural heritage]] as [[linked data]].

==References==

{{Reflist}}

<references/>

==Further reading==

* Doerr M., "The CIDOC CRM – An Ontological Approach to Semantic Interoperability of Metadata", AI Magazine, Volume.24, Number 3 pp.&nbsp;75–92 (2003)

* Martin Doerr, Dolores Iorizzo, The Dream of a Global Knowledge Network – A New Approach, ACM Journal for Computing and Cultural Heritage, Vol. 1, No. 1, Article 5, Publication date: June 2008

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071004223121/http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/docs/cidoc_crm_version_4.2.1.pdf Nick Crofts, Martin Doerr, Tony Gill, Stephen Stead, Matthew Stiff (editors), Definition of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, October 2006. Version 4.2.1]

* [http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/159984.html Martin Doerr, Nicholas Crofts: ''Electronic Communication on Diverse Data. The Role of the oo CIDOC Reference Model''] {{doi|10.1145/1367080.1367085}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050922212512/http://www.rlg.org/en/downloads/2002metadata/gill/index.html T. Gill: ''Making sense of cultural infodiversity: The CIDOC-CRM''. 2002]

* [httphttps://www.museumsbundsmb.de/cmsmuseum/fileadmin/fg_dokuwebsite/Institute/Institut_fuer_Museumsforschung/Publikationen/publikationenMitteilungen/CIDOC_CRM-DatenaustauschMIT031.pdf Regine Stein, Jürgen Gottschewski u.a.: ''Das CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model: Eine Hilfe für den Datenaustausch?'' Berlin, 2005] ''(German)''

* [https://wwwdh.cs.fau.de/IMMD8/staff/Goerz/crm_owl_cidoc2008.pdf Görz, G.; Schiemann, B.; Oischinger, M.: An Implementation of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (4.2.4) in OWL-DL); Proceedings CIDOC 2008 - The Digital Curation of Cultural Heritage]

==External links==

* [http://www.cidoc-crm.ics.forth.grorg/ The CIDOC CRM Website]

* [http://erlangen-crm.org/ Erlangen CRM/OWL web site and OWL sources]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cultural heritage]]

[[Category:Knowledge representation languages]]

[[Category:International Council of Museums]]

[[Category:Reference models]]

[[Category:ISO standards]]

[[Category:Ontology languages]]

[[de:CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model]]

[[Category:Museum informatics]]

[[fr:CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model]]