Slides from my talk at University of Southampton

1. University of Southampton
Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through
Semantically Linked Open Data
Monika Solanki
Department of Computer Science
University of Leicester
m.solanki@mcs.le.ac.uk
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Chaîne_opératoire.png
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

2. Talk outline University of Southampton
Outline
Tracing Networks
From RDMS to Ontologies
Semantic Explorer for
Archaeology
Conclusions and Future work
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

3. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
Tracing Networks
investigates the network of contacts across and beyond the
Mediterranean region, between the late bronze age and the late
classical period (c.1500-c.200 BCE) by interrogating material
objects
seven archaeological case studies fully integrated with computer
science projects
programme sets technological networks in their greater social,
economic and political contexts to expand our understanding of
wider cultural developments
these networks from the past can help us devise new and more
effective ways of transmitting knowledge and information in our
digital world
http://www.tracingnetworks.org/
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

4. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
Tracing Networks
Archaeologists study a wide range of material objects.
By tracking them at every stage of their production,
distribution, use, and consumption across a large
geographical region, over a long time period, they can
trace the links between the people who made, used, and
taught others to make them.
The Chaîne opératoire
Cross-craft interaction
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

5. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
Tracing Networks
Archaeologists study a wide range of material objects.
By tracking them at every stage of their production,
distribution, use, and consumption across a large
geographical region, over a long time period, they can
trace the links between the people who made, used, and
taught others to make them.
The Chaîne opératoire
http://www3.hf.uio.no/sarc/iakh/lithic/INTopchain/INTopchainpaper.html
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

6. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
Tracing Networks
Archaeologists study a wide range of material objects.
By tracking them at every stage of their production,
distribution, use, and consumption across a large
geographical region, over a long time period, they can
trace the links between the people who made, used, and
taught others to make them.
Pertinent Questions
How does technical knowledge move from one
person/group/society to another?
How do people choose which particular knowledge to use
from the repertoire available?
In what kinds of contexts does innovation appear?
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

7. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
Tracing Networks
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

8. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
Tracing Networks and Semantic web
Archaeology by its very nature focuses on establishing
linkages between past events, places, people and things.
The Semantic Web infrastructure therefore serves as a
potential solution because of its emphasis on capturing
relationships and should be exploited to provide
archaeological data management solutions.
Little work has been done so far in the Semantic Web
community that can motivate archaeologists to adopt their
technologies to manage and analysis data.
Interesting results have been obtained in the domain of
cultural heritage and museums.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

9. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
The TN-LOD cloud
Tracing Networks through Linked Open Data
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

10. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
Tracing Networks: Vocabularies
CIDOC-CRM
It provides definitions and a formal structure for describing
the implicit and explicit concepts and relationships used in
cultural heritage documentation.
An ontology of 86 classes and 137 properties for culture
and more.
International standard since 2006 - ISO 21127:2006.
The ontology has been encoded in OWL2.0, OWLDL and
RDFS.
http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/index.html
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

11. Tracing Networks University of Southampton
Tracing Networks: Vocabularies
CIDOC-CRM
It provides definitions and a formal structure for describing
the implicit and explicit concepts and relationships used in
cultural heritage documentation.
An ontology of 86 classes and 137 properties for culture
and more.
International standard since 2006 - ISO 21127:2006.
The ontology has been encoded in OWL2.0, OWLDL and
RDFS.
Tracing Network vocabularies extend CIDOC-CRM
http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/index.html
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

12. Generating linked datasets University of Southampton
From RDBMs to Ontological datasets
Generating datasets for the TN-LOD
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

13. Generating linked datasets University of Southampton
Motivation
Conventional mapping frameworks
provide scripting languages to facilitate the mapping.
apply simplistic mapping rules.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

14. Generating linked datasets University of Southampton
Motivation
Realistic scenarios:
the association between columns and properties is far
more complex than a simple one-to-one correspondence.
domain specific schemas to be used for mapping have
been extended from standard vocabularies or those used
elsewhere.
Loomweights: the ontological instances conform to a
domain specific schema, e.g., CIDOC-CRM.
several ontology schemas are used and the data needs to
be suitably mapped to more than one property.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

15. Generating linked datasets University of Southampton
The Loomweights Dataset
The column diameter in the
RDB table cannot be mapped
as a datatype property.
To specify a relationship
between diameter and the
concept Loomweight, create
intermediate instances of
CIDOC-CRM concepts.
Instances to be contextually
related to each other to
ensure loomweights are
assigned correct diameter
values.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

16. Generating linked datasets University of Southampton
Transformation Framework
ORM Reverse Engineering.
ECA Rule-based Transformation.
Ontology Instance Generation.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

17. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
SEA:Semantic Explorer for Archaeology
Motivation
The most time-consuming part of an archaeological
investigation is the post-excavation analysis.
There is therefore a mileage in combining the task of
archiving, querying and analysing the data within a single
framework.
Archaeological data is fragmentary. Inferencing capabilities
of reasoners can be used to extract implicit knowledge and
contribute to their existing knowledge bases to complete
the fragments.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

18. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
SEA:Semantic Explorer for Archaeology
A web application.
RESTful APIs for programmatically accessing the TN-LOD
cloud.
Interactive and global querying of linked datasets.
Data visualisations using user defined perspectives.
Statistical analysis using bespoke criteria provided by
archaeologists at runtime.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

19. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
Case study: Human representations
The scope of the project includes examining and analysing
human representations on a range of object types and in a
range of materials, such as bronze and pottery.
The project utilises details such as gestures and postures,
dress and associated objects as keys to understanding
how identity and new understandings of society are
communicated.
Raw data is collected through examining objects from
published literature or in museum collections.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

20. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
Human representations: Informal queries
Example 1:
“Find images of riders who appear on objects found in Austria
where the altitude of the excavation site is 500 meters above
sea level. I would also like to know the statistical distribution of
the material and the technologies used for the production of
these objects. I would like to visualise the results as a pie chart
and see the distribution of the sites where these objects were
found on Google Earth”.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

21. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
Human representations: Informal queries
Example 2:
“Find all objects which have images of individuals in the orant
gesture who are wearing a triangular dress, earrings and who
carry a vessel on their head, where the vessel is supported by
their left hand. I would also like to know the statistical
distribution of the gender of these individuals according to the
country in which the objects were found. I would like to
visualise the results as a tree map and see the distribution of
the sites where these objects were found on Google Map”.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

22. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
SEA: Architecture
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

23. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
SEA: Query Component
Three parts: query builder, a SPARQL/SQWRL endpoint
and an inference engine.
Aggregates the input data as RDF triples.
Formalises the query in SPARQL, includes any constraints.
Queries can be specified intuitively.
Utilises the WordNet dictionary.
“Natural Language Query Summariser”.
Records user preferences: statistical analysis, visualisation
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

24. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
SEA: Visualiser Component
Three visualisation modules.
Queries generated by the user
Convert the SPARQL triple patterns to GraphML
The visualiser is interactive and allows a user to
expand/collapse nodes in the graph.
Search for a specific node in the graph.
Query Results: linked data, markers on the Google
Earth/Google maps.
Statistical analysis: commonly used statistical analysis
models.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

25. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
Human Representation
“Find images of riders who appear on objects found in Austria where
the altitude of the excavation site is 500 meters above sea level. I
would also like to know the statistical distribution of the material and
the technologies used for the production of these objects. I would like
to visualise the results as a pie chart and see the distribution of the
sites where these objects were found on Google Earth”.
Part 1
Find images of riders who appear on objects found in Austria where
the altitude of the excavation site is 500 meters above sea level.
Part 2
I would also like to know the statistical distribution of the material and
the technologies used for the production of these objects.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

26. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
Building the query using SEA
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

27. Sub query Part 1
PREFIX tnh:<http://www.tracingnetworks.ac.uk/
ontology/human_representation.owl#>
PREFIX rdf:<http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>
SELECT ?individual ?object ?site ?country ?abbr ?type
?tech ?image ?altitude ?material
WHERE{
?individual rdf:type tnh:Individual.
?individual tnh:appearOn ?object.
?object tnh:isFoundAtSite ?site.
?site tnh:isLocatedInCountry ?country.
?country tnh:hasCountryAbbr ?abbr.
?object tnh:has1stObjectType thn:rider.
?object tnh:hasImageLink ?image.
?site tnh:hasAltitude ?altitude.
FILTER (?altitude>=500).
FILTER (?abbr="AT").
}
LIMIT 3000

28. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
Visualising the query
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

29. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
Visualising the query results: Google earth
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

30. SEA: Semantic Explorer for Archaeology University of Southampton
Visualising the query results
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

31. Related work University of Southampton
Closely related work
D2RQ: Berlin
Virtuoso: Open Link Software
STAR: Glamorgan, English Heritage
STELLAR: Glamorgan, English Heritage
TRANSLATION: Southampton
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

32. Conclusions University of Southampton
Conclusions
Little work has been done so far in the Semantic web
community that can motivate archaeologists to adopt their
technologies to manage and analysis data.
An exploratory attempt to reconstruct the Chaîne
opératoire using the principles of linked open data.
A transformation framework for migrating large volumes of
archaeological data stored in RDBs to ontology based data
sets on the Semantic Web.
SEA: A unified framework that allows archaeologists with
basic knowledge of Semantic Web technologies to
“explore” their datasets through interactive querying,
visualisation and analysis.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

33. Future work University of Southampton
Future work
Implement a user-friendly graphical modeling environment
for the language in GMF (Graphical Modeling Framework)
to allow easy creation and editing of transformation rules.
Extend the query interface so that it allows archaeologists
to specify ranking heuristics for the search results.
Extend the visualisation interface by providing a faceted
browser that allows the archaeologist to visualise query
results along several facets.
Augment the support provided for inference making.
Keeping a close eye on the linked data cloud for any
relevant archaeological datasets that may eventually be
published so that we can link to it.
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

34. Acknowledgements University of Southampton
Acknowledgements
Computer Science
Prof Jose Fiadeiro
Yi Hong
Archaeology
Prof Lin Foxhall
Katharina Rebay-Salisbury
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data

35. University of Southampton
Many Thanks!!!
Monika Solanki Reconstructing the Chaîne opératoire through Semantically Linked Open Data