Transparent, Multivocal, Cross-disciplinary: The Use of Linked Open Data and a Community-developed RDF Ontology to Document and Enrich 3D Visualisation for Cultural Heritage

Abstract

Scholarly 3D visualizations of cultural heritage are based on a thorough study of excavation records, iconographic documentation, literary sources, artistic canons and precedents. However, the research process is usually not detectable in the final visual outcome, thus bypassing a fundamental principle of scientific method: the reproducibility of the process. International guidelines define the kinds of information essential to mak -ing a 3D visualization an academic resource, but without specifying a tech -nological format or standard for doing so. This chapter proposes the use of Linked Open Data and a dedicated ontology as a synthetic, time- and cost-effective way to document 3D visualization, connecting the 3D model and its parts, both internally with each other and externally with online information about material remains, as a standard for the community of practitioners involved in the study, preservation and communication of cultural heritage. This semantic network could be implemented, in the number of its elements and connections, by different communities sharing the same controlled vocabulary, potentially reaching a richness and complexity of information that no single author, discipline or industry could ever achieve. This chapter suggests how a community-developed ontology will help creating an inter- and multi-disciplinary network of documented 3D data, moving 3D visualization from a univocal ‘snapshot’ of the past to a collaborative virtual laboratory where different voices and different interpretations can be hosted and compared.