7th- 8th December 2010

Cultural heritage of the same or similar kind has for a long time been accumulated and preserved by various institutions, such as libraries, museums, and archives, though different methods for documenting and describing the collected items have been used. This presents difficulties for complex research as well as makes effective and user-friendly access to information on cultural heritage problematic.

The development of web technologies and initiatives aimed at complex dissemination of knowledge about culture stored in digital format, such as Europeana or European Library, makes it imperative that the need to harmonize metadata standards and the language of description used to refer to cultural heritage be fulfilled. It is generally expected that with the use of web-based systems the introduction, exchange and publication of data will promote synergy by integrating the endeavors of the various institutions. At the same time, such systems will make access to information easier for various groups of users: people professionally interested in specific aspects of culture but also for a wider audience, i.e., people will use the results of research in cultural heritage in education, recreation or tourism.

In the context of the above, the organizers of the conference invite you to discuss the devising of methodological assumptions, metadata standards, language tools, and technological solutions as well as to consider the possibilities of designing new cooperative initiatives to make the information on the cultural heritage collected by the afore mentioned institutions more easily accessible. The scope of the conference shall also include more general issues of Semantic Web, which would allow the consideration of the problems in question in a wider context of web phenomena.

Conference scope and themes:

• Harmonization of terminology used with reference to cultural heritage by specialists representing various humanities

• The issue of data exchange in the context of metadata formats applied to describe cultural heritage in various institutions (Marc 21, Dublin Core, Object ID, CDWA, Conceptual Reference Model ICOM) as opposed to traditional methods of describing cultural heritage (bibliographical records, the instruction of inventorying and cataloguing inscriptions, catalogue description of works of art)

• Classifications, subject headings, thesauruses – possibilities and limitations

• Domain ontologies in humanities

• The description and cataloguing of cultural heritage items in the context of development and evolution of web-based tools, computer library catalogues, digital libraries, specialist databases

• The problems of creating, administrating, and searching the scattered resources concerning cultural heritage (including material and non-material items)

• Traditional and modern standards of documenting cultural heritage in the context of Semantic Web evolution

• Data exchange – factual, technical and legal aspects

• The experience of those who ultimately receive the information and the possibilities of involving them in creating knowledge resources about culture (information addressees, search strategies based on the analysis of users’ behaviour, users’ involvement in describing the resources – possibilities and limitations)

Conference languages: Polish, English, German