Dear Dominic, before answering to your e-mail I would like to point to the fact that your e-mails do not reach the mailinglist. See http://lists.ics.forth.gr/pipermail/crm-sig/2014-August/thread.html
My guess is that you are posting your messages with sender-adresses that are not registered. Regards, Georg 2014-08-12 15:01 GMT+02:00 Dominic Oldman <[email protected]>: > Dear Georg, > > That's a no then. ;-) However, I can now see more clearly your issues, so > thank you for this additional email. > > The paper makes it very clear that CRM can be implemented using different > models and is independent of technology. I am happy to make this a stronger > statement if you feel that it needs it. In Section 5 is states - "It is > independent of any technical implementation framework". > > The use of RDF in this paper is simply as a device for showing examples. > "Real" examples are important and users of the document have asked for them, > and actually asked for more examples to be inserted. Whenever I make > presentations to the Directors of the BM they ask for concrete examples. I > am not sure why people are reluctant to provide them and why you wouldn't. > > Commonly, because museums and other CH organisations are slowly entering the > linked data world, people want to know what the connection is between CRM > and linked data. It would be a mistake to try and show many different > examples using different schemas in a Primer (I accept that you wouldn't > provide any examples but I will come on to that later). This means that all > the information that managers hear about linked data from all sorts of > different sources can be associated with and have a connection with CRM > information (from the Primer). This is an important point because if people > don't understand that there is a connection then it might not be > included/mentioned in organisational digital strategy policies that include > a linked data strategy. It is therefore, without making any recommendations, > extremely expedient to use linked data as the representational example and > to make this valid association while still stating that it is neutral as to > technology - which it is (we currently have BM CRM data in two different > models one of which is not RDF). RDF just becomes a vehicle for showing how > it works in practice. One aim of the primer should be to get people to use > the CRM. What is the most likely way that they may use it? > > The common factor underlying some of your criticisms (for which I am very > grateful that you have taken the time to provide) seem to imply a reluctance > to give a non-technical audience some technical information. The idea of the > Primer is not to teach people RDF or linked data but to show that CRM has > real practical application and show that it is not just a theoretical and > conceptual thing - something still assumed by some people. I am not sure why > there is a problem with non-technical people seeing technical examples. This > division is often cited as one of the reasons why the Digital Humanities is > not progressing as it was envisaged. Digital Humanities needs Digital > Humanists/Curators. For example, Unsworth 2002 statement. > > "Those representations — ontologies, schemas, knowledge representations, > call them what you will — should be produced by people trained in the > humanities. Producing them is a discipline that requires training in the > humanities, but also in elements of mathematics, logic, engineering, and > computer science" > > Many technical people get very upset about showing supposedly > “non-technical” people, technical examples. However, if we don't start > introducing our curators (and humanists generally) to these things and > continue to keep this knowledge separate, how can they participate in the > discussions and the work more fully?The examples are very basic in any case, > but why shouldn't curators (I am a curator) take an interest in some > computer science and technology? Isn't that what Unsworth's quote is saying. > This happens in other disciplines. > > There is no particular hurry or deadline. It would be good to have a Primer > though and some people have got together in their own spare time to > contribute some time towards producing one. That must be a good thing, and > something that we can all be positive about. > > The CRM Lab was constituted at the CRM-SIG and has terms of reference which > are on the site. The link is here > http://www.cidoc-crm.org/docs/29th-meeting-presentations/CRMLab%20Terms%20of%20Reference09.docx > . The aims include; > > 1. Education of end users. > 2. Implementation of CRM within new projects. > 3. Specification and development of new tools to support the use of the CRM. > 4. Specification of processes of good practice > > The Primer was an agreed output from one of the SIG meetings. > > Thanks very much for your comments and I will certainly attend to some of > the issues that you have kindly spotted. > > Cheers, > > Dominic >
