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CULCO: Concept Scheme for contentious terminology

Release 2022-12-13

This version:
v1.0.2
Previous version:
v1.0.1
Revision:
1.0.2
Authors:
Andrei Nesterov✉
Laura Hollink✉
Marieke van Erp✉
Jacco van Ossenbruggen✉
Contributors:
Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen
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License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Cite as:
Nesterov, A., Hollink, L., van Erp, M., van Ossenbruggen, J. (2023). A Knowledge Graph of Contentious Terminology for Inclusive Representation of Cultural Heritage. In: , et al. The Semantic Web. ESWC 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13870. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33455-9_30
DOI:
10.5281/zenodo.7456064
Provenance of this page
CULCO Scheme Specification

Abstract

The CULCO concept scheme is used to represent contentious terminology. CULCO stands for "cultural contexts". This scheme is used in the Words Matter knowledge graph, which contains Dutch and English contentious terms often found in museum databases. With CULCO, the knowlege graph models relationships between contentious terms, explanations, suggestions on their usage, and alternative terms given by experts from the cultural sector.

Introduction back to ToC

The CULCO scheme is intended for modelling contentious terms and discussions about them. A contentious term is such a term that causes discussions about its usage. For example, such discussions emerge because a term can be perceived by some as inappropriate, outdated, or offensive. The discussions about terms' usage can produce suggestions, explanations, alternative terms, and other information. CULCO models suggestions about terms' usage, which can include alternative terms for contentious terms and usage examples. Both contentious and suggested terms are modelled as skosxl Labels with URIs and literal values. This way, they can be linked to other resources. The main CULCO class is a Contentious Issue, which encompasses contentious terms, suggestions on their usage, examples, and alternatives.

One of the use cases of CULCO is the Words Matter Knowledge Graph. It represents contentious terminology from the cultural sector described in the publication "Words Matter" [1]. The knowledge graph connects contentious terms to explanations, suggestions on their usage, and alternative terms from experts. Additionally, it contains links to related entities associated with contentious terms from other LOD-resources. The Words Matter knowledge graph is available for download in Turtle format.

The development of the schema and the knowledge graph is described in the paper "A Knowledge Graph of Contentious Terminology for Inclusive Representation of Cultural Heritage" [2]

This work is carried out as a part of the research project "Culturally Aware AI" [3].

Namespace declarations

Table 1: Namespaces used in the document
schema<http://schema.org>
owl<http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl>
skosxl<http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos-xl>
xsd<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema>
skos<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core>
rdfs<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema>
orcid<https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9697-101>
culco<https://w3id.org/culco>
rdf<http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns>
xml<http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace>
dcterms<http://purl.org/dc/terms>
bibo<http://purl.org/ontology/bibo>
vann<http://purl.org/vocab/vann>
foaf<http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1>

Contentious Issues Scheme: Overview back to ToC

This ontology has the following classes and properties.

Classes

Object Properties

Data Properties

The Scheme Diagram back to ToC

CULCO schema diagram

Cross-reference for Contentious Issues Scheme classes, object properties and data properties back to ToC

This section provides details for each class and property defined by Contentious Issues Scheme.

Classes

Contentious Issuec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#ContentiousIssue

Represents a discussion about a term. In a broader sense, the discussion may have various formats and types (a textual publication, a social media post, a multimedia file, a verbal conversation etc.). A term can be a word or a phrase that causes a discussion. In the case of Words Matter, the discussion is the glossary entry, which takes one page and includes a title (a contentious term), explanations about the term's usage, and suggestions
is in domain of
hasContentiousLabel op, hasSuggestion op

Contentious Issues Schemec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#ContentiousIssueScheme

has super-classes
concept scheme c

Suggestionc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#Suggestion

A suggestion gives recommendations on how to use a contentious term. It can have concrete alternatives: words and phrases to be used instead of a contentious term in specific contexts. A suggestion can refer to multiple contentious terms. Usually, a Suggestion is a part of a Contentious Issue
is in domain of
hasAltLabelExample op, hasSuggestedLabel op, hasUsageExample dp, suggestedFor op
is in range of
hasSuggestion op

Object Properties

hasAltLabelExampleop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#hasAltLabelExample

Used with Suggestions when a suggestion gives an example of a contextually appropriate synonym, but not a complete alternative to a contentious label. For example, the term 'Moroccan-Dutch' is one of the possible alternatives for the contentious term 'Allochtoon'
has domain
Suggestion c
has range
label c

hasContentiousLabelop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#hasContentiousLabel

Used to link Contentious Issue to the contentious label(s) it mentions. Suggestion may also mention contentious labels
has domain
Contentious Issue c
has range
label c

hasSuggestedLabelop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#hasSuggestedLabel

Used to link Suggestion to the suggested label(s) it mentions.
has domain
Suggestion c
has range
label c

hasSuggestionop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#hasSuggestion

Used to link Contentious Issue to a Suggestion. Contentious Issue may have several Suggestions
has domain
Contentious Issue c
has range
Suggestion c

suggestedForop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#suggestedFor

Used to link Suggestion to the contentious label(s) it is suggested for.
has domain
Suggestion c
has range
label c

Data Properties

hasUsageExampledp back to ToC or Data Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/culco#hasUsageExample

Used with Suggestions when it gives an example of how a contentious term or its synonym can be used appropriately in speech; usually, it is a phrase providing additional context in which it is appropriate to use the mentioned terms, for example, the phrase 'There was an artistic movement called ‘primitivism’ for the term 'Primitive'
has domain
Suggestion c
has range
string

Legend back to ToC

c: Classes
op: Object Properties
dp: Data Properties

References back to ToC

Changes from last version

Classes

Added classes
Deleted classes

Object Properties

Added object properties
Deleted object properties

Data Properties

Added data properties
Deleted data properties

Acknowledgments back to ToC

The authors would like to thank Silvio Peroni for developing LODE, a Live OWL Documentation Environment, which is used for representing the Cross Referencing Section of this document and Daniel Garijo for developing Widoco, the program used to create the template used in this documentation.