This class comprises identifiable immaterial items that can be represented as sets of bit sequences, such as data sets, e-texts, images, audio or video items, software, etc., and are documented as single units. Any aggregation of instances of D1 Digital Object into a whole treated as single unit is also regarded as an instance of D1 Digital Object. This means that for instance, the content of a DVD, an XML file on it, and an element of this file, are regarded as distinct instances of D1 Digital Object, mutually related by the P106 is composed of (forms part of) property. A D1 Digital Object does not depend on a specific physical carrier, and it can exist on one or more carriers simultaneously.
This class comprises events that result in the creation of instances of D9 Data Object that represent the appearance and/or form of an instance of E18 Physical Thing such as paper documents, statues, buildings, paintings, etc. A particular case is the analogue-to-digital conversion of audiovisual material. This class represents the transition from a material thing to an immaterial representation of it. The characteristic subsequent processing steps on digital objects are regarded as instances of D3 Formal Derivation.
This class comprises events that result in the creation of a D1 Digital Object from another one following a deterministic algorithm, such that the resulting instance of digital object shares representative properties with the original object. In other words, this class describes the transition from an immaterial object referred to by property L21 used as derivation source (was derivation source for) to another immaterial object referred to by property L22 created derivative (was derivative created by) preserving the representation of some things but in a different form. Characteristic examples are colour corrections, contrast changes and resizing of images.
This class comprises events that happen on physical digital devices following a human activity that intentionally caused its immediate or delayed initiation and results in the creation of a new instance of D1 Digital Object on behalf of the human actor. The input of a D7 Digital Machine Event may be parameter settings and/or data to be processed. Some D7 Digital Machine Events may form part of a wider E65 Creation event. In this case, all machine output of the partial events is regarded as creation of the overall activity.
This class comprises identifiable material items such as computers, scanners, cameras, etc. that have the capability to process or produce instances of D1 Digital Object.
This class comprises instances of D1 Digital Object that are the direct result of a digital measurement or a formal derivative of it, containing quantitative properties of some physical things or other constellations of matter.
This class comprises events by which a digital device runs a software program or a series of computing operations on a digital object as a single task, which is completely determined by its digital input, the software and the generic properties of the device.
This class comprises actions measuring physical properties using a digital device, that are determined by a systematic procedure and creates an instance of D9 Data Object, which is stored on an instance of D13 Digital Information Carrier. In contrast to instances of D10 Software Execution, environmental factors have an intended influence on the outcome of an instance of D11 Digital Measurement Event. Measurement devices may include running distinct software, such as the RAW to JPEG conversion in digital cameras. In this case, the event is regarded as instance of both classes, D10 Software Execution and D11 Digital Measurement Event.
This class comprises events that transfer a digital object from one digital carrier to another. Normally, the digital object remains the same. If in general or by observation the transfer implies or has implied some data corruption, the change of the digital objects may be documented distinguishing input and output rather than instantiating the property L14 transferred (was transferred by).
This class comprises all instances of E84 Information Carrier that are explicitly designed to be used as persistent digital physical carriers of instances of D1 Digital Object. A D13 Digital Information Carrier may or may not contain information, e.g., an empty diskette.
This class comprises software codes, computer programs, procedures and functions that are used to operate a system of digital objects.
This class comprises objects that make propositions about other artefacts.Instances of this class are not the attributes themselves, by which things are annotated, but represent the connection between the concepts related in a proposition, and the activities of creation, modification and deletion.This class is specialized by appropriate subclasses to express more specific relationships between annotated things, such as knowledge object, same as etc.
This class comprises events that describe the creation of associations (“Annotation Objects”) between objects or areas of objects of the Repository, with other objects or regions or persons, places, events. It is the event that creates the Annotation Object.
This class describes a part (of any shape or size) of interest in basically any media object stored in the Object Repository, i.e., a text, an image, a video or a 3D model. It points to content consisting of just a portion or area of a file. In some contexts, however, the area can also point to content represented by an integral (i.e., proper) file. It is equal to the METS AREA element.
This class comprises all things in the universe of discourse of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model. It is an abstract concept providing for three general properties:Identification by name or appellation, and in particular by a preferred identifierClassification by type, allowing further refinement of the specific subclass an instance belongs to Attachment of free text and other unstructured data for the expression of anything not captured by formal propertiesAll other classes within the CIDOC CRM are directly or indirectly specialisations of E1 CRM Entity.
This class comprises all phenomena, such as the instances of E4 Periods and E5 Events, which happen over a limited extent in time. This extent in time must be contiguous, i.e., without gaps. In case the defining kinds of phenomena for an instance of E2 Temporal Entity cease to happen, and occur later again at another time, we regard that the former instance of E2 Temporal Entity has ended and a new instance has come into existence. In more intuitive terms, the same event cannot happen twice.In some contexts, such phenomena are also called perdurants. This class is disjoint from E77 Persistent Item and is an abstract class that typically has no direct instances. E2 Temporal Entity is specialized into E4 Period, which applies to a particular geographic area (defined with a greater or lesser degree of precision), and E3 Condition State, which applies to instances of E18 Physical Thing.
This class comprises sets of coherent phenomena or cultural manifestations occurring in time and space.It is the social or physical coherence of these phenomena that identify an instance of E4 Period and not the associated spatiotemporal extent. This extent is only the “ground” or space in an abstract physical sense that the actual process of growth, spread and retreat has covered. Consequently, different periods can overlap and coexist in time and space, such as when a nomadic culture exists in the same area and time as a sedentary culture. This also means that overlapping land use rights, common among first nations, amounts to overlapping periods.Often, this class is used to describe prehistoric or historic periods such as the “Neolithic Period”, the “Ming Dynasty” or the “McCarthy Era”, but also geopolitical units and activities of settlements are regarded as special cases of E4 Period. However, there are no assumptions about the scale of the associated phenomena. In particular all events are seen as synthetic processes consisting of coherent phenomena. Therefore, E4 Period is a superclass of E5 Event. For example, a modern clinical birth, an instance of E67 Birth, can be seen as both a single event, i.e., an instance of E5 Event, and as an extended period, i.e., an instance of E4 Period, that consists of multiple physical processes and complementary activities performed by multiple instances of E39 Actor.As the actual extent of an instance of E4 Period in spacetime we regard the trajectories of the participating physical things during their participation in an instance of E4 Period. This includes the open spaces via which these things have interacted and the spaces by which they had the potential to interact during that period or event in the way defined by the type of the respective period or event. Examples include the air in a meeting room transferring the voices of the participants. Since these phenomena are fuzzy, we assume the spatiotemporal extent to be contiguous, except for cases of phenomena spreading out over islands or other separated areas, including geopolitical units distributed over disconnected areas such as islands or colonies.Whether the trajectories necessary for participants to travel between these areas are regarded as part of the spatiotemporal extent or not has to be decided in each case based on a concrete analysis, taking use of the sea for other purposes than travel, such as fishing, into consideration. One may also argue that the activities to govern disconnected areas imply travelling through spaces connecting them and that these areas hence are spatially connected in a way, but it appears counterintuitive to consider for instance travel routes in international waters as extensions of geopolitical units.Consequently, an instance of E4 Period may occupy a number of disjoint spacetime volumes, however there must not be a discontinuity in the time-span covered by these spacetime volumes. This means that an instance of E4 Period must be contiguous in time. If it has ended in all areas, it has ended as a whole. However, it may end in one area before another, such as in the Polynesian migration, and it continues as long as it is ongoing in at least one area.We model E4 Period as a subclass of E2 Temporal Entity and of E92 Spacetime Volume. The latter is intended as a phenomenal spacetime volume as defined in CIDOC CRMgeo (Doerr Hiebel, 2013). By virtue of this multiple inheritance, we can discuss the physical extent of an instance of E4 Period without representing each instance of it together with an instance of its associated spacetime volume. This model combines two quite different kinds of substance: an instance of E4 Period is a phenomenon while an instance of E92 Spacetime Volume is an aggregation of points in spacetime. However, the real spatiotemporal extent of an instance of E4 Period is regarded to be unique to it due to all its details and fuzziness; its identity and existence depends uniquely on the identity of the instance of E4 Period. Therefore, this multiple inheritance is unambiguous and effective and furthermore corresponds to the intuitions of natural language.Typical use of this class in cultural heritage documentation is for documenting cultural and artistic periods. There are two different conceptualisations of ‘artistic style’, defined either by physical features or by historical context. For example, “Impressionism” can be viewed as a period in the European sphere of influence lasting from approximately 1870 to 1905 during which paintings with particular characteristics were produced by a group of artists that included (among others) Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Degas. Alternatively, it can be regarded as a style applicable to all paintings sharing the characteristics of the works produced by the Impressionist painters, regardless of historical context. The first interpretation is an instance of E4 Period, and the second defines morphological object types that fall under E55 Type.A geopolitical unit as a specific case of an instance of E4 Period is the set of activities and phenomena related to the claim of power, the consequences of belonging to a jurisdictional area and an administrative system that establishes a geopolitical unit. Examples from the modern period are countries or administrative areas of countries such as districts whose actions and structures define activities and phenomena in the area that they intend to govern. The borders of geopolitical units are often defined in contracts or treaties although they may deviate from the actual practice. The spatiotemporal properties of Geopolitical units can be modelled through the properties inherited from E92 Spacetime Volume.Another specific case of an instance of E4 Period is the actual extent of the set of activities and phenomena as evidenced by their physical traces that define a settlement, such as the populated period of Nineveh.
This class comprises distinct, delimited and coherent processes and interactions of a material nature, in cultural, social or physical systems, involving and affecting instances of E77 Persistent Item in a way characteristic of the kind of process. Typical examples are meetings, births, deaths, actions of decision taking, making or inventing things, but also more complex and extended ones such as conferences, elections, building of a castle, or battles.While the continuous growth of a tree lacks the limits characteristic of an event, its germination from a seed does qualify as an event. Similarly, the blowing of the wind lacks the distinctness and limits of an event, but a hurricane, flood or earthquake would qualify as an event. Mental processes are considered as events, in cases where they are connected with the material externalization of their results; for example, the creation of a poem, a performance or a change of intention that becomes obvious from subsequent actions or declarations.The effects of an instance of E5 Event may not lead to relevant permanent changes of properties or relations of the items involved in it, for example an unrecorded performance. Of course, in order to be documented, some kind of evidence for an event must exist, be it witnesses, traces or products of the event.While instances of E4 Period always require some form of coherence between its constituent phenomena, in addition, the essential constituents of instances of E5 Event should contribute to an overall effect; for example, the statements made during a meeting and the listening of the audience.Viewed at a coarse level of detail, an instance of E5 Event may appear as if it had an ‘instantaneous’ overall effect, but any process or interaction of material nature in reality have an extent in time and space. At a fine level, instances of E5 Event may be analysed into component phenomena and phases within a space and timeframe, and as such can be seen as a period, regardless of the size of the phenomena. The reverse is not necessarily the case: not all instances of E4 Period give rise to a noteworthy overall effect and are thus not instances of E5 Event.
This class comprises actions intentionally carried out by instances of E39 Actor that result in changes of state in the cultural, social, or physical systems documented. This notion includes complex, composite and long-lasting actions such as the building of a settlement or a war, as well as simple, short-lived actions such as the opening of a door.
This class comprises instances of E7 Activity that are undertaken to create, alter or change instances of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing.This class includes the production of an item from raw materials and other so far undocumented objects. It also includes the conservation treatment of an object.Since the distinction between modification and production is not always clear, modification is regarded as the more generally applicable concept. This implies that some items may be consumed or destroyed in an instance of E11 Modification, and that others may be produced as a result of it. An event should also be documented using an instance of E81 Transformation if it results in the destruction of one or more objects and the simultaneous production of others using parts or material from the originals. In this case, the new items have separate identities.An activity undertaken on an object which was designed to alter it, but which, in fact, it did not in any seemingly significant way (such as the application of a solvent during conservation which failed to dissolve any part of the object), is still considered as an instance of E11 Modification. Typically, any such activity will leave at least forensic traces of evidence on the object.If the instance of E29 Design or Procedure utilized for the modification prescribes the use of specific materials, they should be documented using property P68 foresees use of (use foreseen by): E57 Material of E29 Design or Procedure, rather than via P126 employed (was employed in): E57 Material.
This class comprises the actions of making assertions about one property of an object or any single relation between two items or concepts. The type of the property asserted to hold between two items or concepts can be described by the property P177 assigned property of type (is type of property assigned): E55 Type. For example, the class describes the actions of people making propositions and statements during certain scientific/scholarly procedures, e.g., the person and date when a condition statement was made, an identifier was assigned, the museum object was measured, etc. Which kinds of such assignments and statements need to be documented explicitly in structures of a schema rather than free text, depends on whether this information should be accessible by structured queries.This class allows for the documentation of how the respective assignment came about, and whose opinion it was. Note that all instances of properties described in a knowledge base are the opinion of someone. Per default, they are the opinion of the team maintaining the knowledge base. This fact must not individually be registered for all instances of properties provided by the maintaining team, because it would result in an endless recursion of whose opinion was the description of an opinion. Therefore, the use of instances of E13 Attribute Assignment marks the fact, that the maintaining team is in general neutral to the validity of the respective assertion, but registers someone else’s opinion and how it came about.All properties assigned in such an action can also be seen as directly relating the respective pair of items or concepts. Multiple use of instances of E13 Attribute Assignment may possibly lead to a collection of contradictory values. All cases of properties in this model that are also described indirectly through a subclass of E13 Attribute Assignment are characterised as "short cuts" of a path via this subclass. This redundant modelling of two alternative views is preferred because many implementations may have good reasons to model either the action of assertion or the short cut, and the relation between both alternatives can be captured by simple rules.
This class comprises actions measuring quantitative physical properties and other values that can be determined by a systematic, objective procedure of direct observation of particular states of physical reality. An instance of E16 Measurement may use simple counting or tools, such as yardsticks or radiation detection devices. The interest is in the method and care applied, so that the reliability of the result may be judged at a later stage, or research continued on the associated documents. The date of the event is important for dimensions, which may change value over time, such as the length of an object subject to shrinkage. Methods and devices employed should be associated with instances of E16 Measurement by properties such as P33 used specific technique: E29 Design or Procedure, P125 used object of type: E55 Type, P16 used specific object (was used for): E70 Thing, whereas basic techniques such as "carbon-14 dating" should be encoded using P2 has type (is type of): E55 Type. Details of methods and devices reused or reusable in other instances of E16 Measurement should be documented for these entities rather than the measurements themselves, whereas details of particular execution may be documented by free text or by instantiating adequate sub-activities, if the detail may be of interest for an overarching query.Regardless whether a measurement is made by an instrument or by human senses, it represents the initial transition from physical reality to information without any other documented information object in between within the reasoning chain that would represent the result of the interaction of the observer or device with reality. Therefore, determining properties of an instance of E90 Symbolic Object is regarded as an instance of E13 Attribute Assignment, which may be inferred from observing and measuring representative carriers. In the case that the carrier can be named, the property P16 used specific object (was used for): should be used to indicate the instance(s) of E18 Physical Thing that was used as the empirical basis for the attribute assignment. For instance, inferring properties of depicted items using image material, such as satellite images, is not regarded as an instance of E16 Measurement, but as a subsequent instance of E13 Attribute Assignment. Rather, only the production of the images, understood as arrays of radiation intensities, is regarded as an instance of E16 Measurement. The same reasoning holds for other sensor data.
This class comprises all persistent physical items with a relatively stable form, human-made or natural.Depending on the existence of natural boundaries of such things, the CIDOC CRM distinguishes the instances of E19 Physical Object from instances of E26 Physical Feature, such as holes, rivers, pieces of land etc. Most instances of E19 Physical Object can be moved (if not too heavy), whereas features are integral to the surrounding matter.An instance of E18 Physical Thing occupies not only a particular geometric space at any instant of its existence, but in the course of its existence it also forms a trajectory through spacetime, which occupies a real, that is phenomenal, volume in spacetime. We include in the occupied space the space filled by the matter of the physical thing and all its inner spaces, such as the interior of a box. For the purpose of more detailed descriptions of the presence of an instance of E18 Physical Thing in space and time it can be associated with its specific instance of E92 Spacetime Volume by the property P196 defines (is defined by). The CIDOC CRM is generally not concerned with amounts of matter in fluid or gaseous states, as long as they are not confined in an identifiable way for an identifiable minimal time-span.
This class comprises all persistent physical items of any size that are purposely created by human activity. This class comprises, besides others, Human-Made objects, such as a sword, and Human-Made features, such as rock art. For example, a “cup and ring” carving on bedrock is regarded as instance of E24 Physical Human-Made Thing.Instances of Human-Made thing may be the result of modifying pre-existing physical things, preserving larger parts or most of the original matter and structure, which poses the question if they are new or even Human-Made, the respective interventions of production made on such original material should be obvious and sufficient to regard that the product has a new, distinct identity and intended function and is human-made. Substantial continuity of the previous matter and structure in the new product can be documented by describing the production process also as an instance of E81 Transformation.Whereas interventions of conservation and repair are not regarded to produce a new Human-Made thing, the results of preparation of natural history specimens that substantially change their natural or original state should be regarded as physical Human-Made things, including the uncovering of petrified biological features from a solid piece of stone. On the other side, scribbling a museum number on a natural object should not be regarded to make it Human-Made. This notwithstanding, parts, sections, segments, or features of a physical Human-Made thing may continue to be non-Human-Made and preserved during the production process, for example natural pearls used as a part of an eardrop.
This class comprises non-material products of our minds and other human produced data that have become objects of a discourse about their identity, circumstances of creation or historical implication. The production of such information may have been supported by the use of technical devices such as cameras or computers.Characteristically, instances of this class are created, invented or thought by someone, and then may be documented or communicated between persons. Instances of E28 Conceptual Object have the ability to exist on more than one particular carrier at the same time, such as paper, electronic signals, marks, audio media, paintings, photos, human memories, etc.They cannot be destroyed. They exist as long as they can be found on at least one carrier or in at least one human memory. Their existence ends when the last carrier and the last memory are lost.
This class comprises people, either individually or in groups, who have the potential to perform intentional actions of kinds for which someone may be held responsible.
This class comprises signs, either meaningful or not, or arrangements of signs following a specific syntax, that are used or can be used to refer to and identify a specific instance of some class or category within a certain context.Instances of E41 Appellation do not identify things by their meaning, even if they happen to have one, but instead by convention, tradition, or agreement. Instances of E41 Appellation are cultural constructs; as such, they have a context, a history, and a use in time and space by some group of users. A given instance of E41 Appellation can have alternative forms, i.e., other instances of E41 Appellation that are always regarded as equivalent independent from the thing it denotes.Different languages may use different appellations for the same thing, such as the names of major cities. Some appellations may be formulated using a valid noun phrase of a particular language. In these cases, the respective instances of E41 Appellation should also be declared as instances of E33 Linguistic Object. Then the language using the appellation can be declared with the property P72 has language: E56 Language.Instances of E41 Appellation may be used to identify any instance of E1 CRM Entity and sometimes are characteristic for instances of more specific subclasses E1 CRM Entity, such as for instances of E52 Time-Span (for instance “dates”), E39 Actor, E53 Place or E28 Conceptual Object. Postal addresses and E-mail addresses are characteristic examples of identifiers used by services transporting things between clients.Even numerically expressed identifiers for extents in space or time are also regarded as instances of E41 Appellation, such as Gregorian dates or spatial coordinates, even though they allow for determining some time or location by a known procedure starting from a reference point and by virtue of that fact play a double role as instances of E59 Primitive Value.E41 Appellation should not be confused with the act of naming something. Cf. E15 Identifier Assignment
This class comprises abstract temporal extents, in the sense of Galilean physics, having a beginning, an end and a duration. Instances of E52 Time-Span have no semantic connotations about phenomena happening within the temporal extent they represent. They do not convey any meaning other than a positioning on the “time-line” of chronology. The actual extent of an instance of E52 Time-Span can be approximated by properties of E52 Time-Span giving inner and outer bounds in the form of dates (instances of E61 Time Primitive). Comparing knowledge about time-spans is fundamental for chronological reasoning.Some instances of E52 Time-Span may be defined as the actual, in principle observable, temporal extent of instances of E2 Temporal Entity via the property P4 has time-span (is time-span of): E52 Time-Span. They constitute phenomenal time-spans as defined in CRMgeo (Doerr Hiebel 2013). Since our knowledge of history is imperfect and physical phenomena are fuzzy in nature, the extent of phenomenal time-spans can only be described in approximation. An extreme case of approximation, might, for example, define an instance of E52 Time-Span having unknown beginning, end and duration. It may, nevertheless, be associated with other descriptions by which we can infer knowledge about it, such as in relative chronologies.Some instances of E52 may be defined precisely as representing a declaration of a temporal extent, as, for instance, done in a business contract. They constitute declarative time-spans as defined in CRMgeo (Doerr Hiebel 2013) and can be described via the property E61 Time Primitive P170 defines time (time is defined by): E52 Time-Span. When used as a common E52 Time-Span for two events, it will nevertheless describe them as being simultaneous, even if nothing else is known.
This class comprises quantifiable properties that can be measured by some calibrated means and can be approximated by values, i.e., by points or regions in a mathematical or conceptual space, such as natural or real numbers, RGB values etc.An instance of E54 Dimension represents the empirical or theoretically derived quantity, including the precision tolerances resulting from the particular method or calculation. The identity of an instance of E54 Dimension depends on the method of its determination because each method may produce different values even when determining comparable qualities. For instance, the wingspan of a bird alive or dead is a different dimension. Thermoluninescence dating and Rehydroxylation [RHX] dating are different dimensions of temporal distance from now, even if they aim at dating the same object. The method of determination should be expressed using the property P2 has type (is type of). Note that simple terms such as “diameter” or “length” are normally insufficient to unambiguously describe a respective dimension. In contrast, “maximum linear extent” may be sufficient.The properties of the class E54 Dimension allow for expressing the numerical approximation of the values of instances of E54 Dimension adequate to the precision of the applied method of determination. If the respective quantity belongs to a non-discrete space according to the laws of physics, such as spatial distances, it is recommended to record them as approximations by intervals or regions of indeterminacy enclosing the assumed true values. For instance, a length of 5 cm may be recorded as 4.5-5.5 cm, according to the precision of the respective observation. Note, that comparability of values described in different units depends critically on the representation as value regions.Numerical approximations in archaic instances of E58 Measurement Unit used in historical records should be preserved. Equivalents corresponding to current knowledge should be recorded as additional instances of E54 Dimension, as appropriate.
This class comprises concepts denoted by terms from thesauri and controlled vocabularies used to characterize and classify instances of CIDOC CRM classes. Instances of E55 Type represent concepts in contrast to instances of E41 Appellation which are used to name instances of CIDOC CRM classes. E55 Type is the CIDOC CRM’s interface to domain specific ontologies and thesauri. These can be represented in the CIDOC CRM as subclasses of E55 Type, forming hierarchies of terms, i.e., instances of E55 Type linked via P127 has broader term (has narrower term): E55 Type. Such hierarchies may be extended with additional properties.
This class comprises values of primitive data types of programming languages or database management systems and data types composed of such values used as documentation elements, as well as their mathematical abstractions. The instances of E59 Primitive Value and its subclasses are not considered elements of the universe of discourse the CIDOC CRM aims to define and analyse. Rather, they play the role of a symbolic interface between the scope of the model and the world of mathematical and computational manipulations and the symbolic objects they define and handle. In particular, they comprise lexical forms encoded as "strings" or series of characters and symbols based on encoding schemes (characterised by being a limited subset of the respective mathematical abstractions) such as UNICODE and values of datatypes that can be encoded in a lexical form, including quantitative specifications of time-spans and geometry. They have in common that instances of E59 Primitive Value define themselves by virtue of their encoded value, regardless of the nature of their mathematical abstractions. Therefore, in an implementation, instances of E59 Primitive should be represented directly in the encoded symbolic form supported by the respective platform, such as a character string or a formatted date. They must not be represented in an implementation indirectly via, another a universal resource identifier, which in turn is linked to the actual encoded symbolic form. In a concrete application, it is recommended that the primitive value system from a chosen implementation platform and/or data definition language be used to substitute for this class and its subclasses.
This class comprises any encoding of computable (algebraic) values such as integers, real numbers, complex numbers, vectors, tensors etc., including intervals of these values to express limited precision. Numbers are fundamentally distinct from numerically expressed identifiers in continua, which are instances of E41 Appellation, such as Gregorian dates or spatial coordinates, even though their encoding may be similar. Instances of E60 Number can be combined with each other in algebraic operations to yield other instances of E60 Number, e.g., 1+1=2. Identifiers in continua may be combined with numbers expressing distances to yield new identifiers, e.g., 1924-01-31 + 2 days = 1924-02-02. Cf. E54 Dimension.
This class comprises instances of E59 Primitive Value for time that should be implemented with appropriate validation, precision and references to temporal coordinate systems to express time in some context relevant to cultural and scientific documentation.Instantiating different instances of E61 Time Primitive relative to the same instance of E52 Time-Span allows for the expression of multiple opinions/approximations of the same phenomenon. When representing different opinions/approximations of the E52 Time-Span of some E2 Temporal Entity, multiple instances of E61 Time Primitive should be instantiated relative to one E52 Time-Span. Only one E52 Time-Span should be instantiated since there is only one real phenomenal time extent of any given temporal entity.The instances of E61 Time Primitive are not considered as elements of the universe of discourse that the CIDOC CRM aims at defining and analysing. Rather, they play the role of a symbolic interface between the scope of this model and the world of mathematical and computational manipulations and the symbolic objects they define and handle.Therefore, they must not be represented in an implementation by a universal identifier associated with a content model of different identity. In a concrete application, it is recommended that the primitive value system from a chosen implementation platform and/or data definition language be used to substitute for this class.
This class comprises coherent sequences of binary-encoded symbols. They correspond to the content of an instance of E90 Symbolic object. Instances of E62 String represent only the symbol sequence itself. They may or may not contain a language code. In contrast, instances of other subclasses of E59 Primitive value represent entities in mathematical spaces other than that of symbol sequences, by using binary-encoded symbols, such as date expressions or numbers in decimal encoding. For instance, different syntactic forms of a date expression may represent the same date but consist of different strings.
This class comprises events that bring into existence any instance of E77 Persistent Item. It may be used for temporal reasoning about things (intellectual products, physical items, groups of people, living beings) beginning to exist; it serves as a hook for determination of a “terminus post quem” or “terminus ante quem”.
This class comprises events that result in the creation of conceptual items or immaterial products, such as legends, poems, texts, music, images, movies, laws, types etc.
This general class comprises discrete, identifiable, instances of E77 Persistent Item that are documented as single units, that either consist of matter or depend on being carried by matter and are characterized by relative stability. They may be intellectual products or physical things. They may for instance have a solid physical form, an electronic encoding, or they may be a logical concept or structure.
This class comprises discrete, identifiable human-made items that are documented as single units. These items are either intellectual products or human-made physical things, and are characterized by relative stability. They may for instance have a solid physical form, an electronic encoding, or they may be logical concepts or structures.
This class comprises those material or immaterial items to which instances of E30 Right, such as the right of ownership or use, can be applied. This is true for all instances of E18 Physical Thing. In the case of instances of E28 Conceptual Object, however, the identity of an instance of E28 Conceptual Object or the method of its use may be too ambiguous to reliably establish instances of E30 Right, as in the case of taxa and inspirations. Ownership of corporations is currently regarded as out of scope of the CIDOC CRM.
This class comprises items that have persistent characteristics of structural nature substantially related to their identity and their integrity, sometimes known as “endurants” in philosophy. Persistent Items may be physical entities, such as people, animals or things, conceptual entities such as ideas, concepts, products of the imagination or even names. Instances of E77 Persistent Item may be present or be part of interactions in different periods or events. They can repeatedly be recognized at disparate occasions during their existence by characteristics of structural nature. The respective characteristics need not be exactly the same during all the existence of an instance of E77 Persistent Item. Often, they undergo gradual change, still bearing some similarities with that of previous times, or disappear completely and new emerge. For instance, a person, from the time of being born on, will gradually change all its features and acquire new ones, such as a scar. Even the DNA in different body cells will develop defects and mutations. Nevertheless, relevant characteristics used should be sufficiently similar to recognize the instance for some substantial period of time. The more specific criteria that determine the identity of instances of subclasses of E77 Persistent Item may vary considerably and are described or referred to in the respective scope notes. The decision about which exact criteria to use depends on whether the observable behaviour of the respective part of reality such confined conforms to the reasoning the user is interested in. For example, a building can be regarded as no longer existing if it is dismantled and the materials reused in a different configuration. On the other hand, human beings go through radical and profound changes during their life-span, affecting both material composition and form, yet preserve their identity by other criteria, such as being bodily separated from other persons. Similarly, inanimate objects may be subject to exchange of parts and matter. On the opposite, the identity of a (version of a) text of a scientific publication is given by the exact arrangement of its relevant symbols. The main classes of objects that fall outside the scope of the E77 Persistent Item class are temporal objects such as periods, events and acts, and descriptive properties. An instance of E77 Persistent Item does not require actual knowledge of the identifying features of the instance being currently known. There may be cases, where the actual identifying features of an instance of E77 Persistent Item are not decidable at a particular state of knowledge.
This class comprises identifiable symbols and any aggregation of symbols, such as characters, identifiers, traffic signs, emblems, texts, data sets, images, musical scores, multimedia objects, computer program code or mathematical formulae that have an objectively recognizable structure and that are documented as single units.It includes sets of signs of any nature, which may serve to designate something, or to communicate some propositional content. An instance of E90 Symbolic Object may or may not have a specific meaning, for example an arbitrary character string.In some cases, the content of an instance of E90 Symbolic Object may completely be represented by a serialized digital content model, such as a sequence of ASCII-encoded characters, an XML or HTML document, or a TIFF image. The property P3 has note and its subproperty P190 has symbolic content allow for the description of this content model. In order to disambiguate which symbolic level is the carrier of the meaning, the property P3.1 has type can be used to specify the encoding (e.g., "bit", "Latin character", RGB pixel).
This class comprises 4-dimensional point sets (volumes) in physical spacetime (in contrast to mathematical models of it) regardless their true geometric forms. They may derive their identity from being the extent of a material phenomenon or from being the interpretation of an expression defining an extent in spacetime. Intersections of instances of E92 Spacetime Volume, E53 Place and E52 Time-Span are also regarded as instances of E92 Spacetime Volume. An instance of E92 Spacetime Volume is either contiguous or composed of a finite number of contiguous subsets. Its boundaries may be fuzzy due to the properties of the phenomena it derives from or due to the limited precision up to which defining expression can be identified with a real extent in spacetime. The duration of existence of an instance of E92 Spacetime Volume is its projection on time.
This property associates an instance of D2 Digitization Process with an instance of E18 Physical Thing which is a material thing.
This property associates an instance of D10 Software Execution with an instance of D1 Digital Object which is used as a source, software essential for the performance.
This property associates an instance of D7 Digital Machine Event with an instance of D1 Digital Object which is the input used to specify the machine action.
This property associates an instance of D7 Digital Machine Event with an instance of D1 Digital Object which is the output of the activity.
This property associates an instance of D7 Digital Machine Event with an object, the D8 Digital Device, which happened with, e.g a capturing event that happened on/with a digital camera, etc.
This property associates an instance of D10 Software Execution with a digital object used as a parameter during the process.
This property identifies a digital object transferred by a D12 Data Transfer Event.
This property identifies a digital device used as a medium on which data are transferred through a D12 Data Transfer Event.
This property identifies a digital device used as a medium to receive data through a D12 Data Transfer Event.
This property associates an instance of D11 Digital Measurement Event with the instance of E55Type of object to which it applied.
This property identifies a Digital Information Carrier modified in a Digital Machine Event.
This property associates an instance of a D13 Digital Information Carrier with the instance of Digital Object that is stored on it.
This property identifies a Data Object that came into existence as a result of a D11 Digital Measurement Event.
This property associates an instance of a D3 Formal Derivation with the instance of D1 Digital Object that is used as a derivation source.
This property associates an instance of D3 Formal Derivation with the Digital Object it used to create a version of.
This property associates an instance of D7 Digital Machine Event with the instance of D14 Software that had used.
This property identifies the logfile that was created by a D10 Software Execution in order to record all the activities in the system.
This property describes the associations between objects or areas of objects of the RI, with other objects or regions or persons, places, events.
This property identifies the D29 Annotation Object (associations) that came into existence as a result of a D30 Annotation Event.
This property describes the association between a particular area declared in an original digital object.
This property describes the association between an area and the digital object to which it is propagated.
This property describes a non unique identification applied to E1 CRM Entity.
This property describes the CRM Entities documented by instances of Digitization Processes.
This property is a container for all informal descriptions about an object that have not been expressed in terms of CIDOC CRM constructs. In particular, it captures the characterisation of the item itself, its internal structures, appearance etc.Like property P2 has type (is type of), this property is a consequence of the restricted focus of the CIDOC CRM. The aim is not to capture, in a structured form, everything that can be said about an item; indeed, the CIDOC CRM formalism is not regarded as sufficient to express everything that can be said. Good practice requires use of distinct note fields for different aspects of a characterisation. The P3.1 has type property of P3 has note allows differentiation of specific notes, e.g., “construction”, “decoration” etc. An item may have many notes, but a note is attached to a specific item.
This property describes the active or passive presence of an E77 Persistent Item in an instance of E5 Event without implying any specific role. It documents known events in which an instance of E77 Persistent Item was present during the course of its life or history. For example, an object may be the desk, now in a museum, on which a treaty was signed. The instance of E53 Place and the instance of E52 Time-Span where and when these events happened provide us with constraints about the presence of the related instance E77 Persistent Item in the past. Instances of E90 Symbolic Object, in particular information objects, are physically present in events via at least one of the instances of E18 Physical Thing carrying them. Note, that the human mind can be such a carrier. A precondition for a transfer of information to a person or another new physical carrier is the presence of the respective information object and this person or physical thing in one event.
This property describes the active participation of an instance of E39 Actor in an instance of E7 Activity. It implies causal or legal responsibility. The P14.1 in the role of property of the property specifies the nature of an Actor’s participation.
This property describes the use of material or immaterial things in a way essential to the performance or the outcome of an instance of E7 Activity. This property typically applies to tools, instruments, moulds, raw materials and items embedded in a product. It implies that the presence of the object in question was a necessary condition for the action. For example, the activity of writing this text required the use of a computer. An immaterial thing can be used if at least one of its carriers is present. For example, the software tools on a computer.Another example is the use of a particular name by a particular group of people over some span to identify a thing, such as a settlement. In this case, the physical carriers of this name are at least the people understanding its use.
This property identifies the instance of E18 Physical Thing modified in an instance of E11 Modification.
This property associates an instance of E16 Measurement with the instance of E18 Physical Thing upon which it acted. The instance of E16 Measurement is specific to the measured object. An instance of E18 Physical Thing may be measured more than once with different results, constituting different instances of E16 Measurement.
This property records the dimension that was observed in an E16 Measurement Event.E54 Dimension can be any quantifiable aspect of E70 Thing. Weight, image colour depth and monetary value are dimensions in this sense. One measurement activity may determine more than one dimension of one object.Dimensions may be determined either by direct observation or using recorded evidence. In the latter case the measured Thing does not need to be present or extant.Even though knowledge of the value of a dimension requires measurement, the dimension may be an object of discourse prior to, or even without, any measurement being made.
This property associates an instance of E52 Time-Span with an instance of E61 Time Primitive specifying a minimum period of time covered by it. Since Time-Spans may not have precisely known temporal extents, the CIDOC CRM supports statements about the minimum and maximum temporal extents of Time-Spans. This property allows a Time-Span’s minimum temporal extent (i.e., its inner boundary) to be assigned an E61 Time Primitive value. Time Primitives are treated by the CIDOC CRM as application or system specific date intervals, and are not further analysed. If different sources of evidence justify different minimum extents without contradicting each other, the smallest interval including all these extents will be the best estimate. This should be taken into account for information integration.
This property allows an instance of E54 Dimension to be approximated by an instance of E60 Number primitive.
This property links an instance of E65 Creation to the instance of E28 Conceptual Object created by it. It represents the act of conceiving the intellectual content of the instance of E28 Conceptual Object. It does not represent the act of creating the first physical carrier of the instance of E28 Conceptual Object. As an example, this is the composition of a poem, not its commitment to paper.
This property associates an instance of E90 Symbolic Object with a part of it that is by itself an instance of E90 Symbolic Object, such as fragments of texts or clippings from an image.This property is transitive asymmetric.
This property associates an instance of E7 Activity to an instance of E55 Type, which classifies an instance of E70 Thing used in an instance of E7 Activity, when the specific instance is either unknown or not of interest, such as use of "a hammer".This property is a shortcut of the more fully developed path from E7 Activity through P16 used specific object, E70 Thing, P2 has type, to E55 Type
This property identifies an instance E90 Symbolic Object carried by an instance of E18 Physical Thing. Since an instance of E90 Symbolic Object is defined as an immaterial idealization over potentially multiple carriers, any individual realization on a particular physical carrier may be defective, due to deterioration or shortcomings in the process of creating the realization compared to the intended ideal. As long as such defects do not substantially affect the complete recognition of the respective symbolic object, it is still regarded as carrying an instance of this E90 Symbolic Object. If these defects are of scholarly interest, the particular realization can be modelled as an instance of E25 Human-Made Feature. Note, that any instance of E90 Symbolic Object incorporated (P165) in the carried symbolic object is also carried by the same instance of E18 Physical Thing.
This property associates an instance of E13 Attribute Assignment with the instance of E1 CRM Entity about which it made an attribution. The instance of E1 CRM Entity plays the role of the domain of the attribution. The kind of attribution made should be documented using P177 assigned property of type (is type of property assigned).
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D2 Digitization Process with an instance of E18 Physical Thing which is a material thing.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D10 Software Execution with an instance of D1 Digital Object which is used as a source, software essential for the performance.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D7 Digital Machine Event with an instance of D1 Digital Object which is the input used to specify the machine action.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D7 Digital Machine Event with an instance of D1 Digital Object which is the output of the activity.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D7 Digital Machine Event with an object, the D8 Digital Device, which happened with, e.g a capturing event that happened on/with a digital camera, etc.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D10 Software Execution with a digital object used as a parameter during the process.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a digital object transferred by a D12 Data Transfer Event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a digital device used as a medium on which data are transferred through a D12 Data Transfer Event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a digital device used as a medium to receive data through a D12 Data Transfer Event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D11 Digital Measurement Event with the instance of E55Type of object to which it applied.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a Digital Information Carrier modified in a Digital Machine Event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of a D13 Digital Information Carrier with the instance of Digital Object that is stored on it.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies a Data Object that came into existence as a result of a D11 Digital Measurement Event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of a D3 Formal Derivation with the instance of D1 Digital Object that is used as a derivation source.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D3 Formal Derivation with the Digital Object it used to create a version of.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of D7 Digital Machine Event with the instance of D14 Software that had used.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the logfile that was created by a D10 Software Execution in order to record all the activities in the system.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property describes the associations between objects or areas of objects of the RI, with other objects or regions or persons, places, events.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the D29 Annotation Object (associations) that came into existence as a result of a D30 Annotation Event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property describes the association between a particular area declared in an original digital object.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property describes the association between an area and the digital object to which it is propagated.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property describes a non unique identification applied to E1 CRM Entity.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property describes the CRM Entities documented by instances of Digitization Processes.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property is a container for all informal descriptions about an object that have not been expressed in terms of CIDOC CRM constructs. In particular, it captures the characterisation of the item itself, its internal structures, appearance etc.Like property P2 has type (is type of), this property is a consequence of the restricted focus of the CIDOC CRM. The aim is not to capture, in a structured form, everything that can be said about an item; indeed, the CIDOC CRM formalism is not regarded as sufficient to express everything that can be said. Good practice requires use of distinct note fields for different aspects of a characterisation. The P3.1 has type property of P3 has note allows differentiation of specific notes, e.g., “construction”, “decoration” etc. An item may have many notes, but a note is attached to a specific item.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property describes the active or passive presence of an E77 Persistent Item in an instance of E5 Event without implying any specific role. It documents known events in which an instance of E77 Persistent Item was present during the course of its life or history. For example, an object may be the desk, now in a museum, on which a treaty was signed. The instance of E53 Place and the instance of E52 Time-Span where and when these events happened provide us with constraints about the presence of the related instance E77 Persistent Item in the past. Instances of E90 Symbolic Object, in particular information objects, are physically present in events via at least one of the instances of E18 Physical Thing carrying them. Note, that the human mind can be such a carrier. A precondition for a transfer of information to a person or another new physical carrier is the presence of the respective information object and this person or physical thing in one event.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property describes the active participation of an instance of E39 Actor in an instance of E7 Activity. It implies causal or legal responsibility. The P14.1 in the role of property of the property specifies the nature of an Actor’s participation.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property describes the use of material or immaterial things in a way essential to the performance or the outcome of an instance of E7 Activity. This property typically applies to tools, instruments, moulds, raw materials and items embedded in a product. It implies that the presence of the object in question was a necessary condition for the action. For example, the activity of writing this text required the use of a computer. An immaterial thing can be used if at least one of its carriers is present. For example, the software tools on a computer.Another example is the use of a particular name by a particular group of people over some span to identify a thing, such as a settlement. In this case, the physical carriers of this name are at least the people understanding its use.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies the instance of E18 Physical Thing modified in an instance of E11 Modification.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of E16 Measurement with the instance of E18 Physical Thing upon which it acted. The instance of E16 Measurement is specific to the measured object. An instance of E18 Physical Thing may be measured more than once with different results, constituting different instances of E16 Measurement.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property records the dimension that was observed in an E16 Measurement Event.E54 Dimension can be any quantifiable aspect of E70 Thing. Weight, image colour depth and monetary value are dimensions in this sense. One measurement activity may determine more than one dimension of one object.Dimensions may be determined either by direct observation or using recorded evidence. In the latter case the measured Thing does not need to be present or extant.Even though knowledge of the value of a dimension requires measurement, the dimension may be an object of discourse prior to, or even without, any measurement being made.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of E52 Time-Span with an instance of E61 Time Primitive specifying a minimum period of time covered by it. Since Time-Spans may not have precisely known temporal extents, the CIDOC CRM supports statements about the minimum and maximum temporal extents of Time-Spans. This property allows a Time-Span’s minimum temporal extent (i.e., its inner boundary) to be assigned an E61 Time Primitive value. Time Primitives are treated by the CIDOC CRM as application or system specific date intervals, and are not further analysed. If different sources of evidence justify different minimum extents without contradicting each other, the smallest interval including all these extents will be the best estimate. This should be taken into account for information integration.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property allows an instance of E54 Dimension to be approximated by an instance of E60 Number primitive.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property links an instance of E65 Creation to the instance of E28 Conceptual Object created by it. It represents the act of conceiving the intellectual content of the instance of E28 Conceptual Object. It does not represent the act of creating the first physical carrier of the instance of E28 Conceptual Object. As an example, this is the composition of a poem, not its commitment to paper.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of E90 Symbolic Object with a part of it that is by itself an instance of E90 Symbolic Object, such as fragments of texts or clippings from an image.This property is transitive asymmetric.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of E7 Activity to an instance of E55 Type, which classifies an instance of E70 Thing used in an instance of E7 Activity, when the specific instance is either unknown or not of interest, such as use of "a hammer".This property is a shortcut of the more fully developed path from E7 Activity through P16 used specific object, E70 Thing, P2 has type, to E55 Type
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property identifies an instance E90 Symbolic Object carried by an instance of E18 Physical Thing. Since an instance of E90 Symbolic Object is defined as an immaterial idealization over potentially multiple carriers, any individual realization on a particular physical carrier may be defective, due to deterioration or shortcomings in the process of creating the realization compared to the intended ideal. As long as such defects do not substantially affect the complete recognition of the respective symbolic object, it is still regarded as carrying an instance of this E90 Symbolic Object. If these defects are of scholarly interest, the particular realization can be modelled as an instance of E25 Human-Made Feature. Note, that any instance of E90 Symbolic Object incorporated (P165) in the carried symbolic object is also carried by the same instance of E18 Physical Thing.
This property is the inverse of the forward property described in the scope note that follows. This property associates an instance of E13 Attribute Assignment with the instance of E1 CRM Entity about which it made an attribution. The instance of E1 CRM Entity plays the role of the domain of the attribution. The kind of attribution made should be documented using P177 assigned property of type (is type of property assigned).