Ontology Research Fields in the Cultural Heritage Domain

Abstract

Cultural Heritage (CH) refers to a vast collection of data from various professions, which is constantly updated and processed on separate platforms by experts in different fields. This complexity results in intricate knowledge structures. Achieving a universally understandable representation of CH knowledge requires the collaboration of an interdisciplinary team and the management of interoperable complex knowledge. Development of a CH ontology provides a foundation for robust Knowledge Management (KM), facilitating an interoperable platform for sustainable knowledge transfer. This study aims to identify the main research clusters of ontology research within CH literature. Scientometric analysis of bibliometric data, visualized through mapping, reveals a recent emphasis on the interoperability of ontology studies in CH and Semantic Web technologies integration. The limitations of the research are that the bibliometric search consists only of journal articles and only in English. Future research is expected to focus on the seamless integration of CH domain ontologies, Semantic Web, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to provide a comprehensive Semantic KM.