The PARTHENOS Project has released its latest addition to the PARTHENOS Training Suite, which is aimed at those who wish to learn about the basics of formal ontologies and semantic data. The module, titled “Formal Ontologies: A Complete Novice’s Guide” has been written with a beginner in semantic data and ontological representation of data in mind.
The module was written by Dr. George Bruseker (Institute of Computer Science of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas), in collaboration with Vicky Garnett (Trinity College Dublin) and Dr. Kristen Schuster (King’s College London). They took a different approach to creating the module in that Vicky, who also edited the module, was the eponymous ‘complete novice’, and Dr. Bruseker and Dr. Schuster are the experts. By positioning the complete novice as the editor, it meant that the content of the module was finely tuned to ensure that the concepts discussed were introduced with the right level of detail for other researchers who are new to the notion of formal ontologies, knowledge representation, and structured data.
Topics covered within the module look at ‘messy’ data, and the solutions in place to tackle this. It then leads on to introduce formal ontologies as a way of managing data, and making it more ‘interoperable’ in the process, meaning the data can be used by other researchers who wish to apply different questions to the data. Structuring data can also potentially lead a researcher to make new discoveries within their own research data.
Dr. Jennifer Edmond, who leads the overall development of training materials within the PARTHENOS Project, said: “We are very excited to develop training materials that discuss formal ontologies and semantic data, and area that can often be a little intimidating to Humanities researchers. By taking the approach of the editor being the learner in this context, we hope that the materials we have developed will provide an accessible pathway for other Humanities scholars who want to learn about ontologies and how they can open up their research data”
The Formal Ontologies module is the fourth module to have been released on the PARTHENOS Training Suite, and continues the already established ‘Train the Trainers’ approach, combining downloadable training materials such as videos, diagrams and slideshows, with online content for lecturers and trainers as well as students to use. Further training materials focussing on aspects of research in the Humanities are also due for release over the coming months.
Image in the header: “Untitled, Arches” by Tortugadata, licensed under CC0 https://pixabay.com/en/archaeological-historical-tourism-2370325/ accessed 7th Dec 2018
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