Christopher Johnson | Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg (original) (raw)
Papers by Christopher Johnson
There are many ways to model relationships between texts and objects. Creating statements with RD... more There are many ways to model relationships between texts and objects. Creating statements with RDF triples is one of them. In the project ‘Semantic Blumenbach’, we have endeavoured to discover and render visible the innate connections of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach’s (1752–1840) writings on natural
history with the physical objects studied and collected by him. After a careful evaluation of existing frameworks for describing objects and texts, we decided to test the Scientific Communication Infrastructure (WissKI) for this purpose.
During the project, new modules have been developed, and a workflow to connect extracted knowledge from Blumenbach’s texts with metadata of objects has been established. The data modelling, the ingest workflow, and project evaluation in the context of the on-going discussion about Linking TEI and CIDOC
Conceptual Reference Model are subjects of this article.
This thesis proposes a new class of heritage termed a Virtual Monument. It then develops an ontol... more This thesis proposes a new class of heritage termed a Virtual Monument. It then develops an ontological and semiotic model to validate this proposition by instantiating Wikipedia as a member
object. Starting from the premise that Wikipedia represents a culturally significant Tradition of Events, the discourse defines the project and establishes the semantic terms, sourced primarily from
the CIDOC CRM, from which this can be logically reasoned. The semiotic model develops the concept of Tradition as measurable with the quantitative indicators of transmission frequency and scope. An expression for evaluating the persistence of these indicators over time is developed using Haldane’s Evolutionary Rate application of natural logarithms. And, it introduces the metric of Identity Value as a qualitative indicator defined as a function of applied identity criteria. Further, a philosophical foundation for the notion that cultural phenomena represent transmissions of identity is developed in reference to existential semiotics. The limitations of the current World Heritage Framework are then highlighted in relation to this new class.
This paper describes an independent study project conducted from 6 September 2013 to 01 February... more This paper describes an independent study project conducted from 6 September 2013 to 01 February 2014.
The study project examined the initiative “Semantic Blumenbach” developed by the Academy of Science and Humanities at Göttingen in a project of the Lower Saxony Digital Humanities Research Collaboration (DHFV) at the Göttingen Centre for Digital Humanities (GCDH) to explore and apply Semantic Web technologies to establish methods for providing and presenting linked data. These technologies model the semantic relationships between objects described by TEI-encoded texts of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and metadata of these items stored today in several University collections.
This paper examines these questions: How has GIS been implemented towards effective management,... more This paper examines these questions:
How has GIS been implemented towards effective management, planning and development in the Palestinian Territory of Bethlehem? What is the promise of this technology?
What are the problems that obstruct its implementation?
The research presented in this paper began with the popular romantic notion that the discovery of... more The research presented in this paper began with the popular romantic notion that the discovery of mainland North America by Ponce de Leon in 1519 was inspired by a motivation to find “The Fountain of Youth”. Awareness of the unusual hydrological science of Florida, and the particularly grand limestone spring formations, then led to the proposition that there was an interchange of myth and knowledge of these formations from the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean to the early explorers.
This paper discusses the 2011 energy performance initiative at the iconic modernist world heritag... more This paper discusses the 2011 energy performance initiative at the iconic modernist world heritage structure where new steel windows were manufactured to replicate the appearance and function of the original 1926 installation.
This paper explains the establishment, governance and implementation of the European Stability Me... more This paper explains the establishment, governance and implementation of the European Stability Mechanism and defines the socio-political implications of macro-prudential policy using statistical index models including the Human Development Index and the Democracy Index.
This document follows the “Format for the nomination of properties for inscription on the World H... more This document follows the “Format for the nomination of properties for inscription on the World Heritage List” per Annex 5 of the 2012 Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World
Heritage Convention
This paper discusses the implementation of a MediaWiki website as a multilingual documentation pl... more This paper discusses the implementation of a MediaWiki website as a multilingual documentation platform for the Forschungsdatenzentrum, IANUS.
Organizational systems integration is a primary task in heritage management intervention.
Presentations by Christopher Johnson
There are many ways to model relationships between texts and objects. Creating statements with RD... more There are many ways to model relationships between texts and objects. Creating statements with RDF triples is one of them. In the project ‘Semantic Blumenbach’, we have endeavoured to discover and render visible the innate connections of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach’s (1752–1840) writings on natural
history with the physical objects studied and collected by him. After a careful evaluation of existing frameworks for describing objects and texts, we decided to test the Scientific Communication Infrastructure (WissKI) for this purpose.
During the project, new modules have been developed, and a workflow to connect extracted knowledge from Blumenbach’s texts with metadata of objects has been established. The data modelling, the ingest workflow, and project evaluation in the context of the on-going discussion about Linking TEI and CIDOC
Conceptual Reference Model are subjects of this article.
This thesis proposes a new class of heritage termed a Virtual Monument. It then develops an ontol... more This thesis proposes a new class of heritage termed a Virtual Monument. It then develops an ontological and semiotic model to validate this proposition by instantiating Wikipedia as a member
object. Starting from the premise that Wikipedia represents a culturally significant Tradition of Events, the discourse defines the project and establishes the semantic terms, sourced primarily from
the CIDOC CRM, from which this can be logically reasoned. The semiotic model develops the concept of Tradition as measurable with the quantitative indicators of transmission frequency and scope. An expression for evaluating the persistence of these indicators over time is developed using Haldane’s Evolutionary Rate application of natural logarithms. And, it introduces the metric of Identity Value as a qualitative indicator defined as a function of applied identity criteria. Further, a philosophical foundation for the notion that cultural phenomena represent transmissions of identity is developed in reference to existential semiotics. The limitations of the current World Heritage Framework are then highlighted in relation to this new class.
This paper describes an independent study project conducted from 6 September 2013 to 01 February... more This paper describes an independent study project conducted from 6 September 2013 to 01 February 2014.
The study project examined the initiative “Semantic Blumenbach” developed by the Academy of Science and Humanities at Göttingen in a project of the Lower Saxony Digital Humanities Research Collaboration (DHFV) at the Göttingen Centre for Digital Humanities (GCDH) to explore and apply Semantic Web technologies to establish methods for providing and presenting linked data. These technologies model the semantic relationships between objects described by TEI-encoded texts of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and metadata of these items stored today in several University collections.
This paper examines these questions: How has GIS been implemented towards effective management,... more This paper examines these questions:
How has GIS been implemented towards effective management, planning and development in the Palestinian Territory of Bethlehem? What is the promise of this technology?
What are the problems that obstruct its implementation?
The research presented in this paper began with the popular romantic notion that the discovery of... more The research presented in this paper began with the popular romantic notion that the discovery of mainland North America by Ponce de Leon in 1519 was inspired by a motivation to find “The Fountain of Youth”. Awareness of the unusual hydrological science of Florida, and the particularly grand limestone spring formations, then led to the proposition that there was an interchange of myth and knowledge of these formations from the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean to the early explorers.
This paper discusses the 2011 energy performance initiative at the iconic modernist world heritag... more This paper discusses the 2011 energy performance initiative at the iconic modernist world heritage structure where new steel windows were manufactured to replicate the appearance and function of the original 1926 installation.
This paper explains the establishment, governance and implementation of the European Stability Me... more This paper explains the establishment, governance and implementation of the European Stability Mechanism and defines the socio-political implications of macro-prudential policy using statistical index models including the Human Development Index and the Democracy Index.
This document follows the “Format for the nomination of properties for inscription on the World H... more This document follows the “Format for the nomination of properties for inscription on the World Heritage List” per Annex 5 of the 2012 Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World
Heritage Convention
This paper discusses the implementation of a MediaWiki website as a multilingual documentation pl... more This paper discusses the implementation of a MediaWiki website as a multilingual documentation platform for the Forschungsdatenzentrum, IANUS.
Organizational systems integration is a primary task in heritage management intervention.