Open Access and the Semantic Web
The Corpus of Baroque Ceiling Painting in Germany (CbDD) is dedicated to making all research findings freely accessible to the public through an internet platform, following the principles of Open Access. The project remains adaptive to evolving standards and embraces continuous development within the realm of the Semantic Web. Specifically tailored to the requirements of this image-focused research project, an online publication database will be hosted at the Deutsche Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg.
Bridging Art History and Digital Humanities
This comprehensive and accessible internet publication ensures that Baroque ceiling painting is made available to researchers, the general public, and on an international scale. Given its significance as a unique form of pictorial art intricately linked to architectural settings, it warrants special attention as a subject of transnational and interdisciplinary interest. The database, equipped with links to additional tools, offers readers new opportunities that traditional book publications cannot provide. Embracing cutting-edge technologies such as digital photography and multimedia visualizations, the documentation leverages the potential of digital humanities, enabling art historical research on the Baroque to benefit from the latest innovations.
Web-Based Work Provides New Perspectives
The Corpus of Baroque Ceiling Painting in Germany project utilizes a virtual research environment called WissKI, short for "Wissenschaftliche KommunikationsInfrastruktur" (Scientific Communication Infrastructure). WissKI represents a systematic advancement of the Wiki concept, providing a collaborative work platform where data is entered and stored. This platform enables researchers to work independently of location while fostering collaboration.
Enhanced Research, Presentation, and Distribution
Compared to traditional print publications, the web-based approach offers numerous advantages in terms of research, presentation, and distribution of research results. Simultaneously, it serves as a foundation for printed publications, supplying research material for manual use and decentralized archiving.
New Possibilities of Visualization
Digital processing and publication of the material unlock new opportunities for combining images and text, as well as exploring novel forms of visualization, including hyperlinks within digital illustrations. The project also explores 3D modeling, providing fresh avenues for visualizing the spatial relations between this unique form of interior decoration and architecture, facilitating future comparisons and research.
WissKI: Interactive Multimedia Work Platform
WissKI offers comprehensive functions for interactive work with multimedia records, enabling structured texts linked with photos, graphs, maps, and 3D visualizations. Data storage occurs in an ontology-based triple store, employing the latest technologies. This allows for global interconnections between research results and other data repositories via Linked Data.
Global Interlinking and Open Access
The data model employed is compatible with ISO Standard 21127 (CIDOC-CRM) for the exchange and integration of scientific information related to cultural heritage. Structured data entry utilizes controlled vocabulary and standard data (such as Getty-Thesauri, VIAF, GND), facilitating global interlinking of research results. Texts, graphs, and images will be published on an online platform following the principles of Open Access, with step-by-step publication and a flexible querying system. The publication platform of the Corpus of Baroque Ceiling Painting in Germany will be interconnected with repositories like DDB or Europeana.
Long-Term Server Storage and Collaborative Development
The digital platform is stored on long-term servers maintained by the LRZ. WissKI software development is funded by the DFG and is a collaborative effort involving the Digital Humanities Research Group of Computer Science at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the Museum-Computer-Science Department at the Germanische Nationalmuseum (GNM) in Nürnberg, and the Biodiversity Informatics Group at the Zoologische Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK) in Bonn.