Archival description and semantic web: a possible wedding?

Abstract

The article presents a reflection on the possibility to insert and manage archival description within the semantic web. The chosen language for this attempt is the one of Topic Maps, standard ISO 13250, a web semantic technology collateral to RDF. Through using TMCL (Topic Maps Constraint Language), the main construction will be presented, highlighting the scalability and flexibility options offered. The data model of Topic Maps defines some elements (constructions in the vocabulary) that, if combined, allow to express and codify a illimited range of descriptions and relations; moreover, they allows to manage multiple indexes disambiguating different terms. This contributions examines carefully agreements and possibilities of a mapping between topic maps and the main archival descriptive standards, presenting and example using ISAAR(CPF). The data in a description like this should integrate with the choosen language, showing practical advantages in extra supply tools, in exchanging data with other archivistic informative systems, and in in building flexible interface.