RETOLD: Work on the documentation app

The work of the last six months has been focused on the design of a unified database that can accommodate all the data requirements for the project. With the aim of having a standard solution for all the parties we took the CIDOC-CRM specification as the base for structuring the data. CIDOC-CRM is defined as a formal ontology intended to facilitate the integration, mediation and interchange of heterogeneous cultural heritage information and similar information. This ontology tries to inform developers of information systems as a guide to good practice in conceptual modelling, to effectively structure and relate information assets of cultural documentation. Although the scope of this specification seems to fit well the objectives of the current project, it was no easy at the beginning to understand how to apply the document recommendations to build the database that this project requires. It was thanks to the communication with members of the CIDOC-CRM team that we could understand how model the project needs using the CIDOC-CRM ontology and create an initial draft of the data entities and relations required. We are now detailing and validating the database design prior to start implementing it as real database. Once the database is created, we will be able to start populating it initially with some sample data to demonstrate its use and management. The next step will be then to build the first prototype of the tool that will be used by the interested parties to add information to the system.