CIDOC CRM

CIDOC CRM is an event-centric ontology for describing data in the cultural heritage domain. It is the conceptual reference model developed by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The ontology was developed with the intention of providing a way to link together heterogeneous sets of collections data detailing tangible and intangible cultural heritage managed by museums, galleries, and other heritage institutions.

CIDOC CRM has since grown into a suite of ontologies. CIDOC CRM, also referred to as CRMbase or CRMcore, is the original core ontology, and compatible models cover a number of additional domains, including bibliographic/library data, archaeology, scientific observation, and more.

Examples

• CIDOC CRM (Explorable Version)
• CIDOC CRM (Navigable Version)
• CIDOC CRM (OWL Version)
• CIDOC CRM (RDFS Version)
• CIDOC CRM (XML Version)

Further Resources

• Bruseker (2019) “Learning Ontology & CIDOC CRM”
• Bruseker, Carboni, & Guillem (2017) “Cultural Heritage Data Management: The Role of Formal Ontology and CIDOC CRM”
• Bruseker & Guillem (2021) “CIDOC CRM Game” [Game]
• Canning (2021) “Ontologies at LINCS—Part 5: LINCS and CIDOC-CRM” [Video]
• CIDOC CRM (2022) “Compatible Models & Collaborations”
• CIDOC CRM (2022) “What is the CIDOC CRM?”
• Doerr (2003) “The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Module: An Ontological Approach to Semantic Interoperability of Metadata”
• Oldman, Doerr, de Jong, Norton, & Wikman (2014) “Realizing Lessons of the Last 20 Years: A Manifesto for Data Provisioning & Aggregation Services for the Digital Humanities”
• Oldman & Kurtz (2014) “The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC-CRM): PRIMER”
• PARTHENOS (2022) “Formal Ontologies: A Complete Novice’s Guide”
• Stead (2022) “CIDOC CRM Tutorial” [Slides and Video]