Bio​ ​CRM:​ ​A​ ​Data​ ​Model​ ​for​ ​Representing 
Biographical​ ​Data​ ​for​ ​Prosopographical​ ​Research 
Jouni​ ​Tuominen​1,2​,​ ​Eero​ ​Hyvönen​1,2​,​ ​and​ ​Petri​ ​Leskinen​1 
 
1​ ​​Semantic​ ​Computing​ ​Research​ ​Group​ ​(SeCo),​ ​Aalto​ ​University,​ ​Finland,​ ​and 
2​ ​​HELDIG​ ​–​ ​Helsinki​ ​Centre​ ​for​ ​Digital​ ​Humanities,​ ​University​ ​of​ ​Helsinki,​ ​Finland 
http://seco.cs.aalto.fi, ​ ​http://heldig.fi 
firstname.lastname@aalto.fi 

 
Keywords​:​ ​Linked​ ​Data,​ ​Data​ ​models,​ ​Biographical​ ​representation,​ ​Event-based​ ​modeling, 
Role-centric​ ​modeling,​ ​Prosopography 
 
Type​ ​of​ ​submission​:​ ​original​ ​unpublished​ ​work 
 
Biographies​ ​make​ ​a​ ​promising​ ​application​ ​case​ ​of​ ​Linked​ ​Data:​ ​they​ ​can​ ​be​ ​used,​ ​e.g.,​ ​as​ ​a 
basis​ ​for​ ​Digital​ ​Humanities​ ​research​ ​in​ ​prosopography​ ​and​ ​as​ ​a​ ​key​ ​data​ ​and​ ​linking 
resource​ ​in​ ​semantic​ ​Cultural​ ​Heritage​ ​portals.​ ​In​ ​both​ ​use​ ​cases,​ ​a​ ​semantic​ ​data​ ​model​ ​for 
harmonizing​ ​and​ ​interlinking​ ​heterogeneous​ ​data​ ​from​ ​different​ ​sources​ ​is​ ​needed.​ ​We 
present​ ​such​ ​a​ ​data​ ​model,​ ​Bio​ ​CRM​ ​[1],​ ​with​ ​the​ ​following​ ​key​ ​ideas:​ ​1)​ ​The​ ​model​ ​is​ ​a 
domain​ ​specific​ ​extension​ ​of​ ​CIDOC​ ​CRM,​ ​making​ ​it​ ​applicable​ ​to​ ​not​ ​only​ ​biographical​ ​data 
but​ ​to​ ​other​ ​Cultural​ ​Heritage​ ​data,​ ​too.​ ​2)​ ​The​ ​model​ ​makes​ ​a​ ​distinction​ ​between​ ​enduring 
unary​ ​roles​ ​of​ ​actors,​ ​their​ ​enduring​ ​binary​ ​relationships,​ ​and​ ​perduring​ ​events,​ ​where​ ​the 
participants​ ​can​ ​take​ ​different​ ​roles​ ​modeled​ ​as​ ​a​ ​role​ ​concept​ ​hierarchy.​ ​3)​ ​The​ ​model​ ​can 
be​ ​used​ ​as​ ​a​ ​basis​ ​for​ ​semantic​ ​data​ ​validation​ ​and​ ​enrichment​ ​by​ ​reasoning.​ ​4)​ ​The 
enriched​ ​data​ ​conforming​ ​to​ ​Bio​ ​CRM​ ​is​ ​targeted​ ​to​ ​be​ ​used​ ​by​ ​SPARQL​ ​queries​ ​in​ ​flexible 
ways​ ​using​ ​a​ ​hierarchy​ ​of​ ​roles​ ​in​ ​which​ ​participants​ ​can​ ​be​ ​involved​ ​in​ ​events. 
 
Bio​ ​CRM​ ​provides​ ​the​ ​general​ ​data​ ​model​ ​for​ ​biographical​ ​datasets.​ ​The​ ​individual​ ​datasets 
concerning​ ​different​ ​cultures,​ ​time​ ​periods,​ ​or​ ​collected​ ​by​ ​different​ ​researchers​ ​may 
introduce​ ​extensions​ ​for​ ​defining​ ​additional​ ​event​ ​and​ ​role​ ​types.​ ​The​ ​Linked​ ​Data​ ​approach 
enables​ ​connecting​ ​the​ ​biographies​ ​to​ ​contextualizing​ ​information,​ ​such​ ​as​ ​the​ ​space​ ​and 
time​ ​of​ ​biographical​ ​events,​ ​related​ ​persons,​ ​historical​ ​events,​ ​publications,​ ​and​ ​paintings. 
Use​ ​cases​ ​for​ ​data​ ​represented​ ​using​ ​Bio​ ​CRM​ ​include​ ​prosopographical​ ​information 
retrieval,​ ​network​ ​analysis,​ ​knowledge​ ​discovery,​ ​and​ ​dynamic​ ​analysis.  
 
The​ ​development​ ​of​ ​Bio​ ​CRM​ ​was​ ​started​ ​in​ ​the​ ​EU​ ​COST​ ​project​ ​"Reassembling​ ​the 
Republic​ ​of​ ​Letters"​ ​[2]​ ​and​ ​it​ ​is​ ​being​ ​piloted​ ​in​ ​the​ ​case​ ​of​ ​enriching​ ​and​ ​publishing​ ​the 
printed​ ​register​ ​of​ ​over​ ​10​ ​000​ ​alumni​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Finnish​ ​Norssi​ ​high​ ​school​ ​as​ ​Linked​ ​Data​ ​[3]. 
 
[1]​ ​​http://seco.cs.aalto.fi/projects/biographies/ 
[2]​ ​​http://www.republicofletters.net 
[3]​ ​Eero​ ​Hyvönen,​ ​Petri​ ​Leskinen,​ ​Erkki​ ​Heino,​ ​Jouni​ ​Tuominen​ ​and​ ​Laura​ ​Sirola: 
Reassembling​ ​and​ ​Enriching​ ​the​ ​Life​ ​Stories​ ​in​ ​Printed​ ​Biographical​ ​Registers:​ ​Norssi​ ​High 
School​ ​Alumni​ ​on​ ​the​ ​Semantic​ ​Web​.​​ ​Proceedings,​ ​Language,​ ​Technology​ ​and​ ​Knowledge 
2017.​ ​June​ ​19-20,​ ​Galway,​ ​Ireland,​ ​Springer-Verlag,​ ​2017. 

http://seco.cs.aalto.fi/projects/biographies/
http://www.republicofletters.net/
http://seco.cs.aalto.fi/publications/2017/hyvonen-et-al-norssit-2017.pdf
http://seco.cs.aalto.fi/publications/2017/hyvonen-et-al-norssit-2017.pdf
http://seco.cs.aalto.fi/publications/2017/hyvonen-et-al-norssit-2017.pdf