CONCEPT MODELING FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE 

Organised by: Heritage Laboratory (LaPa) CSIC 

Directed by: César González-Pérez 

Location: Santiago de Compostela 

Dates: 2nd to 6^th of May of 2011 

Maximum number of participants: 20 

Registration fee: € 95 (possibility of 3 no-costs scholarships) 

Language: Spanish

Working on information management on Cultural Heritage requires that, sometimes, people without computer skills have to design data structures, records and other systems of information management. This course aims to introduce these people to conceptual modeling and prepare them to perform tasks such as: 

• Decide what types of items should be documented
  
• Determine how each element is described
  
• Specify how elements relate to each other
  

This is an official CSIC postgraduate course designed for students, teachers, professionals, researchers and other cultural heritage specialists who need to conceptualise, register, express and display information as part of their work. 
No previous experience, degree or coursework, is required on information modeling.

The main topics in the course include: 

• Object modeling
  
• Classes modeling
  
• Principles of modularity in modeling
  
• Relations between generalization / specialization
  
• Enumerated types and enumerated elements
  
• Asociations, roles and cardinality
  
• Whole / part relationships
  
• Model refactoring
  
• Frequently found structures in models
  

The course combines a well-built and rigorous theoretical component with a strong staging practice. Students will receive lectures that will explain, in an interactive and entertaining way, the formalisms upon which information modelling is built, including some of the latest research advances in this field. The Conceptual Modeling Language (ConML) will be used as a reference tool. 
At the same time students will receive practical training, during which they will the opportunity to do group exercises, to resolve specific problems of Cultural Heritage and to compare their models with other participants.