A literature review of the use of a Common Language to Share Cultural Heritage Information.

What is it about?

Cultural heritage—like artworks, historical buildings, and traditions—is incredibly diverse and valuable. But as more of this information is digitized, it becomes harder to organize and share it in a meaningful way. Different museums, archives, and researchers often use their own systems, making it difficult to connect and reuse data across institutions. To help solve this, experts have developed a tool called the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC CRM). It’s like a shared language that helps describe cultural heritage in a structured and flexible way, making it easier to link information from different sources. Our study looked at how this model has been used in real-world projects. We reviewed over 130 publications to understand where and how CIDOC CRM is being applied. We found that it’s mostly used for movable heritage (like paintings or documents), and much less for intangible heritage (like oral traditions or rituals). We also noticed that many of the studies are written in a very technical way, which can make it hard for people without a background in computer science—like historians or museum professionals—to understand or use them.

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Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on Unsplash

Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Interestingly, about one-third of the projects created new extensions to the model, and half developed custom tools to support their work. This shows that while CIDOC CRM is powerful, it often needs to be adapted for specific needs. Our goal with this review is to highlight these trends and suggest ways to make the model more accessible and widely used. By doing so, we hope to support better collaboration and data sharing in the cultural heritage field.