ccllaa / saso

A simple ontology for describing the structure of software-based artwork systems

Software-based Artwork Structure Ontology (SASO)

The Software-based Artwork Structure Ontology is a simple ontology for describing the structure of software-based artwork systems. The ontology was created in the Protégé 5.2 authoring tool and is shared here as an RDF/XML format OWL 2 ontology.

The model is intended to provide a structured representation of software-based artwork systems (i.e. the constellation of hardware and software components of which they consist) through time, as both a form of architectural overview and as a preservation information resource. Although designed in the context of describing software-based artworks, the ontology could describe other structures where a performance-based model of software is relevant.

Further information, including mappings to PREMIS 3.0 semantic units, can be found in the associated PhD thesis, 'Technical Narratives: Analysis, Description and Representation in the Conservation of Software-based Art', available to download from the King's College London research outputs system.

The version of the ontology published here is likely to remain static for the foreeable future, as my attention has shifted to related research: most notably, models for documentation and collection metadata in development at Tate. These have been developed as part of ongoing research within Tate's Time-based Media Conservation team. Outputs of this research, including the metadata models, will be shared online at some point in 2019/2020.