Constructing a semantic wiki for living cultural heritage: Case study of korean tea culture

Abstract

In recent years, the amount of digital content related to cultural heritage resources has been growing to such a degree that it can now be easily published and distributed. However, such digital content is limited to material manifestations, such as monuments and objects that have been preserved over time. According to UNESCO's definition, cultural heritage encompasses living cultural heritage, living expressions and the traditions transmitted from generation to generation, and constantly recreated by communities and groups, in response to their environment and history. Therefore, not only historical cultural heritage but also cultural items that represent current culture are essential to describing living cultural heritage. Living cultural heritage also includes intangible heritages such as practices, expressions and knowledge, as well as tangible heritages such as objects, artifacts and cultural spaces. Taking Korean tea culture as a case study, the present statement of intentions aims to develop a semantic wiki for living cultural heritage to collect and interlink various kinds of cultural heritage resources from the past to the present to show their connections. The project will collect cultural heritage resources from the public, experts, and stakeholders in open collaboration and interlink all resources using an ontological approach. At the same time, the project will create communities that lead to productive discussions between multiple agents, giving a path to allow the discovery of more information on other websites related to cultural heritage.