Legal Knowledge Modelling of Medieval Manuscript of History of Law: Linked Open Data of Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage is a vast field that encompasses a multitude of data requiring effective communication to a broad audience. Within this domain, medieval manuscripts are rich and heterogeneous collections, offering insights into historical context, physical characteristics, textual information, and artistic features. However, the integration of such diverse medieval manuscript data presents several challenges, including the need for more standardization in data formats and metadata schemas, as well as improvements in data quality. This research aims to address these modeling challenges within two distinctive collections of medieval manuscript resources: Progetto Irnerio and Mosaico. The approach begins by identifying the modeling issues present on both platforms and determining essential metadata elements. The MeLOn methodology is then applied to develop the Medieval Manuscript Data Integration Ontology (MMDIO), which is then evaluated using the FOCA methodology. This ontology extends the MeMO ontology by incorporating elements from other relevant ontologies
while also introducing new data classes and relationships that address the unique needs of iintegrating medieval manuscript data. The core initiative involves creating a Polymorphic knowledge graph that integrates data from heterogeneous sources such as Mosaico and Progetto Irnerio. This knowledge graph facilitates researchers with versatile approaches for data discovery, relationship exploration, and diverse analysis. Scholars can employ faceted search, semantic browsing, and visualization, enhancing their ability to derive insights from medieval manuscripts comprehensively. To expedite research efforts and improve accessibility, a new Linked Open Data (LOD) Platform is developed, providing medieval manuscript content on a unified platform. This initiative advances medieval manuscript representation on the semantic web, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. It supports digital preservation efforts and fosters connections across fields such as cultural heritage, digital humanities, legal studies, and computer science, opening new opportunities for exploration.