Correspondence and Epistolary Research Ontology

This class encompasses the physical expression of a letter, namely the original manuscript as a communication object. It encompasses various information, such as the textual content of the letter. Its primary function was to facilitate the exchange of textual messages between two or more individuals.

This class comprises the part of the predicate in the form of terms that serve as semantic concepts, describing the scope or range of the verb within the implicit semantic statements mentioned in the letters of the early Romanticism period. In this project, instances of CER10 Proposition are terms from the controlled vocabulary 'Correspondences of Early Romanticism: Propositions’. Its instances consist of terms related to knowledge transfer, intellectual exchange, and collaborative working processes, specifically in connection with research findings in Romanticism studies, letter studies, and the knowledge about the cultural aspects of everyday life during the 1800s.

This class comprises general topics or keywords that are implicitly mentioned within the letters of the early Romanticism period. In contrast to the instances of CER10 Propositions, these issues represent more general and common subjects of a letter, akin to terms found in a 'Schlagwortkatalog' (subject catalogue). In contradistinction to the CER8 Statement Class, which delineates content concerning knowledge transfer, intellectual exchange, and collaborative working processes within the letter texts, the terms enumerated in this class constitute broader thematic aspects of the entire letter.

This class comprises the activities making up processes of correspondence items involving at least two persons. This class and its subclasses have been adapted from the TEI standard for correspondences, specifically drawing from the correspAction element. The aim of this class is to refine categorization in order to illuminate the multifaceted layers inherent in the transmission of written communication. Even though the correspAction element covers the sending, receiving, transmitting, redirecting and forwarding correspondence items, due to the scope of the project, the Version 2.0 of the CER-ontology presently encompasses solely the sending and receiving actions. If needed, additional classes can easily be added by other projects This decision is due to the fact that the current database contains annotations only for the sending and receiving actions, which are consequently the only ones within our current scope of the knowledge domain.

• Sending ^c
• Receiving ^c

This class comprises the sending process of correspondence items involving at least two persons. It has been adapted from the TEI standard for correspondences, specifically drawing from the correspAction element. The aim of this class is to supply information concerning the sending or dispatch of a message.

This class comprises the receiving process of correspondence items involving at least two persons. It has been adapted from the TEI standard for correspondences, specifically drawing from the correspAction element. The aim of this class is to supply information concerning the receipt of a message.

This class comprises the various editing events that lead to the creation and development of instances of CER2 Reference Data Set. It provides insights into the editing process, offering a comprehensive overview and, at times, specific details regarding the editing procedure.

This class comprises identification numbers of authority records, such as the geonames ID of a place or the GND ID of a person. Due to the importance of authority records for the semantic web and LO(U)D and their role in uniquely identifying entities across databases, the subclass was created to set these records apart from other authority documents as specified by E32 Authority Document. It serves to enhance the metadata of letters and provides additional information about instances mentioned within the letters. These identification numbers contribute to enriching the contextual details and knowledge associated with the instances.

The class CER17 Person refers exclusively to editors and historical persons, as these are the only persons collected in the data.

• assigned gender attribute to ^op
• had participant ^op

This class refers to the time-span in which an event or an activity took place. In the CER data, this corresponds mainly to correspondence actions (CER12 Correspondence Action), editing processes (CER15 Editing) but also to other events such as CER24 Co-Presence. Instances of this class can also contain uncertain or editorially inferred dates. Computable values of certain dates are given via the subclasses CER26 Start-Date and CER27 End-Date.

This class is used to refer to places involved in a Correspondence Action (CER12 Correspondence Action) and places which are mentioned in a letter text (CER4 Index Information). They may have an additional authority record like geo names (CER16 Authority Record) but this is not mandatory. Places are not used to give more information about the provenance of a letter, as this is not within the ontology’s scope.

The scope of the ontology covers databases documenting initial transcription and editing of letters but also cases where existing data is gathered and integrated into a secondary database, i.e. a knowledge graph. This class is intended to reference the datasets which are the basis of the secondary database. Therefore, the purpose of this class is to provide a reference for the provenience of the data and to document the editing process of the letters as far as it has happened prior to integration into the current database.

• documents ^op
• infers ^op

This class defines the language in which the letter text (CER3 Lettertext) of a letter from the romantic circle is written. A letter text may have more than one language.

The class CER21 Identifier comprises codes in the form of numbers assigned to instances of all classes in order to identify them uniquely and permanently.

This class represents the process by which a historical person's gender is assigned through external institutional labeling. The process may involve extracting gender information linked to a person's authority record in the German National Library, or assigning gender via an internal project workflow using the Python library 'gender_guesser' and manual annotation. The assignment of gender is a culturally constructed practice and therefore inherently biased.

• assigned gender attribute to ^op
• assigned gender property of type ^op

This class comprises the Assigned Gender of a Person (CER17). It does not reflect a (historical) person's self-description of their gender but rather an external labeling through an institution. Gender is therefore defined following Joan W. Scott’s definition described in the essay “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis” (1986), where she describes gender not simply as a synonym for biological sex, but as a primary way of signifying relationships of power. Scott explains that gender operates on two interrelated levels: First, as a constitutive element of social relationships — it organizes social structures, symbols, norms, and identities through the meanings attributed to sexual difference. Second, as a primary field of power — it is a means through which power is articulated, negotiated, and institutionalized in society. Gender is therefore both a cultural construction and a social mechanism of power — not a natural or fixed attribute. It is a historical category that helps explain how societies create and maintain hierarchies and inequalities

This class represents the event of co-presence when two historical actors were present at the same time at the same place. This event is inferred from temporal and spatial information given in the letters.

• had participant ^op
• has confidence value ^op

This class represents the probability of an assumption derived through reasoning processes in the data, thereby reflecting the uncertainties and ambiguities of inferred events. While values can be given numerically to be able to compute them, they do not reflect actual probabilities but approximations based on qualitative analysis of the inferred relations. For example, in the reasoning process for co-presence, where a confidence value is assigned to the inferred relationship, the highest value is 90% to highlight the uncertainties of historical records and of the assumptions built up around them. It is for this reason that the class is modelled as a subclass of E55 Type instead of, for example, E54 Dimension, to highlight the interpretative nature of the value.

This class represents the beginning of a CER18 Time-Span, expressed in computable values in ISO-format.

This class represents the end of a CER18 Time-Span, expressed in computable values in ISO-format.

This class comprises the textual representation of a letter, specifically focusing on its semantic, written content. It does not address the material aspects of the letter, meaning that the origin of the text (whether from the original manuscript or a printed version) is not considered. In this project, the texts are transcribed and edited in adherence to the guidelines of the Digital Edition of the Correspondence of August Wilhelm Schlegel (KAWS). Following these guidelines, the texts are in diplomatic transcription.

• has language ^op
• has generic term ^op
• has component ^op

• implied in ^op
• carries ^op

This class comprises index information referring to the semantic representation of historical persons, historical periodicals, historical works, historical institutions and places within the text of a letter. This means that entities of this class represent a textual conceptualization of these historical persons, periodicals, works, institutions, and places, not their physical manifestation, which is expressed in the classes CER17 Person, CER19 Place, CER5 Periodical, CER6 Work and CER7 Institution.

• lists ^op
• has subject ^op
• has object ^op
• has component ^op

This class comprises periodicals that are referenced, mentioned, and discussed within the letters of the early Romanticism period.

This class comprises works that are mentioned, talked about and discussed within the letters of the period of early Romanticism. At this stage of the project, the instances of the class CER6 Work hold information about the title and author(s) of a certain work. Some of the instances may also contain information translations, receptions e.g. about the work.

This class comprises historical institutions that are referenced, discussed, and mentioned within the letters of the early Romanticism period, as well as the institutions accountable for managing and curating the data of the letters associated with the research project.

This class comprises semantic statements that are implicitly mentioned within the letters of the early Romanticism period and extracted into a formal syntax by an editor. These statements are defined as 'grundlegenden Einheiten einer Erzählung' and describe content related to knowledge transfer, intellectual exchange, and collaborative working processes within the letter texts. Although the actual content of these statements is written by a historical person, the implicit and intended meaning, expressed through general terms of a controlled vocabulary, is provided by an editor. It is important to note that modelling such statements involves inherent uncertainty and subjectivity. The statement class serves as a framing point connected to the classes that make up the contents of the statements. In general, the syntax of these statements can take two forms: either a triple in the form of Subject – Illocution (as Predicate, represented by a verb) – Object (SPO-Triple), or a quadruple in the form of Subject – Illocution (as Predicate, represented by a verb) – Proposition (as an expanded part of the Predicate that describes the range of the verb) – Object. The elements subject and object are represented through the class CER4 Index Information. Within the project context, the Subject element is only represented through a Person, ergo an instance from the class CER17 Person. Anyhow this may change, depending on the usage of the ontology. To ensure the flexibility of the model, the decision was made to keep it open and so not to set a constraint. The predicate in form of illocution respectively proposition is represented through the class CER9 Illocution respectively CER10 Proposition. The instances of this class are represented by statement IDs, which contain information about the triple or quadruple structure of the statement.

• implied in ^op
• has subject ^op
• has object ^op
• has illocution ^op
• has proposition ^op

This class comprises the part of the predicate in the form of a verb within the implicit semantic statements mentioned in the letters of the early Romanticism period. In this project, instances of CER9 Illocution are terms from the controlled vocabulary 'Correspondences of Early Romanticism: Illocutions'. Its instances consist of verbs related to knowledge transfer, intellectual exchange, and collaborative working processes. The illocutions follow Searle's illocutionary types, which classify verbs into assertive, directive, commissive, expressive, and declarative groups.

This property associates an instance of CER16 Authority Recordt, with an instance of CER4 Index Information (e.g. mentioned persons, places, periodicals, works and/or institutions) which it lists for reference purposes.

This property describes the appearance of one or more statements within the text of a letter. It connects a statement with the lettertext in which this statement is mentioned implicitly.

This property documents that an instance of the Index Information (CER4) within lettertext is about a specific thing in the real world like a Person (CER17), Institution (CER7), Work (CER6), Periodical (CER5) or Place (CER19). The instance of the Index Information (CER4) represents the textual abstraction of these things in the context of a letter. Nevertheless these things exist as realities in the real world independently of the letter or its context.

This property associates an instance of CER8 Statement with an instance of CER4 Index Information in the role of subject of this statement. For the knowledge domain in the CER-ontology, only Index Information which is about a Person (CER17) can be attributed as subjects. This is expressed through restrictions in the logical data model, but on a conceptual level all entities in a letter can potentially be assigned as subjects of a statement.

This property associates an instance of CER8 Statement with the instance of CER4 Index Information used in the attribution. As a result, the instance of CER4 Index Information becomes the object of this statement.

This property associates an instance of CER8 Statement with an instance of CER9 Illocution, which has the role of the verb or predicate in this statement. It constitutes as the connection between the subject and the object of a statement and is mandatory.

This property associates an instance of CER8 Statement with an instance of CER10 Proposition, which serves as an expansion that specifies the range of the verb or predicate in a statement. It gives more context to the illocution of a statement and is optional.

This property describes the connection between an instance of a CER2 Reference Data Set that documents an instance of CER3 Lettertext or CER1 Letter. This property intent is to show that this Reference Data Set (CER2) isn't representing the content of a letter as a whole but only the parts of a letter (in this case the lettertext). Both lettertext and letter are the result of an editing process. Even though the original manuscript existed in the real world, an instance of Letter (CER1) embodies its representation in scholarly editions, as digital copies and inferred letters. These representations are then collected in an editing software, which is the database for instances of CER1 Letter. The Lettertext (CER3) which is referred to is already an edited text in terms of a research object, which is making a proposition about reality.

This property links an instance of CER15 Editing to the instance of CER2 Reference Data Set, which was created in an editing process. Thereby it represents the research process of conceptualising the intellectual content of the instance of CER2 Reference Data Set. It does not necessarily represent the act of creating the first digital carrier of the instance of CER2 Reference Data Set, but rather the process that concludes to the data set which represents the sources (the lettertexts) in the project “Correspondence of Early Romanticism''.

This property links an instance of CER18 Time-Span to an instance of either CER26 Start-Date or CER27 End-Date, representing the beginning and end points of the time-span.

• Start-Date ^c
• End-Date ^c

This property describes the identification of any item in this knowledge domain by a unique identifier.

This property links an instance of CER2 Reference Data Set to an instance of CER24 Co-Presence. The interpretation of the CER2 Reference Data Set provides the basis for the assumption or inference that a co-presence between two historical actors occurred, thereby giving rise to this assertion.

This property links a Gender Assignment (CER22) to a Person (CER17), indicating the assigned gender value (female, male, or unknown). This assignment does not necessarily reflect the gender a historical person would use to describe themselves, but rather the interpretation of the institution responsible for the assignment.

This property links an instance of CER22 Gender Assignment to an instance of CER23 Assigned Gender, thereby connecting the process of assigning a person's gender with the resulting gender type.

This property describes the participation of at least two instances of the class CER17 Person to an inferred Co-Presence (CER24).

This property assigns a confidence value to an event inferred in a reasoning process which describes the probability of this event having taken place. As, at this point in time, the CIDOC CRM does not allow the connection of measurements or other value attributes to events, this property is modelled as a subproperty of P2 has type (is type of).

This property describes a specific language in which the text of a letter is written. A text can have one more than language.

This property defines that an instance of Letter (CER1) as a physical manifestation carries the Lettertext (CER3) as its textual representation. Textual representation for the CER knowledge domain is defined as the content of a letter in its written form.

This property documents that an instance of a Lettertext (CER3) is about a generic theme (CER11) which describes as a general and common subject the text as a whole, similar to a keyword.

This property associates an instance of CER3 Lettertext with instances of Index Information (CER4) mentioned within this lettertext. These instances of Index Information (CER4) are by themself a structural part of the Lettertext (CER3) they are mentioned in.

This property associates an instance of CER12 Correspondence Action or CER15 Editing or CER24 Co-Presence with one instance of CER18 Time-Span during which the Correspondence Action (CER12) (like Sending (CER13) or Receiving (CER14)) or the Editing process or the inferred Co-Presence of two historical actors was ongoing. The associated instance of CER18 Time-Span is understood as the real time-span during which the phenomena making up the temporal entity instance were active.

This property describes the Place (CER19) where a Correspondence Action (CER12) happened, meaning the sending and receiving place, as well as the where the Co-Presence (CER24) of two histociral actors, inferred through reasoning-processes, occured.

This property describes the Person (CER17) involved in or responsible for an Editing (Activity) (CER 15) or for a Correspondence Action (CER12), for example sender(s) or receiver(s) of a letter or the Institution (CER7) responsible for a person's Gender Assignment (CER22) in the data.

This property relates an instance of CER12 Correspondence Action with instances of CER1 Letter, which was created specifically for this Correspondence Action. This means that the intended use of a letter in the knowledge domain of the CER-ontology is that it’s part of a Correspondence Action. The Correspondence Action (in Sending or Receiving) is the crucial difference between a text as a document or composition and a text as a letter in terms of a communication medium.