Some Remarks on Modelling from a Computer Science Perspective

In: Historical Social Research, Supplement, Heft 31, S. 163-169

Abstract

One of the basic tasks of computer science is to rewrite models derived from other scientific disciplines so that they can be represented and processed on computers. If such a reconstruction process is only partially successful or fails entirely, the modification of the initial model becomes an interdisciplinary re-search task. The modelling task is to be seen as an application of knowledge representation and processing. We distinguish between aiming at models of something or models for some purpose. Modelling of given domains starts with the construction of a formal ontology. To support issues such as modularity and interoperability, in particular in a web-based environment, the idea of reference ontologies came up. For object-based research in the humanities, the Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) by ICOM/CIDOC is such a reference ontology which has become an ISO standard.