CulturalWiki: A Semantic Map-Based Wiki for Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Abstract

The use of digital maps capitalizes on the long tradition of using paper maps as mean of communication and learning among people. More than ever, maps are becoming one of the most used metaphors to present concepts and knowledge. This paper presents a wiki infrastructure for map-based information systems’ design that, through an ontology, defines a semantic model able to minimize the problems in communication across interdisciplinary communities by putting together cultural information from different data sources. Using map-oriented solution, the wiki is aimed at enabling intercultural collaboration and learning among all the stakeholders involved in cultural heritage projects. A living lab based on the use of the CulturalWiki framework is described and the results of evaluations are presented.

Keywords

• Wiki
• maps
• collaboration
• interdisciplinary projects
• learning
• education
• semantics
• ontologies