Practice-Based Ontologies: A New Approach to Address the Challenges of Ontology and Knowledge Representation in History and Archaeology

Data production in history and archaeology far outpaces data processing. In order to apply computers to this problem, historical data must be converted to machine-readable forms. This process is easy for domains of knowledge that have explicit terminology, but history and archaeology lack these characteristics. This study therefore proposes a phenomenological approach to requirements gathering for knowledge representation and ontology systems for historians and archaeologists. The approach utilizes qualitative and ethnographic research methods to gather data on practitioners’ reasoning and knowledge practices. The design requirements for ontology design can be extracted from the ‘thick description’ produced by this process, and used to build ‘practice-based ontologies.’ This paper presents the theoretical framework and early outcomes of ethnographic research with archaeologists in practice at the University of Pennsylvania.