In this chapter, cultural elements are either the direct production of a cultural group or elements that it has borrowed, integrated and potentially adapted from another cultural group through group-level interactions such as conquests for instance. Cultural elements are to be considered at group level and are not necessarily homogeneously known/accepted/endorsed by members of their related cultural group. Four kinds of cultural elements are defined in this chapter: core cultural ideas, tangible cultural elements, cultural practices, and ideational cultural elements.
Published in Chapter:
Structuring the Cultural Domain with an Upper Ontology of Culture
Emmanuel G. Blanchard (McGill University, Canada), Riichiro Mizoguchi (Osaka University, Japan), and Susanne P. Lajoie (McGill University, Canada)
Copyright: © 2011
|Pages: 34
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-883-8.ch009
Abstract
Study of cultural similarities and differences is an important research topic for many disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, museology, communication, management and business. This presents many potential opportunities for Information Technology specialists to develop culturally-aware technology, but it also raises the risk of inconsistent approaches of the cultural domain. In this chapter, the authors present the fundamental concepts of the Upper Ontology of Culture (UOC), a formal conceptualization of the cultural domain they developed by identifying the common backbone of culture-related disciplines and activities. As a neutral, theory-driven, and interdisciplinary conceptualization, the UOC shall provide guidelines for the development of culturally-aware applications, for the consistent computerization of cultural data and their interoperability, as well as for the development of culture-driven automatic reasoning processes.