Applying the Semantic Web: The VICODI Experience in Creating Visual Contextualization for History

Semantic Web applications in the humanities that visualize knowledge are still few and far between. The Visual Contextualization of Digital Content (VICODI) project brought together Semantic Web technologies with the concepts of contextualization and visualization of knowledge, an approach which we term visual contextualization. The goal was to enhance users’ understanding of digital content in the domain of history. It succeeded in doing this by creating an ontology-based web portal of European history where extra historical knowledge or ‘context’ is added to resources and visualized through textual hyperlinks and interactive Scalable Vector Graphics historical maps. VICODI also created a history-specific ontology. In this article the novel approach of visual contextualization is introduced in conjunction with a detailed explanation of the core elements of the VICODI portal. The article also addresses several of the problems encountered in developing a Semantic Web application for a humanities domain. ..................................................................................................................................