The Representation of Historical Uncertainties as the Outcome of Competing and Incompatible Certainties
Abstract
This study delves into the ontological implications associated with ‘data’ and ‘capta’, highlighting the profound importance of contextual factors and interpretation within the realm of critical discourse. More specifically, ‘data’, encapsulating the notion of objective observations of facts, differ from ‘capta’, which encompass selections, opinions, controversies, and debates. These capta elements contribute interest and added value to scholarly knowledge. The formalised separation of data and capta proves to be pivotal in shaping research practices conducive to a critical approach to knowledge production. Upon an evaluation of the efficacy of existing technologies in addressing this issue, the Conjectures model is introduced as a potential solution. This model aims to explicitly represent capta while concurrently facilitating the evolution of critical discourse within a one Knowledge Graph designed to capture complex information within a particular domain. To underscore our point, an illustrative example is drawn from the field of historiography.
Presentato: 03 Ottobre 2023 | Accettato: 18 Gennaio 2024 | Pubblicato 22 Maggio 2025 | Lingua: en
Keywords RDF • Conjectures • GLAM • Provenance • Uncertainty
Copyright © 2025 Fabio Vitali, Valentina Pasqual. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-919-1/003