Heritage Risk Assessment Ontology (HeRO)

Abstract

The Heritage Risk Assessment Ontology (HeRO, https://w3id.org/sirius/ontology/hero) is an OWL 2 DL ontology for describing risk assessment activities related to heritage in a FAIR-compliant, machine-actionable format.

Introduction

In recent decades, the role of cultural heritage in disaster management has been increasingly recognized as a fundamental facilitator for post-disaster recovery, development and resilience (Ravankhah et al. 2017) as well as fostering a sense of community and identity (Minguez Garcia 2020). However, it is challenging to put in place adequate risk management strategies against possible threats to heritage institutions and the artifacts they work to preserve, manage, and share with both academia and the general public. Obstacles within cultural heritage institutions like galleries, museums, libraries, and archives include methodological divergences between research communities (Bullock 2012), an inadequate knowledge of the assets and the inability to evaluate their worth from a non-market perspective (Taboroff 2000), lack of knowledge sharing, the need for better communication between different disciplines involved in heritage risk assessment, and the need to engage more effectively with local stakeholders (Durrent 2023) (Adger et al. 2013). Furthermore, with the emergence of digital technologies and their increasing use in the cultural heritage sector, there are also growing concerns about the preservation, sustainability, accessibility and usability of digital materials over time (McHugh et al. 2007) (Vermaaten et al. 2012).

Project CHANGES (Cultural Heritage Active Innovation For Next-Gen Sustainable Society), an EU-funded initiative that began in December 2022, serves as the operational framework for the research described in this document. In addition to integrating important social functions such as accessibility, inclusivity, critical thinking, participation, enjoyment and sustainability into the field of cultural heritage, CHANGES aims to increase public engagement and promote sustainable cultural heritage curation and management practices in accordance with the European Cultural Heritage guidelines. In particular, one of the research lines pursued within CHANGES is dedicated to develop and apply integrated methodologies, strategies and approaches to support the processes of historical understanding, conservation, restoration, monitoring, sustainable and participatory planning in multi-layered contexts of cultural heritage. The present work falls into this specific area of investigation. Specifically, the SIRIUS project, initiated by the University of Bologna's Department of Cultural Heritage, aims to streamline the process of assessing heritage-related risks and effectively communicate this information to the general public by creating localized guidelines for disaster risk management in the context of cultural, environmental, and digital heritage. These localized versions are then projected into a higher level of abstraction, where they become general guidelines that revolve around prevalent terminologies and methodologies able to describe most objects, contexts and situations related to risk heritage management.

This, however, poses a number of challenges. Indeed, risk assessment is a complex process that involves a number of different activities, ranging from examining the context surrounding the object being examined to identifying potential hazards threatening its integrity, to assessing their impact in terms of loss of value, developing treatment options, and so on. More generally, the concept of risk is inherently tethered with the notions of value, uncertainty, subjective interpretation and objective analysis (Sales et al. 2018), thus making its ontological status extremely difficult to deal with (Aven et al. 2011). In order to meet the requirements of the aforementioned projects, the formal representation ensure by the use of technologies such as ontologies (Uschold and Gruninger 1996) (Guarino et al. 2009) was deemed to be appropriate for describing the domain of heritage risk assessment in a way that facilitates the management, access, interoperability and reusability of data related to heritage risk to both the research community and the general public (Ding et al. 2007) (Nota et al. 2010).

A previous paper (Barzaghi 2023) addressed how to formulate a machine-readable representation of the risk assessment process as specified in the ABC method (Coelho et al. 2023), a risk assessment framework used to meet the scientific and communicative needs of SIRIUS. The result of this study was the first draft of the Heritage Risk Assessment Ontology (HeRO, https://w3id.org/sirius/ontology/hero/1.0.0/), an OWL 2 DL ontology for reppresenting machine-readable heritage risk assessment procedures. The study examined the process by which HeRO has been designed and developed. Then, it introduced the model proper, and showcased its application through an exemplary use case. Finally, it concluded by illustrating a series of indications for possible ways to enhance the model in the future. These included the need to enhance the model's adaptability to different contexts (e.g. other forms of heritage, including digital cultural heritage) and different risk assessment methodologies. After all, the first version of HeRO was explicitly focused on the ABC method, which - while quite used - is not the most widespread risk assessment methodology. Thus, HeRO suffered from employing a series of classes and properties tailored too tight to a single methodology and the tangible type of cultural heritage. This greatly limited the model's FAIRness, especially in terms of its reusability and interoperability, and thus its possibility to formally describe the heritage risk management domain and somehow align such description with other existing and widespread models, such as the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (Doerr 2005) and Ontology Design Patterns (ODPs) (Gangemi and Presutti 2009).

This document presents the latest iteration of HeRO, which involves a significant overhaul of its original framework. Its objective still consists in describing risk assessment procedures within the cultural heritage sector in a format that is machine-actionable. This updated version maintains a pattern-based approach, but now transforms the entire ontology into a generalized pattern for representing assessments as activities that attribute scientific assertions about conceptual categories to any type of examinable entity, whether physical or conceptual. Notably, this pattern aligns seamlessly with CIDOC CRM, the predominant ontology in the heritage domain; this alignment is expressed through the use of the skos:closeMatch property. In addition, HeRO is explicitly grounded in the FAIR principles, particularly those pertaining to interoperability and reusability.

HeRO: Overview back to ToC

This ontology has the following classes and properties.

Classes

• Activity
• Agent
• Document
• Information object
• Linguistic object
• Place
• Time interval
• Type

Object Properties

• assigns
• assigns to
• carries out
• documents
• expresses
• follows
• has component
• has location
• has participant
• has time interval
• has type
• is assigned by
• is attributed by of
• is carried out by
• is component of
• is documented by
• is location of
• is motivated by
• is participant in
• is referred to by
• is time interval of
• precedes
• uses

Data Properties

• has content
• has note
• interval has end date
• interval has start date

Description

The Heritage Risk Assessment Ontology (HeRO, https://w3id.org/sirius/ontology/hero) is a OWL 2 DL ontology for describing risk assessment activities in the cultural and environmental heritage domain in a machine-actionable format. It was developed by using a slightly modified version of the Simplified Agile Methodology for Ontology Development (SAMOD).

Both HeRO and its documentation are living artefacts that have been and still are being drafted in the context of the Project CHANGES ("Cultural Heritage Active Innovation For Next-Gen Sustainable Society"), an EU-funded project that aims at increasing, in the Italian context, the curation, and management of cultural heritage artefacts in all forms, expanding the involvement of the general public, making the exhibition potential more sustainable, and including crucial social functions (accessibility, inclusiveness, critical thinking, participation, enjoyment, sustainability) into the cultural heritage environment.

Currently, HeRO is able to describe the following entities:

• Assessment activities and their provenance information (who carried out or participated in an activity, when, where, what was done, and how);
• Linguistic objects (scientific observations, statements, assertions, speculations, etc.), assigned to objects being examined during assessment activites;
• Information objects (concepts, classifications, categories, etc.), referred to by the linguistic objects and representing the aspects and attributes related in some way to the objects being examined during assessment activities.

The current version of HeRO reuses a series of Ontology Design Patterns (ODPs) by defining its own set of classes and properties and conceptualizing them as subclasses and subproperties of the reused ODPs' entities. More specifically, HeRO reuses the following models:

• Basic Plan Execution ODP
• Componency ODP
• Friend Of A Friend
• Intension Extension ODP
• Object Role ODP
• Participation ODP
• Place ODP
• Provenance Ontology
• Sequence ODP
• Situation ODP
• Dublin Core Terms
• Time Indexed Situation ODP
• Time Interval ODP

A full version of HeRO is available at https://w3id.org/sirius/ontology/hero.

The next subsections provide a quick overview of all the entities defined, some exemple of usage, and some of the queries that HeRO can answer.

Assessment activities

In HeRO, the concept of assessment activity represents the core abstraction around which the rest of the ontology is built. As shown in the following diagram, an assessment activity is a first-class object related to a series of other entities that populate and signify its context.

As previously mentioned, HeRO draws constructs from ODPs and uses them as super classes and super properties of its own entities to accurately represent the processes outlined by a risk assessment endeavor, as well as the concepts and relations implicitly expressed in such processes. In particular, an assessment activity (hero:Activity) is a situated action that involves gaining and producing scientific knowledge about some entity being observed by assigning to that entity a series of assertions referring to concepts used to make the assessment. As a result, it has been modelled as a subclass of tisit:TimeIndexedSituation and planex:Action that assigns to a object (owl:Thing) a series of "linguistic objects" (hero:LinguisticObject) representing scientific observations, statements or assertions related to that object. Multiple activities can be sequentialized one after the other with hero:precedes. In addition, an assessment activity is enriched with a packet of additional information covering its type (hero:Type), its temporal horizon (ti:TimeInterval), its geographic context (place:Place), the agents involved in its realization (foaf:Agent), the material documenting how the activity was carried out and based on what sources (foaf:Document), and its textual description (hero:hasNote).

Scientific assertions and concepts

As illustrated in the previous section, an assessment activity assigns a series of assertions to the objects being examined. As shown in the following diagram, an assertion (hero:LinguisticObject) is modelled as a subclass of hero:InformationObject, thus incorporating the idea of an assertion as a piece of information, independently from how it is concretely realized. In turn, an assertion refers to some qualitative, quantitative or interpretative conceptual object (hero:InformationObject), modelled as a subclass of intensionextension:InformationObject, that carries some information that is deemed relevant in the context of risk assessment. Finally, an assessment activity can be motivated by any entity that corroborates it, and can use any kind of object in order to be carried out or as a basis for its assertions.

In addition to referring to some concept, an assertion can be classified according to external categorization schemes (hero:Type), can be documented by some document (foaf:Document), and expresses some kind of content or value (hero:hasContent). A concept, while also being characterized by a type (hero:Type) and a content (hero:hasContent), can be composed of other conceptual objects (hero:hasComponent).

Examples of use

HeRO can be used for modelling scenarios related to heritage risk assessment. Note that, due to the wide scope of the classes and properties it uses, the way it has been modelled, and its dependency on external vocabularies for typification, HeRO can be used to model any situation involving assigning scientific assertions expressing some kind of conceptual content to an object in order to examine it.

In the following subsections we introduce some scenarios pertaining to the cultural heritage risk domain, and we accompany them with exemplar instantiations.

The prefixes that are used in all the examples provided below are defined as follows:

@prefix : <https://w3id.org/sirius/ontology/hero/data/example/> .
@prefix aat: <http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/> .
@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
@prefix freq: <http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/frequency/> .
@prefix hero: <https://w3id.org/sirius/ontology/hero/> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix place: <http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/place.owl#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix ti: <http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#> .
@prefix wd: <http://www.wikidata.org/entity/> .

Scenario 1

An assessment activity :assessment-activity-01 consisting in the context description of a CHO :baptistery, is taking place in Ravenna, is being carried out by the expert Laura Casocchi (with the involvement of other stakeholders, such as Comune di Ravenna, Soprintendenza di Ravenna and Università di Bologna), in the time interval starting from 2024-02-01 to 2024-03-01, and is being annotated with the following text: "Octagonal building with sloping roof, featuring four apsidioles corresponding to the cardinal points (partially buried). The mosaic decoration is preserved only on the dome, creating a striking contrast with the rough surface of exposed bricks in the lower part. The mosaic depicts in the center the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan, surrounded by a band with the twelve apostles parading in two rows, meeting at the throne of the etimasia, symbol of the invisible presence of Christ." It is composed of six statements, each assigned to the CHO in question:

1. :observation-01, which is a descriptive statement referring to the physical properties of the CHO (:concept-01) with the following content: "The Baptistery is externally visible on the N, NW, and NE sides. The west side overlooks the gardens of a private residence, while the south, SW, and SE sides overlook the garden of the Department of Cultural Heritage (University of Bologna)."
2. :observation-02, which is a descriptive statement referring to the social environment surrounding the CHO (:concept-02) with the following content: "Monumental site in an urban area, open to tourists (with prior admission ticket). The small square where the building is located suffers from a bad reputation, being labeled as a 'socially risky area and a neglected place' (reported incident of an abandoned bed frame found at night in the Baptistery's trench, 11.07.2006, Source: Zaccarini, 2015). Despite the establishment of regulations in 2012 restricting vehicle access to the square, transit and parking for loading/unloading goods are still permitted."
3. :observation-03, which is a descriptive statement referring to the political environment surrounding the CHO (:concept-03) with the following content: "The monument is often a subject of debate among various political parties and the Municipality of Ravenna.". It is documented by :document-01
4. :observation-04, which is a descriptive statement referring to the legal status of the CHO (:concept-04) with the following content: "Owned by the State Property / Ministry of Culture. Since 1996, it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in Italy ('Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna')."
5. :observation-05, which is a descriptive statement referring to the administration of the CHO (:concept-05) with the following content: "Since December 2019, it has been managed by the Regional Directorate of Museums of Emilia Romagna, located in Ravenna."
6. :observation-06, which is a descriptive statement referring to the economic environment surrounding the CHO (:concept-06) with the following content: "The Law No. 77 of February 20, 2006, establishes that UNESCO sites are excellences of the Italian cultural, landscape, and natural heritage, fundamental elements of our country's representation at the international level, and states that interventions on them have priority even in terms of the allocation of financial resources."

:assessment-activity-01 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-01 ,
        :observation-02 ,
        :observation-03 ,
        :observation-04 ,
        :observation-05 ,
        :observation-06 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasNote '''Octagonal building with sloping roof, featuring four apsidioles corresponding
     to the cardinal points (partially buried). The mosaic decoration is preserved only on the
     dome, creating a striking contrast with the rough surface of exposed bricks in the lower
     part. The mosaic depicts in the center the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan,
     surrounded by a band with the twelve apostles parading in two rows, meeting at the throne
     of the etimasia, symbol of the invisible presence of Christ.'''@en ;
    hero:hasParticipant :comune-di-ravenna ,
        :laura-casocchi ,
        :soprintendenza-di-ravenna ,
        :universita-di-bologna ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-01 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q1137655 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi .

:concept-01 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q4373292 .

:concept-02 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q8425 .

:concept-03 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q7163 .

:concept-04 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q2628882 .

:concept-05 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q5283295 .

:concept-06 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q8134 .

:document-01 a foaf:Document .

:observation-01 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasContent '''The Baptistery is externally visible on the N, NW, and NE sides. The west 
    side overlooks the gardens of a private residence, while the south, SW, and SE sides 
    overlook the garden of the Department of Cultural Heritage (University of Bologna).'''@en ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435416 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-01 .

:observation-02 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasContent '''Monumental site in an urban area, open to tourists (with prior admission 
    ticket). The small square where the building is located suffers from a bad reputation, being 
    labeled as a 'socially risky area and a neglected place' (reported incident of an abandoned 
    bed frame found at night in the Baptistery's trench, 11.07.2006, Source: Zaccarini, 2015). 
    Despite the establishment of regulations in 2012 restricting vehicle access to the square, 
    transit and parking for loading/unloading goods are still permitted.'''@en ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435416 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-02 .

:observation-03 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasContent '''The monument is often a subject of debate among various political parties 
    and the Municipality of Ravenna.'''@en ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435416 ;
    hero:isDocumentedBy :document-01 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-03 .

:observation-04 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasContent '''Owned by the State Property / Ministry of Culture. Since 1996, it has been 
    part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in Italy ('Early Christian Monuments of 
    Ravenna').'''@en ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435416 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-04 .

:observation-05 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasContent '''Since December 2019, it has been managed by the Regional Directorate of 
    Museums of Emilia Romagna, located in Ravenna.'''@en ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435416 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-05 .

:observation-06 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasContent '''The Law No. 77 of February 20, 2006, establishes that UNESCO sites are 
    excellences of the Italian cultural, landscape, and natural heritage, fundamental elements 
    of our country's representation at the international level, and states that interventions on 
    them have priority even in terms of the allocation of financial resources.'''@en ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435416 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-06 .

:time-interval-01 a ti:TimeInterval ;
    ti:hasIntervalEndDate "2024-03-01T23:59:59Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
    ti:hasIntervalStartDate "2024-02-01T00:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime .

:baptistery a owl:Thing .

:ravenna a place:Place .

:laura-casocchi a foaf:Agent .

:soprintendenza-di-ravenna a foaf:Agent .

:universita-di-bologna a foaf:Agent .

Scenario 2

Two assessment activities consisting in the identification of risks related to the CHO :baptistery, are taking place in Ravenna and are being carried out by the expert Laura Casocchi, in the time interval starting from 2024-03-01 to 2024-04-01. They are:

• assessment-activity-03, annotated with the text "Floods and heavy rains induce erosion of the baptistery walls". It is composed of three statements assigned to the CHO:

  1. :observation-10, which is a condition description referring to the potential damage of water-related hazards (:concept-10);
  2. :observation-11, which is a dimensions description referring to the annual occurrence of the potential hazardous event (:concept-11);
  3. :observation-12, which is a location description referring to the region surrounding the CHO as the location of occurrence of the potential hazardous event (:concept-12).

• assessment-activity-04, which is composed of three statements assigned to the CHO:

  1. :observation-13, which is a condition description referring to the potential damage of fire-related hazards (:concept-13);
  2. :observation-14, which is a dimensions description referring to the centennial occurrence of the potential hazardous event (:concept-14);
  3. :observation-15, which is a location description referring to the building in which the CHO is situated as the location of occurrence of the potential hazardous event (:concept-15).

:assessment-activity-03 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-10 ,
        :observation-11 ,
        :observation-12 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasNote "Floods and heavy rains induce erosion of the baptistery walls."@en ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-02 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q5687675 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi .

:assessment-activity-04 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-13 ,
        :observation-14 ,
        :observation-15 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-02 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q5687675 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi .

:concept-10 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q19289049 .

:concept-11 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType freq:ANNUAL .

:concept-12 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q82794 .

:concept-13 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q56497979 .

:concept-14 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType freq:OTHER .

:concept-15 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q41176 .

:observation-10 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435425 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-10 .

:observation-11 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435430 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-11 .

:observation-12 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435449 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-12 .

:observation-13 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435425 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-13 .

:observation-14 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435430 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-14 .

:observation-15 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300435449 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-15 .

:time-interval-02 a ti:TimeInterval ;
    ti:hasIntervalEndDate "2024-04-01T23:59:59Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
    ti:hasIntervalStartDate "2024-03-01T00:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime .

:baptistery a owl:Thing .

:ravenna a place:Place .

:laura-casocchi a foaf:Agent .

Scenario 3

An assessment activity :assessment-activity-05, consisting in the analysis of risks related to a CHO :baptistery, is taking place in Ravenna, is documented in the document :document-03 and is being carried out by the expert Laura Casocchi, in the time interval starting from 2024-04-01 to 2024-05-01, continuing :assessment-activity-03. It is annotated with the following text: "A flood event is expected in the baptistery approximately once every 25 years, most likely affecting the whole heritage asset value per event, resulting in a partial loss." Moreover, it uses a dataset :dati_subsidenza_2011-2016.zip as a basis for its analysis. It is composed of four statements, each assigned to the CHO in question:

1. :observation-16, which is a dimensions description referring to the frequency of the risk occurrence (:concept-16). In turn, the frequency is composed of three other concepts:
   • low estimate (:concept-16a), with a value of "3.0";
   • probable estimate (:concept-16b), with a value of "3.5";
   • high estimate (:concept-16c), with a value of "4.0".
2. :observation-17, which is a dimensions description referring to the fractional value loss determined by the risk occurrence (:concept-17). In turn, the fractional value loss is composed of three other concepts:
   • low estimate (:concept-17a), with a value of "4.5";
   • probable estimate (:concept-17b), with a value of "5.0";
   • high estimate (:concept-17c), with a value of "5.0".
3. :observation-18, , which is a dimensions description referring to the exposure determined by the risk occurrence (:concept-18). In turn, the exposure is composed of three other concepts:
   • low estimate (:concept-18a), with a value of "1.5";
   • probable estimate (:concept-18b), with a value of "2.0";
   • high estimate (:concept-18c), with a value of "2.5".
4. :observation-19, , which is a dimensions description referring to the magnitude of the risk occurrence (:concept-19). In turn, the magnitude is composed of three other concepts:
   • low estimate (:concept-19a), with a value of "9.0";
   • probable estimate (:concept-19b), with a value of "10.5";
   • high estimate (:concept-19c), with a value of "11.5".

Another assessment activity :assessment-activity-06, consisting in the analysis of risks related to :baptistery, is taking place in Ravenna, is documented in the document :document-03 and is being carried out by the expert Laura Casocchi, in the time interval starting from 2024-04-01 to 2024-05-01, continuing :assessment-activity-04. It is annotated with the following text: "A large fire event is expected in the museum approximately once every 300 years, with the fire affecting all or most of the heritage asset value, causing total or almost total loss of value in each affected item." It consists of four statements:

1. :observation-20, which is a dimensions description referring to the frequency of the risk occurrence (:concept-20). In turn, the frequency is composed of three other concepts:
   • low estimate (:concept-20a), with a value of "2.0";
   • probable estimate (:concept-20b), with a value of "2.5";
   • high estimate (:concept-20c), with a value of "3.0".
2. :observation-21, which is a dimensions description referring to the fractional value loss determined by the risk occurrence (:concept-21). In turn, the fractional value loss is composed of three other concepts:
   • low estimate (:concept-21a), with a value of "4.5";
   • probable estimate (:concept-21b), with a value of "5.0";
   • high estimate (:concept-21c), with a value of "5.0".
3. :observation-22, which is a dimensions description referring to the exposure determined by the risk occurrence (:concept-22). In turn, the exposure is composed of three other concepts:
   • low estimate (:concept-22a), with a value of "4.5";
   • probable estimate (:concept-22b), with a value of "5.0";
   • high estimate (:concept-22c), with a value of "5.0".
4. :observation-23, which is a dimensions description referring to the magnitude of the risk occurrence (:concept-23). In turn, the magnitude is composed of three other concepts:
   • low estimate (:concept-23a), with a value of "11.0";
   • probable estimate (:concept-23b), with a value of "12.5";
   • high estimate (:concept-23c), with a value of "13.0".

:assessment-activity-05 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-16 ,
        :observation-17 ,
        :observation-18 ,
        :observation-19 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasNote '''A flood event is expected in the baptistery approximately once every 25 
    years, most likely affecting the whole heritage asset value per event, resulting in a partial loss.'''@en ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-03 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q217602 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi ;
    hero:isDocumentedBy :document-03 ;
    hero:precedes :assessment-activity-03 .

:document-03 a foaf:Document .

:assessment-activity-06 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-20 ,
        :observation-21 ,
        :observation-22 ,
        :observation-23 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasNote '''A large fire event is expected in the museum approximately once every 300 
    years, with the fire affecting all or most of the heritage asset value, causing total or 
    almost total loss of value in each affected item.'''@en ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-03 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q217602 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi ;
    hero:isDocumentedBy :document-03 ;
    hero:precedes :assessment-activity-04 .

:concept-16 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasComponent :concept-16a ,
        :concept-16b ,
        :concept-16c ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q11652 .

:concept-16a a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "3.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 .

:concept-16b a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "3.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q226995 .

:concept-16c a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "4.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 .

:concept-17 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasComponent :concept-17a ,
        :concept-17b ,
        :concept-17c ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q7523953 .

:concept-17a a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "4.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 .

:concept-17b a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "5.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q226995 .

:concept-17c a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "5.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 .

:concept-18 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasComponent :concept-18a ,
        :concept-18b ,
        :concept-18c ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q107642367 .

:concept-18a a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "1.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 .

:concept-18b a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "2.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q226995 .

:concept-18c a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "2.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 .

:concept-19 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasComponent :concept-19a ,
        :concept-19b ,
        :concept-19c ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q2154759 .

:concept-23 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasComponent :concept-23a ,
        :concept-23b ,
        :concept-23c ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q2154759 .

:concept-19a a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "9.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 .

:concept-19b a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "10.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q226995 .

:concept-19c a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "11.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 .

:concept-20 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasComponent :concept-20a ,
        :concept-20b ,
        :concept-20c ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q11652 .

:concept-20a a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "2.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 .

:concept-20b a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "2.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q226995 .

:concept-20c a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "3.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 .

:concept-21 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasComponent :concept-21a ,
        :concept-21b ,
        :concept-21c ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q7523953 .

:concept-21a a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "4.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 .

:concept-21b a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "5.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q226995 .

:concept-21c a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "5.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 .

:concept-22 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasComponent :concept-22a ,
        :concept-22b ,
        :concept-22c ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q107642367 .

:concept-22a a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "4.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 .

:concept-22b a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "5.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q226995 .

:concept-22c a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "5.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 .

:concept-23a a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "11.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 .

:concept-23b a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "12.5"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q226995 .

:concept-23c a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "13.0"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 .

:time-interval-03 a ti:TimeInterval ;
    ti:hasIntervalEndDate "2024-05-01T23:59:59Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
    ti:hasIntervalStartDate "2024-04-01T00:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime .

:baptistery a owl:Thing .

:ravenna a place:Place .

:laura-casocchi a foaf:Agent .

Scenario 4

An assessment activity :assessment-activity-07 consisting in the evaluation of risks related to a CHO :baptistery, is taking place in Ravenna and is being carried out by the expert Laura Casocchi, in the time interval starting from 2024-05-01 to 2024-06-01, continuing :assessment-activity-05. It is annotated with the following text: "The risk of flood (MR = 10.5) has a high priority. It is 100 times smaller than the fire risk. The uncertainty that has been measured amounts to a value equal to 2.5. A risk of this magnitude is equivalent to losing about 0.3% of the heritage asset value every 100 years (or 3% per millennium). The museum direction considers this level of risk as just beyond acceptable, since as a condition the value of MR is slightly higher than 10 and the value of uncertainty is higher than 2." It consists of one statement assigned to the CHO in question:

1. :observation-24, which is a diagnosis referring to a high level of priority(:concept-24).

This assessment activity is motivated by the magnitude of risk calculated in a previous activity (:concept-19).

Another assessment activity :assessment-activity-08 consisting in the evaluation of risks related to the CHO :baptistery is taking place in Ravenna and is being carried out by the expert Laura Casocchi, in the time interval starting from 2024-05-01 to 2024-06-01, following :assessment-activity-06. It is annotated with the following text: "The risk of a large fire affecting the baptistery and its contents (MR = 12.5) has an extreme priority. The uncertainty that has been measured amounts to a value equal to 1.0. A risk of this magnitude is equivalent to losing about 3% of the heritage asset value every 10 years (or 30% per century, or 100% in about 300 years). The museum direction considers this level of risk as ‘not acceptable’, since as a condition the value of MR is higher than 10 and the value of uncertainty is lower than 2." It consists of one statement assigned to the CHO in question:

1. :observation-26, which is a diagnosis referring to a extreme level of priority (:concept-26).

This assessment activity is motivated by the magnitude of risk calculated in a previous activity (:concept-23).

:assessment-activity-07 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-24 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasNote '''The risk of flood (MR = 10.5) has a high priority. It is 100 times smaller 
    than the fire risk. The uncertainty that has been measured amounts to a value equal to 2.5. 
    A risk of this magnitude is equivalent to losing about 0.3% of the heritage asset value 
    every 100 years (or 3% per millennium). The museum direction considers this level of risk as 
    just beyond acceptable, since as a condition the value of MR is slightly higher than 10 and 
    the value of uncertainty is higher than 2.'''@en ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-04 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q1379672 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi ;
    hero:precedes :assessment-activity-05 .

:assessment-activity-08 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-26 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasNote '''The risk of a large fire affecting the baptistery and its contents (MR = 12.5) 
    has an extreme priority. The uncertainty that has been measured amounts to a value equal to 
    1.0. A risk of this magnitude is equivalent to losing about 3% of the heritage asset value 
    every 10 years (or 30% per century, or 100% in about 300 years). The museum direction 
    considers this level of risk as ‘not acceptable’, since as a condition the value of MR is 
    higher than 10 and the value of uncertainty is lower than 2.'''@en ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-04 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q1379672 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi ;
    hero:isMotivatedBy :concept-19, :concept-23 ;
    hero:precedes :assessment-activity-06 .

:concept-24 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q125584111 .

:concept-26 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q2154759 .

:observation-24 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300438433 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-24 .

:observation-26 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300438433 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-26 .

:time-interval-04 a ti:TimeInterval ;
    ti:hasIntervalEndDate "2024-06-01T23:59:59Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
    ti:hasIntervalStartDate "2024-05-01T00:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime .

:baptistery a owl:Thing .

:ravenna a place:Place .

:laura-casocchi a foaf:Agent .

Scenario 5

An assessment activity :assessment-activity-09 consisting in the treatment of risks related to a CHO :baptistery, is taking place in Ravenna and is being carried out by the expert Laura Casocchi, in the time interval starting from 2024-06-01 to 2024-07-01, following :assessment-activity-07. It is annotated with the following text: "One possible action to protect a baptistery from water damage could be to install a waterproof membrane or coating on the exterior surfaces. This would help prevent water infiltration and damage to the structure. Additionally, regular maintenance such as inspecting for cracks or leaks and repairing them promptly can help mitigate water damage over time". It consists of three statements, each assigned to the CHO in question:

1. :observation-29, which is a plan description referring to a blocking action to try managing the described risks (:concept-29);
2. :observation-30, which is a budget description referring to a capital cost (:concept-30) to implement such action, amounting to "3200" euros.
3. :observation-31, which is a budget description referring to a maintenance cost (:concept-31) to implement such action, amounting to "120" euros.

Another assessment activity :assessment-activity-10 consisting in the treatment of risks related to a heritage asset :baptistery, is taking place in Ravenna and is being carried out by the expert Laura Casocchi, in the time interval starting from 2024-06-01 to 2024-07-01, following :assessment-activity-07. It is annotated with the following text: "Use fire-resistant materials: Consider using fire-resistant coatings, fire-rated doors, and fireproof insulation to minimize fire damage." It consists of three statements, each assigned to the CHO in question:

1. :observation-32, which is a plan description referring to a blocking action to try managing the described risks (:concept-32);
2. :observation-33, which is a budget description referring to a capital cost (:concept-33) amounting to "5000" euros;
3. :observation-34, which is a budget description referring to a maintenance cost (:concept-34), amounting to "375" euros per month.

:assessment-activity-09 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-29 ,
        :observation-30 ,
        :observation-31 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasNote '''One possible action to protect a baptistery from water damage could be to 
    install a waterproof membrane or coating on the exterior surfaces. This would help prevent 
    water infiltration and damage to the structure. Additionally, regular maintenance such as 
    inspecting for cracks or leaks and repairing them promptly can help mitigate water damage 
    over time.'''@en ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-05 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q2251595 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi ;
    hero:precedes :assessment-activity-07 .

:assessment-activity-10 a hero:Activity ;
    hero:assigns :observation-32 ,
        :observation-33 ,
        :observation-34 ;
    hero:assignsTo :baptistery ;
    hero:hasLocation :ravenna ;
    hero:hasNote '''Use fire-resistant materials: Consider using fire-resistant coatings, 
    fire-rated doors, and fireproof insulation to minimize fire damage.'''@en ;
    hero:hasTimeInterval :time-interval-05 ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q2251595 ;
    hero:isCarriedOutBy :laura-casocchi ;
    hero:isMotivatedBy :concept-19, :concept-23 ;
    hero:precedes :assessment-activity-08 .

:concept-29 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q2956685 .

:concept-30 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "3200"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q302208 .

:concept-31 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "120"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q831940 .

:concept-32 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q2956685 .

:concept-33 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "5000"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q302208 .

:concept-34 a hero:InformationObject ;
    hero:hasContent "375"^^rdfs:Literal ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q831940 .

:observation-24 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300438433 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-24 .

:observation-26 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300438433 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-26 .

:observation-29 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q1371819 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-29 .

:observation-30 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300027514 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-30 .

:observation-31 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300027514 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-31 .

:observation-32 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType wd:Q1371819 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-32 .

:observation-33 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300027514 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-33 .

:observation-34 a hero:LinguisticObject ;
    hero:hasType aat:300027514 ;
    hero:refersTo :concept-34 .

:time-interval-05 a ti:TimeInterval ;
    ti:hasIntervalEndDate "2024-07-01T23:59:59Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
    ti:hasIntervalStartDate "2024-06-01T00:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime .

:baptistery a owl:Thing .

:ravenna a place:Place .

:laura-casocchi a foaf:Agent .

Competency questions

HeRO can be used for answering several questions related to risk assessment activities in the cultural and environmental heirtage domains. In the following subsections, we introduce some of them, and we accompany them with exemplar SPARQL queries.

The prefixes that are used in all the SPARQL queries provided below are defined as follows:

PREFIX : <https://w3id.org/sirius/ontology/hero/data/example/>
PREFIX aat: <http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/>
PREFIX hero: <https://w3id.org/sirius/ontology/hero/>
PREFIX owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#>
PREFIX rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>
PREFIX ti: <http://www.ontologydesignpatterns.org/cp/owl/timeinterval.owl#>
PREFIX wd: <http://www.wikidata.org/entity/>

Question 1

What are the statements assigned to a cultural heritage object that are part of the assessment activity describing its context?

SELECT ?statement ?note ?document ?concept ?concept_type ?activity ?agent ?place ?start_date ?end_date
WHERE {
    ?activity a hero:Activity ;
        hero:hasType wd:Q1137655 ; 
        hero:assigns ?statement ;
        hero:hasTimeInterval [ 
            ti:hasIntervalStartDate ?start_date ;
            ti:hasIntervalEndDate ?end_date 
        ] ;
        hero:hasLocation ?place ;
        hero:isCarriedOutBy ?agent .
    ?statement hero:hasContent ?note ;
        hero:refersTo ?concept .
    ?concept hero:hasType ?concept_type .
    OPTIONAL {
        ?statement hero:isDocumentedBy ?document .
    }
}

Question 2

Which are the hazards, the types of risk occurence and the risk locations referred to by statements assigned to a cultural heritage object by identification activities?

SELECT ?activity ?hazard_type ?occurrence_type ?location_type ?agent ?place ?start_date ?end_date
WHERE {
    ?activity a hero:Activity ;
        hero:isCarriedOutBy ?agent ;
        hero:hasType wd:Q5687675 ;
        hero:hasTimeInterval [ 
            ti:hasIntervalStartDate ?start_date ;
            ti:hasIntervalEndDate ?end_date 
        ] ;
        hero:hasLocation ?place ;
        hero:assigns ?statement_1 ,
        ?statement_2 ,
        ?statement_3 .
    ?statement_1 hero:hasType aat:300435425 ;
        hero:refersTo [
            hero:hasType ?hazard_type 
        ] .
    ?statement_2 hero:hasType aat:300435430 ;
        hero:refersTo [
            hero:hasType ?occurrence_type 
        ] .
    ?statement_3 hero:hasType aat:300435449 ;
        hero:refersTo [
            hero:hasType ?location_type 
        ] .
}

Question 3

What are the low, probable and high estimates of the measures that are referred to by statements assigned to a cultural heirtage object by analysis activities?

SELECT DISTINCT ?activity ?statement ?type ?low_estimate_value ?prob_estimate_value ?high_estimate_value ?agent ?place ?start_date ?end_date
WHERE {
    ?activity a hero:Activity ;
        hero:hasType wd:Q217602 ;
        hero:isCarriedOutBy ?agent ;
        hero:hasTimeInterval [ 
            ti:hasIntervalStartDate ?start_date ;
            ti:hasIntervalEndDate ?end_date 
        ] ;
        hero:hasLocation ?place ;
        hero:assigns ?statement .
    ?statement hero:hasType aat:300435430 ;
        hero:refersTo ?concept .
    ?concept hero:hasType ?type ;
        hero:hasComponent ?low_estimate ,
        ?prob_estimate , 
        ?high_estimate .
    ?low_estimate hero:hasType wd:Q10585806 ;
        hero:hasContent ?low_estimate_value .
    ?prob_estimate hero:hasType wd:Q226995 ;
        hero:hasContent ?prob_estimate_value .
    ?high_estimate hero:hasType wd:Q10578722 ;
        hero:hasContent ?high_estimate_value .
}

Question 4

What are the priority levels referred to by statements assigned to a cultural heritage object by evaluation activities?

SELECT ?activity ?note ?priority_level ?agent ?place ?start_date ?end_date
WHERE {
    ?activity a hero:Activity ;
        hero:hasType wd:Q1379672 ;
        hero:hasNote ?note ;
        hero:isCarriedOutBy ?agent ;
        hero:hasTimeInterval [ 
            ti:hasIntervalStartDate ?start_date ;
            ti:hasIntervalEndDate ?end_date 
        ] ;
        hero:hasLocation ?place ;
        hero:assigns [
            hero:hasType aat:300438433 ;
            hero:refersTo [ 
                hero:hasType ?priority_level 
            ]
        ]
}

Question 5

What are the treatment actions, capital costs and maintenance costs being referred to by the statements assigned to a cultural heritage object by treatment activities?

SELECT DISTINCT ?activity ?note ?action ?capital_cost_value ?maintenance_cost_value ?agent ?place ?start_date ?end_date
WHERE {
    ?activity a hero:Activity ;
        hero:hasType wd:Q2251595 ;
        hero:hasNote ?note ;
        hero:isCarriedOutBy ?agent ;
        hero:hasTimeInterval [ 
            ti:hasIntervalStartDate ?start_date ;
            ti:hasIntervalEndDate ?end_date 
        ] ;
        hero:hasLocation ?place ;
        hero:assigns ?statement_1 ,
        ?statement_2 ,
        ?statement_3 .
    ?statement_1 hero:hasType wd:Q1371819 ;
        hero:refersTo ?concept_1 .
    ?concept_1 hero:hasType ?action .
    ?statement_2 hero:hasType aat:300027514 ;
        hero:refersTo ?capital_cost .
    ?capital_cost hero:hasType wd:Q302208 ;
        hero:hasContent ?capital_cost_value .
    ?statement_3 hero:hasType aat:300027514 ;
        hero:refersTo ?maintenance_cost .
    ?maintenance_cost hero:hasType wd:Q831940 ;
        hero:hasContent ?maintenance_cost_value .
}

Cross-reference for HeRO classes, object properties and data properties back to ToC

This section provides details for each class and property defined by HeRO.

null

Acknowledgments back to ToC

The authors would like to thank Silvio Peroni for developing LODE, a Live OWL Documentation Environment, which is used for representing the Cross Referencing Section of this document and Daniel Garijo for developing Widoco, the program used to create the template used in this documentation.