{ "title": "Classification with a point of view — Ontologies & vocabularies", "text": "MODAVIS (2026). Classification with a point of view — Ontologies & vocabularies. Research notebooks, September 2026 · Cuntz worked examples edition. https://modavis.org/editions/2026-09-r5/ontologies/classification/", "bibtex": "@misc{modavis_ontologies_classification_2026_09_r5,\n author = {{MODAVIS}},\n title = {Classification with a point of view — Ontologies & vocabularies},\n year = {2026},\n month = {09},\n version = {2026-09-r5},\n url = {https://modavis.org/editions/2026-09-r5/ontologies/classification/},\n note = {Content SHA-256: c4bcf01d1635ca5fdc19b110a7b6fa172ba6c91c36def31b34dcc49ac63766f2}\n}", "url": "https://modavis.org/editions/2026-09-r5/ontologies/classification/", "sha256": "c4bcf01d1635ca5fdc19b110a7b6fa172ba6c91c36def31b34dcc49ac63766f2", "edition": "2026-09-r5", "date": "2026-09-26", "canonicalPayload": "{\"book\":{\"number\":\"07\",\"slug\":\"ontologies\",\"title\":\"Ontologies & vocabularies\"},\"chapter\":{\"blocks\":[{\"items\":[{\"detail\":\"A continuous worked example: readable explanations, exact records and the limits of each claim.\",\"href\":\"/notebooks/ontologies/cuntz/\",\"label\":\"Learn this through the Cuntz organ\"}],\"type\":\"links\"},{\"id\":\"concepts-and-objects\",\"text\":\"Begin with concepts, not an inventory of physical instruments\",\"type\":\"heading\"},{\"text\":\"OMARO 0.1.0 brings together 643 Hornbostel–Sachs classifications and 2,724 resolved instrument concepts across thirteen languages, with five unresolved stubs retained explicitly. These are vocabulary and assertion counts for that release. They are not counts of distinct surviving instruments. A label such as “double bass” denotes a concept that can refer to many physical objects with different histories and uses.\",\"type\":\"p\"},{\"text\":\"The source layer preserves MIMO-derived classifications and mappings, including the original exact-match statements where supplied. Retaining a source statement records that the source made it; it does not automatically identify a vocabulary concept with every physical object or endorse an unconditional equivalence. This distinction allows a reader to inspect the source without collapsing its interpretation into the ontology’s own strongest claim.\",\"type\":\"p\"},{\"boundary\":\"No new OMARO assertion or Hornbostel–Sachs classification of the Cuntz instrument is claimed in this example.\",\"concept\":\"A controlled vocabulary supplies identified concepts and labels. SKOS describes concepts and their relationships; OMARO additionally retains perspectives, source assertions and review status.\",\"expanded\":false,\"id\":\"cuntz-vocabulary\",\"scenario\":\"“Cuntz positive organ” is a label for a particular instrument. “Positive organ” is also a type concept that may occur in a vocabulary. A label match connects a research question, not automatically an identity.\",\"sources\":[{\"detail\":\"Identity, state, configuration, evidence, assertions, context and provenance. Teaching examples explain its distinctions without inventing new normative properties.\",\"href\":\"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22126086\",\"label\":\"MODAVIS Ontology Network 0.1.0\"},{\"detail\":\"Published manifest: identities, measurement observations, realization digests, profiles and rights. Exact examples checked against this release.\",\"href\":\"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22151203\",\"label\":\"Cuntz Positiv · VAO 0.5.0-rc.2\"},{\"href\":\"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21442777\",\"label\":\"OMARO 0.1.0\"}],\"steps\":[{\"text\":\"The museum organ is a physical subject. The vocabulary concept describes a kind of instrument. Many objects can be described using one concept.\",\"title\":\"Separate object from concept\"},{\"text\":\"If a source classifies the Cuntz instrument, record the source and relevant instrument state. Do not infer an exact Hornbostel–Sachs code merely from a familiar English label.\",\"title\":\"Keep the classification attributable\"},{\"text\":\"A source stop label such as Holzgedackt 8′ remains evidence even when a normalized concept is added. The proposed mapping needs the documented pitch, division and context.\",\"title\":\"Retain source words during normalization\"}],\"takeaway\":\"A vocabulary improves comparison by identifying meanings while preserving the source’s wording.\",\"title\":\"Does the word “organ” settle the classification?\",\"type\":\"example\"},{\"id\":\"perspectives\",\"text\":\"The same name can support more than one classification\",\"type\":\"heading\"},{\"text\":\"The release uses “Double bass” to illustrate multiple source classifications, including 321.322 and extensions concerning bare-finger and bowed use. The meaningful distinction is the sounding realization or specified playing technique. A classification appropriate to bowing is not thereby a claim that all performances of all double basses use a bow. The assertion needs an explicit perspective and applicability scope.\",\"type\":\"p\"},{\"text\":\"“Alto trombone” illustrates another issue: source mappings include the slide family and a short-air-column valve category. A name alone may leave construction underspecified. Preserve the source occurrence, then model the construction or context needed for a reviewed assertion. The goal is to make the disagreement inspectable, not to erase it by choosing whichever code appears first.\",\"type\":\"p\"},{\"id\":\"source-and-review\",\"text\":\"A source assertion is different from a reviewed projection\",\"type\":\"heading\"},{\"headers\":[\"Layer\",\"What it says\",\"How to use it\"],\"rows\":[[\"Source-asserted relation\",\"A particular source makes a classification statement.\",\"Inspect its literal grounding, identity and scope.\"],[\"Source silence\",\"The inspected source does not state the relevant relation within the recorded scope.\",\"Do not convert this into proof that the relation is false.\"],[\"Contextual assertion\",\"A claim has a perspective, stance and applicability.\",\"Ask whether the context fits the research question.\"],[\"Reviewed direct projection\",\"The release policy permits a context-independent relation after its required reviews.\",\"Use only when the explicit projection criteria have been satisfied.\"]],\"type\":\"table\"},{\"text\":\"The documented direct-projection policy requires two independent authorized reviews and no veto for an eligible context-independent claim. In release 0.1.0, classification_targets is intentionally empty. That is a meaningful publication state: the source and contextual evidence are available, while no relation has been silently promoted into the stronger direct view. An empty reviewed view does not mean the classification data failed to load.\",\"type\":\"p\"},{\"boundary\":\"This is a teaching application of the assertion model, not a claim that a new authoritative review of the historical register mapping has been completed.\",\"concept\":\"An assertion is an attributable claim. A review decision records how that claim is interpreted; a projection is a selected view of the reviewed knowledge.\",\"expanded\":false,\"id\":\"cuntz-assertions\",\"scenario\":\"The Cuntz thesis description and the digital inventory present different register counts. Treating the latest imported count as an unconditional replacement would erase the question the discrepancy raises.\",\"sources\":[{\"detail\":\"Published manifest: identities, measurement observations, realization digests, profiles and rights. Exact examples checked against this release.\",\"href\":\"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22151203\",\"label\":\"Cuntz Positiv · VAO 0.5.0-rc.2\"},{\"detail\":\"Identity, state, configuration, evidence, assertions, context and provenance. Teaching examples explain its distinctions without inventing new normative properties.\",\"href\":\"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22126086\",\"label\":\"MODAVIS Ontology Network 0.1.0\"},{\"detail\":\"Submitted dissertation, 11 September 2026; §§8.2.2.1 and 8.4.1, printed pp. 264–265 and 275–276. The historical description and digital inventory require a resolved mapping; the manuscript is not redistributed here.\",\"label\":\"Dominik Ukolov · Musikinstrumente im virtuellen Raum (2026)\"}],\"steps\":[{\"text\":\"Retain the four-register physical description and the five-label digital configuration, including their sources and intended subjects.\",\"title\":\"Store both claims with their scope\"},{\"text\":\"Ask whether the accounts concern comparable states and counting units. The missing Regal 8′ mapping remains an explicit review issue rather than an invented explanation.\",\"title\":\"Review the relationship\"},{\"text\":\"A catalogue summary can show a selected statement and its qualification, while an evidence view exposes the other assertion and the reason the relationship remains unresolved.\",\"title\":\"Publish an understandable view\"}],\"takeaway\":\"A clean interface can present an editorial decision without deleting the evidence behind competing interpretations.\",\"title\":\"How can two accounts disagree without corrupting the database?\",\"type\":\"example\"},{\"id\":\"sqlite-example\",\"text\":\"Inspect the supplied SQLite vocabulary\",\"type\":\"heading\"},{\"label\":\"OMARO 0.1.0 SQLite · documented read-only query examples\",\"text\":\"-- Look up an exact preferred label in German.\\nSELECT concept_uri, label\\nFROM preferred_labels\\nWHERE language = 'de' AND label = 'Signalhorn';\\n\\n-- Inspect the reviewed direct projection.\\n-- An empty result is expected in release 0.1.0.\\nSELECT * FROM classification_targets;\",\"type\":\"code\"},{\"text\":\"These queries target the OMARO database, not the Pipe Organ Dataset. Begin with an exact language and label; keep the returned concept identifier when following assertions. In multilingual work, record the label used for discovery separately from the identifier used for analysis. A translated display label can change without changing the concept being examined.\",\"type\":\"p\"},{\"id\":\"using-the-network\",\"text\":\"Connect vocabulary and evidence conservatively\",\"type\":\"heading\"},{\"text\":\"OMARO is related to the MODAVIS Ontology Network without asserting a blanket ontology import or automatic compliance equivalence. Use it to ask richer questions: which classification is stated, by whom, about what kind of sounding realization, and under which conditions? In a dataset or interface, make those contextual distinctions available before presenting a single category as settled.\",\"type\":\"p\"},{\"items\":[{\"detail\":\"Release scope, distributions and entry points.\",\"href\":\"/notebooks/ontologies/omaro/\",\"label\":\"OMARO overview\"},{\"detail\":\"Keep instrument concepts, physical objects and states distinct.\",\"href\":\"/notebooks/ontologies/identity/\",\"label\":\"Identity through change\"}],\"type\":\"links\"}],\"intro\":\"OMARO preserves what a source classifies, the perspective behind that classification and the review needed for a broader assertion. This is especially useful when instruments support several sounding techniques.\",\"slug\":\"classification\",\"sources\":[{\"detail\":\"Release README: source-asserted classification, contextual assertions, reviewed projections and documented SQLite queries.\",\"href\":\"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21442777\",\"label\":\"OMARO 0.1.0\"},{\"detail\":\"Release README, fourteen module descriptions and SHACL validation contract.\",\"href\":\"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22126086\",\"label\":\"MODAVIS Ontology Network 0.1.0\"}],\"title\":\"Classification with a point of view\"},\"date\":\"2026-09-26\",\"edition\":\"2026-09-r5\",\"figures\":{}}", "payload": { "edition": "2026-09-r5", "date": "2026-09-26", "book": { "slug": "ontologies", "title": "Ontologies & vocabularies", "number": "07" }, "chapter": { "slug": "classification", "title": "Classification with a point of view", "intro": "OMARO preserves what a source classifies, the perspective behind that classification and the review needed for a broader assertion. This is especially useful when instruments support several sounding techniques.", "blocks": [ { "type": "links", "items": [ { "label": "Learn this through the Cuntz organ", "href": "/notebooks/ontologies/cuntz/", "detail": "A continuous worked example: readable explanations, exact records and the limits of each claim." } ] }, { "type": "heading", "id": "concepts-and-objects", "text": "Begin with concepts, not an inventory of physical instruments" }, { "type": "p", "text": "OMARO 0.1.0 brings together 643 Hornbostel–Sachs classifications and 2,724 resolved instrument concepts across thirteen languages, with five unresolved stubs retained explicitly. These are vocabulary and assertion counts for that release. They are not counts of distinct surviving instruments. A label such as “double bass” denotes a concept that can refer to many physical objects with different histories and uses." }, { "type": "p", "text": "The source layer preserves MIMO-derived classifications and mappings, including the original exact-match statements where supplied. Retaining a source statement records that the source made it; it does not automatically identify a vocabulary concept with every physical object or endorse an unconditional equivalence. This distinction allows a reader to inspect the source without collapsing its interpretation into the ontology’s own strongest claim." }, { "type": "example", "id": "cuntz-vocabulary", "title": "Does the word “organ” settle the classification?", "concept": "A controlled vocabulary supplies identified concepts and labels. SKOS describes concepts and their relationships; OMARO additionally retains perspectives, source assertions and review status.", "scenario": "“Cuntz positive organ” is a label for a particular instrument. “Positive organ” is also a type concept that may occur in a vocabulary. A label match connects a research question, not automatically an identity.", "steps": [ { "title": "Separate object from concept", "text": "The museum organ is a physical subject. The vocabulary concept describes a kind of instrument. Many objects can be described using one concept." }, { "title": "Keep the classification attributable", "text": "If a source classifies the Cuntz instrument, record the source and relevant instrument state. Do not infer an exact Hornbostel–Sachs code merely from a familiar English label." }, { "title": "Retain source words during normalization", "text": "A source stop label such as Holzgedackt 8′ remains evidence even when a normalized concept is added. The proposed mapping needs the documented pitch, division and context." } ], "takeaway": "A vocabulary improves comparison by identifying meanings while preserving the source’s wording.", "boundary": "No new OMARO assertion or Hornbostel–Sachs classification of the Cuntz instrument is claimed in this example.", "sources": [ { "label": "MODAVIS Ontology Network 0.1.0", "href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22126086", "detail": "Identity, state, configuration, evidence, assertions, context and provenance. Teaching examples explain its distinctions without inventing new normative properties." }, { "label": "Cuntz Positiv · VAO 0.5.0-rc.2", "href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22151203", "detail": "Published manifest: identities, measurement observations, realization digests, profiles and rights. Exact examples checked against this release." }, { "label": "OMARO 0.1.0", "href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21442777" } ], "expanded": false }, { "type": "heading", "id": "perspectives", "text": "The same name can support more than one classification" }, { "type": "p", "text": "The release uses “Double bass” to illustrate multiple source classifications, including 321.322 and extensions concerning bare-finger and bowed use. The meaningful distinction is the sounding realization or specified playing technique. A classification appropriate to bowing is not thereby a claim that all performances of all double basses use a bow. The assertion needs an explicit perspective and applicability scope." }, { "type": "p", "text": "“Alto trombone” illustrates another issue: source mappings include the slide family and a short-air-column valve category. A name alone may leave construction underspecified. Preserve the source occurrence, then model the construction or context needed for a reviewed assertion. The goal is to make the disagreement inspectable, not to erase it by choosing whichever code appears first." }, { "type": "heading", "id": "source-and-review", "text": "A source assertion is different from a reviewed projection" }, { "type": "table", "headers": [ "Layer", "What it says", "How to use it" ], "rows": [ [ "Source-asserted relation", "A particular source makes a classification statement.", "Inspect its literal grounding, identity and scope." ], [ "Source silence", "The inspected source does not state the relevant relation within the recorded scope.", "Do not convert this into proof that the relation is false." ], [ "Contextual assertion", "A claim has a perspective, stance and applicability.", "Ask whether the context fits the research question." ], [ "Reviewed direct projection", "The release policy permits a context-independent relation after its required reviews.", "Use only when the explicit projection criteria have been satisfied." ] ] }, { "type": "p", "text": "The documented direct-projection policy requires two independent authorized reviews and no veto for an eligible context-independent claim. In release 0.1.0, classification_targets is intentionally empty. That is a meaningful publication state: the source and contextual evidence are available, while no relation has been silently promoted into the stronger direct view. An empty reviewed view does not mean the classification data failed to load." }, { "type": "example", "id": "cuntz-assertions", "title": "How can two accounts disagree without corrupting the database?", "concept": "An assertion is an attributable claim. A review decision records how that claim is interpreted; a projection is a selected view of the reviewed knowledge.", "scenario": "The Cuntz thesis description and the digital inventory present different register counts. Treating the latest imported count as an unconditional replacement would erase the question the discrepancy raises.", "steps": [ { "title": "Store both claims with their scope", "text": "Retain the four-register physical description and the five-label digital configuration, including their sources and intended subjects." }, { "title": "Review the relationship", "text": "Ask whether the accounts concern comparable states and counting units. The missing Regal 8′ mapping remains an explicit review issue rather than an invented explanation." }, { "title": "Publish an understandable view", "text": "A catalogue summary can show a selected statement and its qualification, while an evidence view exposes the other assertion and the reason the relationship remains unresolved." } ], "takeaway": "A clean interface can present an editorial decision without deleting the evidence behind competing interpretations.", "boundary": "This is a teaching application of the assertion model, not a claim that a new authoritative review of the historical register mapping has been completed.", "sources": [ { "label": "Cuntz Positiv · VAO 0.5.0-rc.2", "href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22151203", "detail": "Published manifest: identities, measurement observations, realization digests, profiles and rights. Exact examples checked against this release." }, { "label": "MODAVIS Ontology Network 0.1.0", "href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22126086", "detail": "Identity, state, configuration, evidence, assertions, context and provenance. Teaching examples explain its distinctions without inventing new normative properties." }, { "label": "Dominik Ukolov · Musikinstrumente im virtuellen Raum (2026)", "detail": "Submitted dissertation, 11 September 2026; §§8.2.2.1 and 8.4.1, printed pp. 264–265 and 275–276. The historical description and digital inventory require a resolved mapping; the manuscript is not redistributed here." } ], "expanded": false }, { "type": "heading", "id": "sqlite-example", "text": "Inspect the supplied SQLite vocabulary" }, { "type": "code", "label": "OMARO 0.1.0 SQLite · documented read-only query examples", "text": "-- Look up an exact preferred label in German.\nSELECT concept_uri, label\nFROM preferred_labels\nWHERE language = 'de' AND label = 'Signalhorn';\n\n-- Inspect the reviewed direct projection.\n-- An empty result is expected in release 0.1.0.\nSELECT * FROM classification_targets;" }, { "type": "p", "text": "These queries target the OMARO database, not the Pipe Organ Dataset. Begin with an exact language and label; keep the returned concept identifier when following assertions. In multilingual work, record the label used for discovery separately from the identifier used for analysis. A translated display label can change without changing the concept being examined." }, { "type": "heading", "id": "using-the-network", "text": "Connect vocabulary and evidence conservatively" }, { "type": "p", "text": "OMARO is related to the MODAVIS Ontology Network without asserting a blanket ontology import or automatic compliance equivalence. Use it to ask richer questions: which classification is stated, by whom, about what kind of sounding realization, and under which conditions? In a dataset or interface, make those contextual distinctions available before presenting a single category as settled." }, { "type": "links", "items": [ { "label": "OMARO overview", "href": "/notebooks/ontologies/omaro/", "detail": "Release scope, distributions and entry points." }, { "label": "Identity through change", "href": "/notebooks/ontologies/identity/", "detail": "Keep instrument concepts, physical objects and states distinct." } ] } ], "sources": [ { "label": "OMARO 0.1.0", "href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21442777", "detail": "Release README: source-asserted classification, contextual assertions, reviewed projections and documented SQLite queries." }, { "label": "MODAVIS Ontology Network 0.1.0", "href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22126086", "detail": "Release README, fourteen module descriptions and SHACL validation contract." } ] }, "figures": {} } }