Key idea & worked example
An ontology is an explicit agreement about the kinds of things we describe and the relationships between them. Its first useful distinction here is between an instrument and a representation of it.
An identity answers “which thing?”; a representation relationship answers “what is this about?”.See the worked example →On this page
Musical instruments are physical objects, historical witnesses and systems of action. Their sounding behavior depends on material, construction, configurationConfigurationAn identified arrangement of components and their relationships. Rebuilding or reassigning parts can change a configuration while the instrument’s broader identity persists.Work through the Cuntz example →, room and use. Digitization brings these perspectives together, but also introduces choices about what to measure and how to represent it.
Two translations
The first translation moves from an instrument and its sources into a digital representation. The second turns that representation into something a person can hear, explore or play. Each stage selects, transforms and leaves things out.
Is the 3D model the Cuntz organ?
An ontology is an explicit agreement about the kinds of things we describe and the relationships between them. Its first useful distinction here is between an instrument and a representation of it.
- Physical subjectCuntz positive organThe instrument the research concerns.
- Digital representationThe GLB modelA file representing selected visible features.
Work through the example 3 STEPS
The physical Cuntz positive organ is identified as mXp 4010243. The release also contains a geometric model and audio files. They concern the instrument, but each has its own identity.
Name the physical subject
Use the instrument identity for claims about the organ itself. Its record can link to the museum and to documentary evidence.
Name each representation
Give a model, a recording and a playable software product separate identities. A relationship such as “represents this instrument” connects them without declaring them the same thing.
Follow a change
Compressing the model changes its digital realization. It does not rebuild the museum instrument. Repairing a physical component is a different event and needs its own evidence.
- Cuntz Positiv · VAO 0.5.0-rc.2 ↗
Published manifest: identities, measurement observations, realization digests, profiles and rights. Exact examples checked against this release.
- MODAVIS Ontology Network 0.1.0 ↗
Identity, state, configuration, evidence, assertions, context and provenance. Teaching examples explain its distinctions without inventing new normative properties.
The displayed model is a derived visualization with an unverified physical scale. Being about the Cuntz organ does not make every visible detail a measured historical fact.
The useful distinction. An identity answers “which thing?”; a representation relationship answers “what is this about?”.
Three guiding questions
- What must be documented for a representation to remain scientifically interpretable?
- How can heterogeneous sources and measurements be related without hiding disagreement?
- How can interactive access retain the boundaries and uncertainties of its evidence?
MODAVIS connects these questions through research data infrastructure, a semantic model and the Virtual Acoustic Object standard. Pipe organs serve as a demanding principal case; the models distinguish instrument-neutral concepts from organ-specific ones.
Why organs make the problem visible
An organ brings many scales of evidenceEvidenceMaterial offered as grounds for a claim. Its relevance depends on the claim, context, transmission and interpretation.Work through the Cuntz example → into one instrument: a named workshop, a building, changing configurations, mechanisms, individual pipes and recorded sound. A later intervention may preserve a case while altering its contents, or preserve pipes while changing their relationships. An undifferentiated record cannot express those histories adequately.
The digital object introduces further choices. A photograph can document a surviving arrangement, a model can reconstruct a proposed earlier state, and a recording can capture a particular session in a particular room. Placing them next to one another is useful only if the reader can see which relationships are established and which are interpretative.
Three connected research contributions
| Contribution | Research purpose |
|---|---|
| Source-aware data | Connect heterogeneous accounts while retaining attribution and unresolved cases. |
| Explicit representation | Describe instruments, states, evidence and digital realizations through compatible semantic and exchange contracts. |
| Interactive access | Make selected relationships audible, visible or playable while preserving a route to their documentation. |
What would make a result convincing?
Different claims require different evidence. File checks can establish fixityFixityThe ability to check that content matches a recorded identity, commonly through a cryptographic digest. It establishes sameness relative to that reference, not scientific truth.Work through the Cuntz example →. A replay can establish that a documented procedure produces the expected output under specified conditions. A numerical comparison can assess a model against observations. None of those alone establishes an attribution to a historical maker or a listener’s judgement of authenticity. The notebooks therefore describe both the contribution and the level at which it has been examined.
Choose a question before choosing a representation
A question about historical tuning requires different evidence from a question about spatial access or the ergonomics of a virtual console. Begin with the property to investigate, the object state and the comparison that could support an answer. Then choose the recording, geometric, documentary or interactive representation. This makes omissions visible early: a beautiful exterior scan does not provide internal dimensions, and a playable sample set does not establish how an original action felt.