war - Piek Vossen

The semantics of history
as a model for historical archives
applied to the Rijksmuseum collection
Submitted as Camera project
Piek Vossen
Computational Lexicology & Terminology Lab
LCC, Taal & Communicatie
Faculteit der Letteren
Seminar over Semantisch Netwerk Technologie
January 22nd, 2009, VU University Amsterdam
Semantic disclosure and retrieval
•
Text to concepts, many-to-many mappings:
•
Concepts to meta data
– genocide, massacre, ethnic cleansing  Killing
– ethnic cleansing  Deportation
– create structure and models from textual data, which involves inferencing: time
periods, political roles, nations, alliances
– use normalized meta data and structure to interpret text: genocide takes place in
a particular period of time
•
Queries to concepts
– handle unseen words and phrases: systematic violence to minorities
– apply inferencing when needed/requested
– sensitive to communicative perspective
•
Model diverse and distributed multimedia data collections in a uniform way
to enable consistent and flexible retrieval and structuring:
– Berlin as the capital of Germany & pictures of Berlin when it is the capital of
Germany
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
2
The semantics of history
• Camera project involving 1 AIO from the Faculty
of Arts and 1 AIO from the Faculty of Exact
Science, collaboration with Rijksmuseum
• Goal: an ontology and lexicon for a historical
multimedia archive of the Rijksmuseum.
• Applied to an innovative information system for
accessing the historical archive.
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
3
Event
Ont.
Historic
Ont.
Alignment
Data model
Structured
Data
Knowledge
engineer
Data
Conversion
Semi
Structured
Data
Term
Extraction
Ontolization
Terms
&
Relations
Ontology
Lexical
mapping
Lexicalization
Lexicon
Free
Text
Smart
Indexing
Software
engineer
Rijksmuseum
Wikipedia
Historische Canon
Objects
Events
Locations
People
Smart Retrieval
Multimedia
objects, data
Validation
Historians
Language
engineer
Changing realities & perspectives
• History is a chain of realities: how do we cut up
continuous time?
• All is finite but some things are more stable than
others:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Geographical regions
Nations and countries
Regimes
People life and die
Politicians come and go
Interpretation of roles for the same period changes in
each period
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
5
Historical ontology
Events
Persons
InternationalWar
CivilWar
sub-event
WOII
Regions
Wars
Disasters
Floodings
Countries
Watersnoodramp
West Germany
East Germany
Installation
of
DutchBat
Val
massaenclave graven
Germany
Yugoslavia
1945
1953
1989
news
news
news
Hist.
doc
Struggle for Srebrenica
Hist.
doc
1993
news
parlementaire
enquête
Bosnia and Herzegovina
1995
1999
2002
news
Hist.
doc
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
Hist.
doc
6
The semantics of history =
semantics of change
• Represent different realities:
– related through causal changes over time in
regions
– what remains stable and what changes
– representing different views or perspectives
on the same reality, e.g. form a different
historical angle or from different geographical
or social parties.
• Changes are typed as events
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
7
Events as key notions
• Historical events:
– events considered from a distance in time and abstraction of
detail.
– referenced by names (WOII, de Val van Srebrenica), nouns
(war) or nominalizations (violation of human rights)
• News events:
– Reports on (the same) reality but more in the active verbal form:
US soldiers shoot Iraqi citizens.
– Closer to the actual event
– Lacking a historical abstraction and filtering.
• News becomes history over time, and we therefore
expect a smooth transition in the use of language to refer
to the same events, adding more and more historical
perspective.
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
8
News classification
International Press Thesaurus Committee (IPTC, http://www.iptc.org/)
• 16000000 unrest, conflicts and war
– Acts of socially or politically motivated protest and/or violence.
• 16001000 act of terror
– Act of violence, often deadly, designed to raise fear and anxiety in a
population
• 16002000 armed conflict
– Disputes between opposing groups involving the use of weaponry, but
not formally declared a war
• 16003002 rebellions
– Armed uprising by citizens of a nation with the intent to overthrow the
government, without necessarily achieving social change
• 16006000 massacre
– The death of a large group of people over a brief period of time
• 16006001 genocide
– Systematic killing of one clan, tribe or ethnic type by another
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
9
“Val van Srebrenica” in Wikipedia
with historical perspective
• Na het uiteenvallen van de Republiek Joegoslavië en
de burgeroorlog die daarop volgde werd de stad,
evenals Tuzla, Sarajevo, Gorazjde en Zepa, door de
Verenigde Naties tot veilige enclave voor moslims
verklaard, binnen een door Bosnische Serviërs
beheerst gebied.
• uiteenvallen Republiek  ceases to exist
• verklaren tot enclave  role for a region
• de stad (Srebrenica), evenals Tuzla, Sarajevo,
Gorazjde en Zepa  role fillers and parts that make up
the region
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
10
“Val van Srebrenica” in Wikipedia
with historical perspective
• Op 11 juli 1995,(…), forceerden Bosnisch-Servische
troepen onder bevel van generaal Ratko Mladic zich met
tanks de stad binnen en deporteerden en vermoordden
ca. 8.000 moslimmannen en -jongens. Het wordt gezien
als de ergste daad van genocide in Europa sinds de
Tweede Wereldoorlog.
• forceerden de stad binnen  take control
• wordt gezien als genocide  role
• deporteren en vermoorden  role fillers of genocide
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
11
News letter from the Dutch minister of
defense with little historical perspective
• De afgelopen zes maanden werd de uitvoering van deze
taken aanzienlijk bemoeilijkt door de Bosnisch-Servische
weigering de enclave voldoende te laten bevoorraden.
Door een gebrek aan brandstof moesten patrouilles te
voet worden uitgevoerd. Ook blokkeerden de Bosnische
Serviers sinds mei jl. de rotatie van het personeel van
Dutchbat, waardoor de bezetting werd teruggebracht van
630 naar 430 blauwhelmen. De vijandelijkheden namen
geleidelijk toe, waardoor op 3 juni jl. een observatiepost
in het zuidoostelijke deel van de enclave moest worden
opgegeven
• Verb phases: bevoorraden, blokkeren, opgeven
• Potential historical terms: blokkade, val, drama, opgave,
overgave
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
12
Lexicon versus Ontology
Ontology
Events
Actions
Disasters
Regions
Conflicts
Genocide
Qualifies as
enclave
Deportation
Shooting
Wars
Struggle
Killing
Take-over
Surrender
International Civil
Wars
Wars
Subevents qualified as
gevecht
vermoorden
deporteren
inname
val
opgeven
vechten
Bosnisch-Servische
“wordt gezien als”, 313,000
troepen google-hits,
deporteerden
October
en vermoordden
14th, 2008
wegvoeren
opgave
innemen
Suriname
gezien
als corrupttankvuur
en crimineel land
Gezien
als een wordt
daad van
genocide
overgeven
veroveren
onder vuur liggen
schieten
overgave
verovering
beschieten
raken
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
13
bezetting
University Amsterdam
Lexical ontological structure
• Regions:
– Yugoslavia (x), Bosnia (y), Serbia (z), hasPart (x, y),
hasPart (x, z), period (t)
• Roles, e.g. enclave(y):
– protect (x,y,z), region (y), authority (x), threat (z),
inhabit (v, y), period (t)
• Events:
– kill, deportation
• Roles, e.g. ethnic cleansing(x):
– event(x), agent (x, a), cause(x, y), move_from(y, z, r),
inhabit (z, r), region (r), kill(v, a, z), deport(w, a, z),
hasPart (x, v), hasPart(x, w), period (t)
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
14
“Val van Srebrenica” in Wikipedia
with historical perspective
• Headings:
– 1992 ethnic cleansing campaign
– The conflict in eastern Bosnia
– Struggle for Srebrenica
• Text:
– A fierce struggle for territorial control then ensued among the three
major groups in Bosnia: Bosniak (commonly known as 'Bosnian
Muslims'), Serb and Croat. In the eastern part of Bosnia, close to
Serbia, conflict was particularly fierce between Serbs and Bosniaks
– Serb military and paramilitary forces from the area and neighboring
parts of eastern Bosnia and Serbia gained control of Srebrenica for
several weeks in early 1992, killing and expelling Bosniak civilians. In
May 1992, Bosnian government forces under the leadership of Naser
Orić recaptured the town
– thus proceeded with the ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks from Bosniak
ethnic territories in Eastern Bosnia and Central Podrinje
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
15
What kind of questions can be
answered?
• Definition of time frames:
– Historical events on a time axis
– Listings of all low-level subevents within time frames
– Mappings of role-events to subevents
• Changes:
– Changes within time frames, involving particular participants, in
certain regions
– Changes in roles of participants, causal associations
• Similarities:
– Varieties of labeling and naming schemes of events
– Matches between multimedia objects: audio fragments, movies,
art, & text archives (across languages)
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
16
Thank you for your attention
AIO at FdL
• Lexical framing of events in news reporting
and historical descriptions.
• Use historical thesaurus to group all the
words and expressions in a lexicon
relative to the same events
• Differentiate implications of lexical
variation: packaging of events
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
18
(News) Letter from the Dutch minister of
defense with little historical perspective
• Op dinsdag 11 juli jl. werd Srebrenica door de Bosnische
Serviers ingenomen. Hieraan ging een week vooraf
waarin de gevechten in het zuidoostelijke deel van de
enclave en de Bosnisch-Servische beschietingen van de
enclave heviger werden. Ook Dutchbat kwam daarbij
onder vuur te liggen….Op vrijdag 7 juli werd de in het
zuidoostelijke deel gelegen observatiepost Foxtrot door
Bosnisch-Servisch tankvuur herhaaldelijk geraakt. Hierbij
vielen geen slachtoffers. Op zaterdag 8 juli namen de
gevechten verder toe en werd Foxtrot door BosnischServische infanterie ingenomen…. De regering is zeer
bezorgd over het lot van de mannen die door de
Bosnische Serviers naar Bratunac zijn weggevoerd
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
19
News classification
International Press Thesaurus Committee (IPTC, http://www.iptc.org/)
•
03000000 disaster and accident
–
•
03001000 drought
–
•
When a building, bridge or other structures collapse because of unexpected forces or poor design
03007000 meteorological disaster
–
•
A mishap in a factory, a shop or an office, potentially harmful to humans
03006001 structural failures
–
•
Surfeit of water, caused by heavy rains or melting snow, usually in places where it's not wanted
03006000 industrial accident
–
•
Ignition and consumption of materials through a combination of high heat and oxygen
03005000 flood
–
•
Severe lack of food for a large population
03004000 fire
–
•
The shifting of the tectonic plates of the Earth, creating in some cases damage to structures
03003000 famine
–
•
A severe lack of water over a period of time
03002000 earthquake
–
•
Man made and natural events resulting in loss of life or injury to living creatures and/or damage to inanimate
objects or property.
A weather-related disaster
03007001 windstorms
–
A storm of high velocity but non-hurricane force movements of air with little or no rain or hail. Often highly
destructive
Seminar Semantisch Netwerk Technologie, 22-Jan-2009, VU
University Amsterdam
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