What Is Cultural Data Without Meaning?

We live in a time when — like nearly every domain — cultural heritage is being digitized at an unprecedented pace. Digital museums, virtual exhibitions, 3D scans, and online archives are making culture more accessible than ever before.

But in the rush to digitize, we often forget to ask a simple question:

What is cultural data without meaning?

There are now hundreds of digital archives holding thousands of items — but without structure, relationships, or context, they become just databases. Not spaces for discovery, expression, or connection.

We’ve unlocked access, yes — but in many cases, we haven’t equipped ourselves to understand or explore what we’ve digitized. The result? Beautiful data, but little depth.

That’s where semantics come in.

By adding a semantic layer — an ontology, a knowledge graph, a shared vocabulary — we turn raw content into a living, interconnected network. One that helps systems and humans alike understand not just what an object is, but how it relates to people, places, periods, emotions, and meaning.

Semantics make it possible to:

• Link objects across collections and culture
• Recommend meaningful experiences instead of just matching keywords
• Enable personalized, accessible interaction
• Build creative tools that understand context
  

By giving cultural data real meaning, we don’t just preserve heritage—we enrich how future generations experience it.