[ABSTRACT]

A Study on the Establishment and Utilization of an East Asian Calendar Database

Lee Hea Yeong

Major in Culture Informatics

The Graduate School of Korean Studies

The Academy of Korean Studies

The objective of this thesis is to present methodologies on how to archive and utilize data on East Asian calendar systems. To this end, a collection and integration of data of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean calendars were conducted, followed by the design and verification of an ontology and data modeling. Finally, the connection between historical knowledge resources and East Asian calendar data, as well as an example of the data model in use, are introduced.

To design the ontology, an analysis of the time-related data design of OWL-time, EDM and CBDB was conducted. Also, an analysis of fundamental concepts of East Asian calendars like ganzhi or reign eras was conducted.

To archive a standard East Asian calendar, data in the DDBC Time Authority Database, the Search Era Service of the Database of Korean Classics, and the China-Japan-Korea Calendar Database of the Korea Science Foundation were collected and integrated. Based on this data, a standard East Asian calendar from BCE 220 to CE 2050 was made.

To utilize the data, an East Asian calendar ontology was designed and the standard East Asian calendar was converted to Linked Open Data. Finally, the connection of historic knowledge resources and the East Asian calendar ontology, as well as an example of a search based on this connection, was introduced. Through those examples, it was shown how to search by using concepts of East Asian calendars like reign eras and ganzhi, or using a period like ‘the late Joseon period’ or ‘the Japanese Colonial Period.' Furthermore, the potential for inference of time information using the relationship between knowledge resources was presented.

The results of this study are available to anyone interested in East Asian calendar data because they were constructed with Linked Open Data. It is possible for anyone to link with their own data or supplement and expand this East Asian calendar data. For those reasons, this study is expected to help create a common working environment for the study and utilization of East Asian calendars.