Encoding Culture(s) Lab
At the Encoding Culture(s) Lab, we build ontologies, conceptual models, and knowledge graphs for cultural collections. We study how cultural knowledge takes computational form, examining what this process reveals and what it leaves invisible.
Research Areas
Based in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Encoding Culture(s) Lab researches how cultural knowledge can be represented in computational form. We build ontologies and knowledge graphs for integrating collections of cultural and memory institutions; we examine how cultural objects and practices are documented; we use computational tools and methods to develop novel ways to provide access to our shared heritage; we develop pipelines, architectures, and workflows for curating and enriching cultural collections; we engage with established standards of cultural heritage informatics; we investigate the conditions and assumptions embedded in cultural documentation and computational methods. Read more about the lab’s research agenda here. If interested in joining the lab, check the open positions here.
News
- Nicola will present the paper “Beyond Representation: Knowledge Graphs for Digital Recontextualization” at the biennial Association of Critical Heritage Studies conference (ACHS 2026) in Wellington, New Zealand.
- 2026-05-23 – The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has formally joined the special interest group (SIG) that leads the development of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM). Nicola Carboni will serve as the iSchool’s representative on the SIG.
- 2026-04-09 – Two poster presentations at the iSchool 2026 Research Showcase. Ivan Dong and Chenxi Zhang presented the poster “Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)” and Yunsu Han and Yun-Chiao Cheng presented the poster “Evaluation of Visual Language Models for Early Printed Books“.
- 2026-02-18 – Nicola presented the paper “Mediating Access to Art-Historical Data using LLMs and RAGs” at the 114th College Art Association Conference, Chicago, United States.
- 2026-01-19 – Nicola presented the paper “Exploring Cultural Knowledge Graph Data using Large Language Models and Retrieval-Augmented Generation” at the conference The Art Museum in the Digital Age 2026, organized by the Belvedere Museum, Vienna.
- Nicola presented the poster “A Knowledge Graph-enhanced RAG framework for Cultural Heritage Data” at the Thirteenth International Conference on Knowledge Capture (K-CAP 2025) in Dayton, USA
- 2025-11-20 – Nicola presented the paper “AI-mediated interfaces for exploring cultural knowledge repositories” at the conference Ctrl+S Culture: AI and Heritage in a Digital World, organized by ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property).
- 2025-10-23 – Nicola presented the paper “Querying Art Historical Knowledge Graphs: a Natural Language Interface for Exploring CIDOC-CRM Data Using LLM“ at the conference ‘Digital Publishing for Art History‘ at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, Rome, Italy.
- 2025-09-08 – Nicola presented together with Matteo Romanello and Simon Gabay, the paper “Predicting the Fictional Time and Space of French Theatre Plays by Using Large Language Models“ at the conference ‘IEEE International Conference on Cyber Humanities‘ in Florence, Italy. Published here.
- 2025-03-12 – Just published on the Journal of Open Humanities Data: The Semantic Reference Data Modelling Method: Creating Understandable, Reusable and Sustainable Semantic Data Models. Available in Open Access here.
- 2025-04-01 – Nicola presented “Integrating Computational and Historical Methods for Investigating Image Circulations“ at the workshop ‘Encoding the Image: How does AI affect the Future of Photo History?‘ at the Image Centre in Toronto.