۱- Introduction

۲- Methodology, audience, and scope

۳- Related ontologies and data models

۴- Knowledge acquisition

۵- Specification

۶- Ontology description

۷- Implementation and maintenance

۸- Evaluation

۹- Conclusions

References

Abstract

The Internet of Musical Things (IoMusT) is an emerging research area consisting of the extension of the Internet of Things paradigm to the music domain. Interoperability represents a central issue within this domain, where heterogeneous objects dedicated to the production and/or reception of musical content (Musical Things) are envisioned to communicate between each other. This paper proposes an ontology for the representation of the knowledge related to IoMusT ecosystems to facilitate interoperability between Musical Things. There was no previous comprehensive data model for the IoMusT domain, however the new ontology relates to existing ontologies, including the SOSA Ontology for the representation of sensors and actuators and the Music Ontology focusing on the production and consumption of music. This paper documents the design of the ontology and its evaluation with respect to specific requirements gathered from an extensive literature review, which was based on scenarios involving IoMusT stakeholders, such as performers and audience members. The IoMusT Ontology can be accessed at: https://w3id.org/iomust#.

Introduction

The Internet of Musical Things (IoMusT) is an emerging research area consisting of the extension of the Internet of Things paradigm to the musical domain. This field is positioned at the confluence of music technology, the Internet of Things, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence. IoMusT relates to the networks of computing devices embedded in physical objects (Musical Things) dedicated to the production and/or reception of musical content. Considering the computer science perspective, Turchet and colleagues defined a Musical Thing as “a computing device capable of sensing, acquiring, processing, or actuating, and exchanging data serving a musical purpose”. The IoMusT was then defined as “the ensemble of interfaces, protocols and representations of music-related information that enable services and applications serving a musical purpose based on interactions between humans and Musical Things or between Musical Things themselves, in physical and/or digital realms. Music-related information refers to data sensed and processed by a Musical Thing, and/or exchanged with a human or with another Musical Thing” [۱].