The use of digital technologies and big data in the humanities and social sciences provided many opportunities for cultural heritage management and research, enabling data sharing and interdisciplinary collaborations. These developments increased the need for standardized data formats. General and domain-specific standards for describing and classifying cultural data, based on linked data principles, are developed to support increasingly numerous digital collections. However, the existing standards do not fully address the particular challenges concerning the standardized descriptions of images. Here we focus on ancient coins, an official image-bearing medium. We present current approaches to coin iconography, including the application of statistical measures to infer patterns in the use of images for communication. We discuss the importance of consistent, standardized data for quantitative research, and propose a generalized approach, focused on basic concepts and limiting the level of detail for the sake of simplicity, interoperability, and compatibility with statistical methods, as a necessary first step towards creating reliable iconographic standards.

中文翻译：

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硬币图像的标准和量化：可能性和挑战

人文科学和社会科学中数字技术和大数据的使用为文化遗产的管理和研究提供了许多机会，从而实现了数据共享和跨学科合作。这些发展增加了对标准化数据格式的需求。基于链接数据原理，开发了用于描述和分类文化数据的通用和特定于领域的标准，以支持越来越多的数字馆藏。然而，现有标准并未完全解决关于图像的标准化描述的特定挑战。在这里，我们将重点放在古代硬币上，这是一种官方的形象载体。我们介绍了硬币图示学的当前方法，包括统计方法的应用，以推断使用图像进行交流的方式。