Context and Natural Language in Formal Concept Analysis

CollectionWeb is a framework that uses Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) to link contextually related objects within museum collections. These connections are used to drive a number of user interactions that are intended to promote exploration and discovery. The idea is based on museological perspectives that emphasise the importance of the human, social and cultural contexts that are associated with objects. This paper presents an application of these museological concepts as related to the principles of Formal Concept Analysis along with a description of how the CollectionWeb framework generates narratives based on conceptual pathways. The framework has been applied to a number of user facing applications and provides insights on how FCA and natural language pipelines can be used to provide contextual, linked navigation within museum collections.