KOS generation, reuse, connection, integration, and mapping

SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY

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Refer to the full article: Zeng, Marcia L. "Interoperability" @ ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization (IEKO) 2018-08-08

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Approaches & Cases - KOS vocabulary development

1. Derivation | 2. Expansion | 3. Integration/Combination | 4. Interoperation/Shared/Harmonization

1. Derivation

1.1 Derived vocabularies

A new vocabulary may be derived from an existing vocabulary which is seen as a source or model vocabulary.

Examples:

• Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) (http://fast.oclc.org/)
  - derived from LCSH
  • About: https://www.oclc.org/research/themes/data-science/fast.html
  • Download by facets: https://www.oclc.org/research/themes/data-science/fast/download.html 
    
    
• Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/
  • AAT's translated versions hosted at different countries:
    • 藝術與建築索引典 http://aat.teldap.tw;
    • The Dutch Art & Architecture Thesaurus® (AAT-Ned) http://website.aat-ned.nl/home;
    • AAT Deutsch http://www.aat-deutsch.de/
    • El Tesauro de Arte & Arquitecturahttp://www.aatespanol.cl/taa/publico/buscar.htm)
      
      
• Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) (https://www.oclc.org/en/dewey/resources.html).
  • translated into more than 30 languages and serves library users in 135+ countries worldwide. Some are partial adaptations or partial translations

1.2 Microthesaurus

Microthesaurus: A designated subset of a thesaurus that is capable of functioning as a complete thesaurus is called a microthesaurus (ISO 25964-2:2013).

Examples:

• EuroVoc microthesaurus by domains: https://publications.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/th-top-concept-scheme/-/resource/eurovoc/100141?target=Browse
  
  
• The CHIN Guide to Museum Standards, Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) - “Vocabulary (Data Value Standards)” suggested microthesauri: (https://www.canada.ca/en/heritage-information-network/services/collections-documentation-standards/chin-guide-museum-standards/vocabulary-data-value.html)
  
  
• Using AAT’s Linked Data SPARQL endpoint (http://vocab.getty.edu/) to generate a microthesaurus dataset (e.g., Object Genres or a smaller unit of Object Genres by Function)
  Instructions: http://metadataetc.org/LOD/6hands-on-Microthesauri-from-AAT.pdf

2. Expansion

2.1 Leaf nodes

Leaf nodes process: the extended schemes for subtopics are presented as the nodes of a tree structure in an upper vocabulary.

Examples:

• DDC, when used by various countries, may have extensions in a non-English edition for certain class(es) in order to meet the local needs.
  
  
• Special Supplement on Subject Headings for Information Retrieval (listed by Abbey Newsletter) http://cool.conservation-us.org/lex/

2.2 Satellite vocabularies

Satellites under a superstructure are usually developed deliberately as an integrated unit and require top-down collaboration for management.

Examples:

• LCSH-based vocabularies http://id.loc.gov/ include:
  • Legislative Indexing Vocabulary (LIV)
  • Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM)
  • Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) Thesaurus
  • LC Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music
  • LC Children's Subject Headings
  • Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT)
• The Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (FISH) Thesauri (http://thesaurus.historicengland.org.uk/newuser.htm) of the Historic England are composed of several separate online thesauri for monument types:
  • Archaeological Objects,
  • Building Materials,
  • Defense of Britain,
  • Components, Maritime Place Names,
  • Maritime Craft Types,
  • Maritime Cargo,
  • Evidence Thesaurus,
  • Archaeological Sciences,
  • Event types,
  • Resource Description Thesaurus, and
  • Historic Aircraft Types.

2.3 Open umbrella structure

Plug-in different pieces to an existing open umbrella structure.

Upper ontologies (top-level)
- basic, domain-independent concepts & relationships among them

• Cyc. The Upper Cyc® Ontology (previous: https://www.cyc.com/researchcyc)
• SUMO. Suggested Upper Merged Ontology (http://www.adampease.org/OP/)
• BFO. Basic Formal Ontology (https://basic-formal-ontology.org/)

Ontologies or schemas (with Top-level & Core/intermediate)

• DBpedia (http://mappings.dbpedia.org/server/ontology/classes/)
• Schema.org (https://schema.org/docs/full.html)

Domain-oriented ontologies (with own Top-level)

• CIDOC CRM (http://www.cidoc-crm.org/get-last-official-release)

3. Integration/Combination

Multiple resources combined in a new KOS while the original sources and definitions are maintained.

3.1 Metathesaurus

A metathesaurus is determined by the combined scope of its source vocabularies.

Example:

• Metathesaurus of UMLS https://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/knowledge_sources/metathesaurus/
• UMLS Reference Manual on Metathesaurus Chapter 2, NLM 2009).

3.2 Heterogeneous meta-vocabulary

A heterogeneous meta-vocabulary supports the representation of changes and differing opinions of certain concepts.

Example:

• TaxMeOn, a heterogeneous meta-vocabulary for biological names. (refer to TaxMeOn site for an example: http://onki.fi/onkiskos/cerambycids/)

4. Interoperation/Shared/Harmonization

Activities discussed below would lead to a new scheme that is NOT constrained by the details and coverages of the sources.

4.1 Shared/bridge scheme

Bridge ontologies (vs. reference ontologies) are typically used to mediate between specific concepts of multiple ontologies.

Example:

• The Global Agricultural Concept Scheme (GACS) http://browser.agrisemantics.org/gacs/en/

4.2 Reference ontologies

Reference ontologies are intended to be reused and are NOT rigidly tied to an application’s specific use cases and requirements.

Examples:

• The Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) (http://sig.biostr.washington.edu/projects/fm/AboutFM.html).
• Financial Industry Business Ontology™ (FIBO) (https://www.omg.org/hot-topics/finance.htm).

4.3 Virtual harmonization through linking

Activities of virtual harmonization through linking as well as generating multilingual labels by using SKOS-XL, have proven to be successful.

Examples:

• Thesaurus of Plant Characteristics (TOP) (http://www.top-thesaurus.org/)
  • Example of an entry (presenting the definition with multiple sources of the concepts): http://www.top-thesaurus.org/annotationInfo?viz=1&&trait=White_flower

• The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) (http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/)
  • Example of an entry (including links to representative images of a concept hosted by outside collaborators): http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300198841

• Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) (http://fast.oclc.org/searchfast)
  • Example of an entry (using foaf:focus and owl:sameAs to connect a concept to URIs that identify real-world entities specified at VIAF, GeoNames, and DBpedia:
    -HTML view: http://id.worldcat.org/fast/35588/
    -RDF/XML view: http://id.worldcat.org/fast/35588.rdf.xml

Jump to: 1. Derivation | 2. Expansion | 3. Integration/Combination | 4. Interoperation/Shared/Harmonization

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Refer to the full article:

Zeng, Marcia Lei. 2019. “Interoperability”. Knowledge Organization 46, no. 2: 122-146. Also available in Hjørland, Birger and Gnoli, Claudio eds. ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization, http://www.isko.org/cyclo/interoperability

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Developed by Marcia L. Zeng, 2019 for research and educational purposes. Last updated 2023-02.