Re: Modeling change in and between schemes using SKOS - the problem of persistent URIs

Hi Aida:

Yes, I think you catch my drift.

On 29-Aug-06, at 5:13 AM, Aida Slavic wrote:

>
> Jakob,
> having in mind the time difference with America I suppose you will  
> have to
> wait for Joe's answer to this.
>
>> This is a rather philosophical question. The meaning of a concept  
>> is its
>> usage (subjectivism) or its inherent meaning (objectivism) but it  
>> does
>> not depend on which relations are known in which scheme. If a  
>> concept is
>> in two schemes than its either the same (same meaning) or not  
>> (different
>> concept).
>
> I always thought this to be very practical issue :-) Most of KOS  
> are created
> for specific purposes for specific field of knowledge
> and are not made to work as general ontologies
>
> the concept of e.g. education will not have the same BT/NT/RT  or  
> scope in
> a) thesaurus of education or social sciences
> b) thesaurus of religion
> c) thesaurus of library and information science
>
> also the concept of e.g. marriage in
> a) thesaurus of sociology
> b) thesaurus of ethnography
> c) thesaurus of law
> d) thesaurus of religion
>
>
>>> 4. Change notes, as properties of concepts, are not linked to the  
>>> scheme
>>> in which the change applies.
>> Because they are independent from Schemes.
>
> if there is anything scheme specific - these must be the notes.
> They are used to interpret the meaning, scope and use of the term  
> within the
> specific scheme.
>
>>> 5. We are left to ask: how do we model scheme specific changes to
>>> concepts without signaling a new URI?
>> You have to judge if the change is relevant enough to introduce a new
>> concept are just use the same concept.
>
> glad to agree about something!
> This has nothing to do with SKOS but rather with a strict policy in  
> the
> maintenance
> of the scheme which regulates when the cancellation of the old and the
> introduction of
> a new concept is justified.
> This is very relevant for both mature systems and for those being  
> in the
> process of development. Just the other day, for instance
> I was checking the new proposal for the
> extensions of vocabulary of mathematics (UDC).
> One of the problems I noticed was the change of class descriptions  
> next to
> the
> existing classes  - the change was qualified by the author as a 'text
> change'.
> Sometimes this would be only a slight changes in the scope but in  
> some cases
> it was
> actually a new concept and there is a strict policy how to deal  
> with this
> not to
> disturb the permanency/continuity of a vocabulary as implemented in
> practice.
>
> But the problem, I think, Joe talks about is the need to keep together
> information about
> cancelled/changed concepts in the same scheme - since the  
> development of the
> scheme itself is
> usually separate from its implementation. E.g. although concept is  
> cancelled
> or
> changed the old record of it and the history of its changes has to  
> exist for
> both editors and
> users.
> (Vocabulary editorial systems usually have historical/revision note  
> for
> changes and keep
> cancelled concepts as a part of the system with instruction for their
> replacement  (replaced by ->))
> In UDC cancellations, additions and changes of the scheme are also
> distributed to users as separate files
> every year (e.g. cancellation file (text export, short version) is at
> http://www.udcc.org/cancellations.htm.
> Am I wrong in assuming that in a scenario related to SKOS (or  
> terminological
> services)
> these data would be kept all together?
>
> aida
>
> P.S. I read somewhere (ages ago) about Dewey's consideration to tie  
> the
> concept ID with a scheme edition
> and notation through a structured URI (name of the scheme/edition/ 
> notation).
> This essentially means a different URI for the same
> concept (with or without some changes in text or scope). I don't  
> know how
> this
> approach would help an automatic update of the scheme in the users  
> authority
> files or track changed/cancelled
> classes. I am not sure the proposed suggestion is still valid though.
>
>
>
>



Joseph T. Tennis, PhD
Assistant Professor
Coordinator for the MAS and MLIS First Nations Concentration
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies
The University of British Columbia
301 - 6190 Agronomy Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3
CANADA
phone: 1.604.822.2431
fax: 1.604.822.6006
jtennis@interchange.ubc.ca
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/PEOPLE/faculty/tennis-p/index.htm

Received on Friday, 1 September 2006 16:25:44 UTC