- From: Bernard Vatant <bernard.vatant@mondeca.com>
- Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 14:07:21 +0100
- To: "SKOS" <public-esw-thes@w3.org>
Leonard > I quite agree with you that it would be much better if we could leave > the term "taxonomy" to the biologists. Unfortunately it has become > fashionable, though as you say it is not clear what its definition > should be, which is the reason why there is no definition for it yet in > the glossary on my Web page. Fair enough. > Personally I think its use often conceals some woolly thinking by people > who are not quite sure whether they are talking about a thesaurus, a > classification scheme or some combination of these. The combined schemes > are important, because I like the "unified" approach, where a set of > defined concepts can be arranged (a) alphabetically, with relationships > listed under each; (b) hierarchically, based on BT/NT relationships; and > (c) in classified groupings and sequences bringing together concepts > relating to the same subject area, i.e. as a faceted classification > scheme. Agreed > Perhaps "concept scheme" is sufficiently broad to cover all possible > different structures of concepts and their relationships - is there a > formal definition of "skos:ConceptScheme"? The current definition in SKOS Core is "A set of concepts forming a coherent scheme". I won't call that really a "formal definition". But (Alistair please correct me if I am wrong) it has been kept deliberately so, as unformal and generic as can be, in order to cover a wide range of legacy ... > I'd be interested in any recommendations for a precise definition of > "taxonomy" in the wider sense. At present I'm inclined to define it with > my tongue in my cheek as "a classification scheme, typically used for > Web sites, designed without regard to established and consistent > principles". I can live with such a definition. Not sure "taxonomy software" vendors would buy it as easily, though ;-) Bernard ********************************************************************************** Bernard Vatant Senior Consultant Knowledge Engineering bernard.vatant@mondeca.com "Making Sense of Content" : http://www.mondeca.com "Everything is a Subject" : http://universimmedia.blogspot.com **********************************************************************************
Received on Wednesday, 2 February 2005 13:07:36 UTC