RE: Request for Implementation Input: SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System

In reply to the recent request for SKOS implementation details here are
the details of work done to support the STAR project at University of
Glamorgan:

 

==VOCABULARY IMPLEMENTATIONS==

Existing English Heritage thesauri converted to SKOS:

1. English Heritage monument types thesaurus (3987 concepts)

2. English Heritage evidence thesaurus (41 concepts)

3. MDA Object types thesaurus (1742 concepts)

4. English Heritage main building materials thesaurus (225 concepts)

5. English Heritage timelines thesaurus (456 concepts)

6. English Heritage archaeological sciences thesaurus (101 concepts)

 

Main glossaries created from English Heritage recording manual
documentation:

1. English Heritage Simple Names for Masonry Structural Elements (158
concepts)

2. English Heritage Simple Names for Timber Structural Elements (64
concepts)

3. English Heritage Simple Names for Deposits and Cuts (96 concepts)

 

Minor glossaries created from English Heritage recording manual
documentation:

1. DEPOSIT.Compaction

2. DEPOSIT.Inclusions.Frequency

3. DEPOSIT.Inclusions.Size

4. DEPOSIT.Inclusions.Shape

5. DEPOSIT.Inclusions.Material

6. DEPOSIT.Contamination

7. CUT.Shape in plan

8. CUT.Breaks of slope

9. CUT.Breaks of slope.Slope and shape of sides

10 Cut.Breaks of slope.Properties of base

11 CUT.Breaks of slope.Post stake hole shape

12 SITE AND CONTEXT DETAILS.Finish

13 SITE AND CONTEXT DETAILS.Condition

14 SMALL FIND FORM.Condition

15 SMALL FIND FORM.Completeness

16 BOX INDEX FORM.Material

17 BOX INDEX FORM.Find type

18 BOX INDEX FORM.Box type

19 SAMPLE RECORD FORM.Simple name

20 SAMPLE RECORD FORM.Condition

21 SKELETON FORM.Body position

22 SKELETON FORM.Condition

23 SMALL FINDS FORM

24 BULK FINDS MATERIAL LIST 

 

The SKOS vocabularies were all implemented by Ceri Binding, University
of Glamorgan, as part of STAR project. They were created in English
language only. The thesauri were converted from Oracle data dumps using
a C# conversion application written specifically for the task.
Glossaries were initially created in MultiTes software, CSV output was
then converted to XML using Altova XMLSpy. Finally the XML files were
converted to SKOS using a custom XSL transformation (also using Altova
XMLSpy).

 

The thesauri and glossaries are not formally publicly available yet,
having been fed back to English Heritage. However the thesauri may be
viewed and browsed via the STAR SKOS_WS web service and associated
client application (described below).

 

==SKOS constructs used==

 skos:ConceptScheme

 skos:Concept

 skos:hasTopConcept

 skos:broader

 skos:narrower

 skos:related

 skos:inScheme

 skos:prefLabel

 skos:altLabel

 skos:scopeNote 

 

==APPLICATION IMPLEMENTATIONS==

SKOS_WS - a web service providing a subset of the SKOS API with
additional functionality for concept expansion and full text searching.
The purpose of the web service is to support the wider aims of the
ongoing STAR project. Implemented as a C# .NET SOAP web service backed
by a MySQL database, using the SemWeb
(http://razor.occams.info/code/semweb/) RDF library - which imports the
SKOS thesaurus data from RDF/XML or NTriples format data. The web
service has no built in SKOS consistency checking. 

 

STAR SKOS web service client - a C# .NET windows based client
communicating with SKOS_WS for searching and browsing the English
Heritage thesauri. In addition to the windows based client a number of
browser based AJAX 'widget' controls have been developed for the
project, communicating again with the SOAP web service.

 

The web service and associated client applications were created by Ceri
Binding, University of Glamorgan. They are described in more detail on
the project website at http://hypermedia.research.glam.ac.uk/kos/STAR/

 

Ceri Binding

Hypermedia Research Unit,

Faculty of Advanced Technology,

University of Glamorgan,

Pontypridd, CF37 1DL

Tel: +44 (0)1443 654533

Email: cbinding@glam.ac.uk <mailto:cbinding@glam.ac.uk>