Knowlege organization systems and Linked Data: meaning and identifiers

Ronald Siebes, Aida Slavic, Andrea Scharnhorst

Keywords: Linked Data, Knowledge Organization Systems, URI, namespace

TL;DR: Creating URIs (type of identifiers) for concepts and relations involves many dimensions like versioning, persistence, resolvability, (human) readability etc; we present these challenges, share experiences and discuss solutions.

Abstract:

In this talk we discuss the characteristics of Linked Data-based resource discovery and its limitations in finding content by direct processing of information resources -- in comparison to the solution provided through content metadata supported by knowledge organization systems (KOS) such as thesauri, classification and subject descriptors. KOS are traditional information discovery tools that determine the meaning and control ambiguities of language, hence they are often referred to as controlled vocabularies. They are used by libraries as well as by publishers and bookshops. However, most of KOSs are designed for and used in traditional information environments and are often not readily accessible by programs.
Semantic technologies such as linked data offer solutions for expressing KOS in a more formalized and machine-understandable way. They provide a way of uniquely identifying and contextualizing semantically meaningful units irrespective of their possible linguistic or symbolic representations. This “unique identification” (URI) is the key element of linked data technology: anything that can be identified can be linked.
The publishing of KOSs as linked data has become the most important form of sharing and using controlled vocabularies in the Web environment. This is also a solution for accessing the meaning and knowledge stored in the collections indexed by KOS (both directly or indirectly). As more and more KOSs are being published as linked data and more and more collection metadata containing KOS concepts join the linked data cloud, some obstacles to linking collection metadata and KOSs have become more obvious. Human knowledge is in constant flux and KOSs develop over time to embrace new terminology and new fields of knowledge. These changes affect unique identifiers used in KOS and consequently all links between KOS and resource collections.

Submission Type: presentation proposal