Euler, Topic Mapsand Revolution: Euler, Topic Maps and Revolution An Introduction to ISO/IEC 13250 Topic Maps Tapsa Pippuri andlt;pepper@infotek.noandgt; Senior Information Architect STEP Infotek A.S, Oslo


Disclaimer: Disclaimer Do not expect to grasp all the details Our goals today: to provide an overview to spark further interest More details in the Proceedings (and XML Handbook, 2nd Edition) Contact andlt;pepper@infotek.noandgt; for tutorials and/or workshops...


Topic Maps are...: Topic Maps are... Another great ISO standard from SC34 … for describing knowledge structures 'An international standard for typed links' The bridge between knowledge management and information management A new paradigm for organising, maintaining and navigating information 'The GPS of the information universe'


Applicability: Applicability Anyone who needs to manage large pools of disparate interconnected information objects


The Motivation: The Motivation Originally: To represent knowledge structures for indexes Extended to other forms of navigation aid: The electronic equivalent of TOCs, glossaries, thesauri, cross references Today seen as providing a new organising principle for information


ISO standard 13250: ISO standard 13250 Describes an abstract data model Defines an SGML/HyTime based interchange syntax An XML/XLink based form will follow when the XML linking specifications are stable Subject to final vote as I speak


Key concepts: Key concepts Topics Occurrences Associations also: Scope Identity and public subjects Facets


Topics: Topics A topic is any 'thing' whatsoever about which anything whatsoever may be asserted by any means whatsoever! Persons, entities, concepts – depending on the information in question (More precisely, it’s a topic link element in the topic map, but don’t worry about that yet!) Some examples, please...


Topics: Topics Kullervo Helsinki Sallinen Hämeenlinna Finland Sibelius


More about topics: More about topics topics have types and characteristics: zero or more names zero or more occurrences zero or more associations


Topic types: Topic types 'types' attribute speficies the class(es) of which a topic is an instance represents the 'IS-A' relationship a.k.a. 'hypernymy' or 'superordination' or 'set-member' More examples...


Topic types: Topic types Kullervo Helsinki Sallinen Hämeenlinna Finland Sibelius


Topic types: Topic types Encyclopaedia: country, town, person, work… Thesaurus: domain, concept, term... SW documentation: system block, service block, command group, command… Legal publishing: law, case, court, concept, commentator… TechDoc: component, supplier, procedure, error condition…


Topic names: Topic names Three kinds: base name, display name, sort name Multiple names: Helsinki, Helsingfors WSSSL (multiple expansions) Topic naming constraint: Two topics cannot have the same name in the same scope (e.g. 'Kullervo')


Occurrences: Occurrences Information that is specified as being relevant to a given subject An occurrence (or set of occurrences) of a topic within one or more addressable information objects (in an information pool) The 'link' between the knowledge map and the information repository


Occurrences: Occurrences


Occurrence roles: Occurrence roles Different types of occurrences represented by occurrence roles For example: monograph, article, picture, video, mention, commentary, example, description, definition, syntax production, parameter list, functional description, overview, amendment, blueprint, graph … You get to choose!


Occurrence roles: Occurrence roles


Representing indexes: Representing indexes Helsinki ...................... 49 Hämeenlinna ............... 17, 77 Kullervo ...................... 72 Sallinen ...................... 42 Sibelius ...................... 22 Tavastehus, see Hämeenlinna


Topic associations: Topic associations Describe relationships between topics: 'Helsinki is in Finland' 'Hotel Kämp is in Helsinki' 'Sibelius was born in Hämeenlinna' 'Kullervo was written by Sibelius' 'Tolkien was influenced by Kalevala'


Topic associations: Topic associations Sibelius Hämeenlinna Hotel Kämp Kullervo Helsinki Finland tapsa pippuri, topic maps, xml finland '99


Association types: Association types Sibelius Hämeenlinna Hotel Kämp Kullervo Helsinki Finland tapsa pippuri, topic maps, xml finland '99


Association types: Association types Sibelius Hämeenlinna Hotel Kämp Kullervo Helsinki Finland 'portable semantic network' tapsa pippuri, topic maps, xml finland '99


Other concepts: Other concepts Scope andamp; Themes: Describes the limits of the validity of a topic characteristic assignment Facets: Provide a mechanism for assigning property/value pairs to information objects Subject identity andamp; Public subjects: Establishing identity between topics within and across topic maps


Self-documentation: Self-documentation Topics have types and topic types are (also) topics Occurrence roles are topics Scopes consist of themes that are themselves topics Association types and association roles are topics Facets and facet values are also topics!


But … Euler?: But … Euler?


Euler? Revolution?: Euler? Revolution?


Connections: Connections Life is full of connections Knowledge and creativity thrive on them Today’s information owners need to be able to exploit them Topic Maps are the exciting new technology for doing so, efficiently and reliably


To join the revolution: To join the revolution Standard text and other materials: http://www.infoloom.com Topic map mailing list: andlt;mb@infoloom.comandgt; Workshops and tutorials: andlt;pepper@infotek.noandgt; Kiitos ja näkemiin!