Skip to main content
Log in

Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) in the Semantic Web: a multi-dimensional review

  • Published:
International Journal on Digital Libraries Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Since the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) specification and its SKOS eXtension for Labels (SKOS-XL) became formal W3C recommendations in 2009, a significant number of conventional Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) (including thesauri, classification schemes, name authorities, and lists of codes and terms, produced before the arrival of the ontology-wave) have made their journeys to join the Semantic Web mainstream. This paper uses “LOD KOS” as an umbrella term to refer to all of the value vocabularies and lightweight ontologies within the Semantic Web framework. The paper provides an overview of what the LOD KOS movement has brought to various communities and users. These are not limited to the colonies of the value vocabulary constructors and providers, nor the catalogers and indexers who have a long history of applying the vocabularies to their products. The LOD dataset producers and LOD service providers, the information architects and interface designers, and researchers in sciences and humanities, are also direct beneficiaries of LOD KOS. The paper examines a set of the collected cases (experimental or in real applications) and aims to find the usages of LOD KOS in order to share the practices and ideas among communities and users. Through the viewpoints of a number of different user groups, the functions of LOD KOS are examined from multiple dimensions. This paper focuses on the LOD dataset producers, vocabulary producers, and researchers (as end-users of KOS).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. https://old.datahub.io/dataset.

  2. http://eurovoc.europa.eu/.

  3. http://id.loc.gov/.

  4. http://vocab.getty.edu/.

  5. http://finto.fi/en/.

  6. www.bioportal.bioontology.org.

  7. http://www.ontobee.org/.

  8. http://planteome.org/.

  9. http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ols/index.

  10. https://terminologies.gfbio.org/.

  11. http://www.heritagedata.org/blog/vocabularies-provided/.

  12. http://skosprovider.readthedocs.io.

  13. https://finto.fi/koko/en/.

  14. http://umbel.org/.

  15. https://bartoc.org/.

  16. http://lov.okfn.org/dataset/lov.

  17. https://old.datahub.io/dataset.

  18. https://github.com/PhilippMayr/NKOS-bibliography/.

  19. https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/108509791366293651606.

  20. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gettyvocablod.

  21. https://share.getty.edu/display/ITSLODV/Home.

  22. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ontolog-forum.

  23. http://lodlam.net/.

  24. http://linkedjazz.org/.

  25. http://www.top-thesaurus.org/.

  26. http://onki.fi/onkiskos/cerambycids/.

  27. http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/fast.html.

  28. http://schema.org/.

  29. http://linked.swissbib.ch.

  30. Refer to https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Visual_arts/Item_structure.

  31. http://sparql.uniprot.org/.

  32. http://vocab.getty.edu.

  33. http://cadastralvocabulary.org.

  34. http://labs.sparna.fr/skos-play/.

  35. http://skosmos.org/.

References

  1. Baker, T., Caracciolo, C., Doroszenko, A., Finch, L., Suominen, O., Suri, S.: The Global Agricultural Concept Scheme and Agrisemantics. In: International Conference on Dublin Core & Metadata Applications, October 13–16, 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark (2016). http://dcevents.dublincore.org/IntConf/dc-2016/schedConf/presentations

  2. Baker, T., Caracciolo, C., Doroszenko, A., Suominen, O.: GACS core: creation of a global agricultural concept scheme. In: Metadata and Semantics Research, 10th International Conference, MTSR 2016, Göttingen, Germany, November 22–25, 2016, Proceedings pp. 311–316 . Springer International Publishing, Berlin (2016)

  3. Bensmann, F., Zapilko, B., Mayr, P.: Interlinking large-scale library data with authority records. Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 4 (March). https://doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2017.00005 (2017)

  4. Berners-Lee, T.: Linked Data–design issues. Last updated 2009-06-18. https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html (2006)

  5. Binding, C., Tudhope, D.: Improving interoperability using vocabulary Linked Data. Int. J. Digit. Libr. 17(1), 5–21 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Borge, S., Guarino, N., Masolo, C.: A pointless theory of space based on strong connection and congruence. In: Proceedings of Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR96), pp. 220–229 (1996)

  7. Brown, Dan M.: Communication Design: Developing Website Documentation for Design and Planning, 2nd edn. New Riders, Berkeley, CA (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Buley, L.: The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide. Rosenfeld Media, New York (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN): CHIN Guide to Museum Standards. Last updated 2016-09-22. http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1443536694304

  10. D’Amore, S.: Boost empathy quickly with proto-personas. Blog (2016). http://blog.mural.co/2016/05/06/boost-empathy-quickly-with-proto-personas

  11. Garnier, E., Stahl, U., Laporte, M.-A., Kattge, J., Mougenot, I., Kühn, I., Laporte, B., et al.: Towards a thesaurus of plant characteristics: an ecological contribution. J. Ecol. 105(2), 298–309 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Garcia, G., Zeng, M.L., Ward, J.: Linked open data (LOD) vocabularies: querying, dumping, re-using, and serving. In: MW17: Museums and the Web Conference, April 19–22, 2017 Cleveland, Ohio, USA (2017). http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/training.html

  13. Gothelf, J.: Using proto-personas for executive alignment. UX Magazine. May 1, 2012 Article No :821 (2012). https://uxmag.com/articles/using-proto-personas-for-executive-alignment

  14. Isaac, A., Waites, W., Young, J., Zeng, M.: Linked Data Incubator Group: datasets, value vocabularies, and metadata element sets. In: W3C Incubator Group Report (2011). http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/XGR-lld-vocabdataset-20111025/

  15. ISO 25964-1:2011 Information and documentation–Thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies – Part 1: Thesauri for information retrieval. ISO TC 46/SC 9 Working Group on ISO 25964. Leader: Stella Dextre Clarke. Approved and published by ISO 2011-08

  16. ISO 25964-2:2013 Information and documentation–Thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies–Part 2. Interoperability with other vocabularies. ISO TC 46/SC 9 Working Group on ISO 25964. Leader: Stella Dextre Clarke. Approved and published by ISO 2013-03

  17. Krøger, E., Guribye, F., Gjøsæter, T.: Logging and visualizing affective interaction for mental health therapy. Norsk konferanse for organisasjoners bruk at IT (NOKOBIT), [S.l.], v. 23(1) ISSN 1894-7719. http://ojs.bibsys.no/index.php/Nokobit/article/view/272

  18. Mayr, P., Tudhope, D., Clarke, S.D., Zeng, M.L., Lin, X.: Recent applications of knowledge organization systems: introduction to a special issue. Int. J. Digit. Libr. 17(1), 1–4 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Menzel, C.: Reference ontologies-application ontologies: either/or or both/and? In: KI Workshop on Reference Ontologies and Application Ontologies (2003). http://bioontology.stanford.edu/wiki/images/d/d9/MenzelOntology.pdf

  20. O’Neill, E., Mixter, J.: (1) The case for faceting (2) FAST Linked Data mechanics. In: 76th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), Montreal, Canada, Nov. 2-6, 2013. http://nkos.slis.kent.edu/ASIST2013/ONeill-Mixter.pptx

  21. Pattuelli, M.C.: Personal name vocabularies as Linked Open Data. A case study of jazz artist names. J. Inf. Sci. 38(6), 558–565 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Pattuelli, M.C., Provo, A., Thorsen, H.: Ontology building for Linked Open Data: a pragmatic perspective. J. Libr. Metadata 15(3–4), 265–294 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Pruitt, J., Adlin, T.: Persona conception and gestation. In: Wilson, C. (ed.) User experience re-mastered: Your guide to getting the right design, pp. 155–219. Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington, MA (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  24. Sibille-de Grimoüard, C.: The Thesaurus for French Local Archives and the Semantic Web. Proced.-Soc. Behav. Sci. 147, 206–212 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Sonvilla-Weiss, S.: ed. Mashup Cultures. Springer, Berlin, ISBN 978-3709100950 (2011)

  26. Tudhope, D., Koch, T.: New applications of knowledge organization systems: introduction to a special issue. J. Dig. Inf 4(4) (2004). https://journals.tdl.org/jodi/index.php/jodi/article/view/109/108

  27. Tuominen, J., Laurenne, N., Hyvönen, E.: Biological names and taxonomies on the Semantic Web-managing the change in scientific conception. In: The Semantic Web: Research and Applications, 8th Extended Semantic Web Conference, ESWC 2011, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, May 29–June 2, 2011, Proceedings, Part II. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6644, pp. 255–269 (2011)

  28. Volkan, Ç., Stubkjær, E.: A SKOS vocabulary for linked land administration: cadastre and land administration thesaurus. Land Use Policy 49(2015), 668–679 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Voss, J.: Radically open cultural heritage data on the web. US National Archives YouTube, Jan 24, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2pyJ3e_Q0M 1:13:17

  30. W3C: SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference. W3C Recommendation 18 August 2009. https://www.w3.org/TR/skos-reference/

  31. Wallis, R.: Linked data: from library entities to the web of data. In: American Library Association Conference in Las Vegas–June 2014. http://www.slideshare.net/rjw/linked-data-from-library-entities-to-the-web-of-data

  32. Zapilko, B., Schaible, J., Mayr, P., Mathiak, B.: TheSoz: a SKOS representation of the thesaurus for the social sciences. Semant. Web J (SWJ) 4(3), 257–63 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Zeng, M.L.: Create microthesauri and other datasets from the Getty LOD vocabularies. In: MW17: Museums and the Web Conference, April 19–22, 2017 Cleveland, Ohio, USA. http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/zeng_microthesauri_getty_lod.pdf

  34. Zeng, M.L., Hu, T.: Extending exhibitions to historical journeys through data [in the Semantic Web]. In: MW17: Museums and the Web Conference, April 19–22, 2017 Cleveland, Ohio, USA. http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/zeng_silk_road_tgn.pdf

Download references

Acknowledgements

We want to thank all reviewers for their positive and constructive comments which helped to improve this paper. In addition, we thank all our co-organizers of former NKOS workshops and all participants of NKOS-related events for their continuously input and feedback which motivated us to write this paper. Supplementary materials (e.g., high-resolution figures) of this paper are available under https://github.com/PhilippMayr/supplementary-materials/tree/master/KOS-SW-MultidisciplinaryReview.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Marcia Lei Zeng or Philipp Mayr.

Appendix A. User persona document example: Vocabulary Producer (VP)

Appendix A. User persona document example: Vocabulary Producer (VP)

Name

Vocabulary Producer

Key

VP

Sources

Original sources

Used for

LOV on Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/108509791366293651606

VP-1

Getty Vocab Google Group https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gettyvocablod

VP-1

LODLAM challenges and sessions http://lodlam.net/

VP-2

Research-based journal publications; conference and workshop presentations

VP-2, VP-3, VP-4

Theses and dissertations

VP-2, VP-3

GitHub entries such as OpenSKOS, NatLibFi/Skosmos, JSKOS

VP-4

Social media sources: tweets, blogs, Facebook groups

VP-2, VP-5

Informal interviews and local meetings

VP-1, VP-2

Mailing lists within a user group

VP-1

Tasks

Vocabulary producers are involved in the development, maintenance, and enrichment of new and existing KOS in a wide range of scales (e.g., micro, satellite, unified, heterogeneous, extended, enriched, or other kinds). The tasks usually include:

   \(\bullet \)    Creating, developing;

   \(\bullet \)    Maintaining, enriching, extending, translating;

   \(\bullet \)    Integrating and unifying;

   \(\bullet \)    Transforming (e.g., making an ontology from a thesaurus);

   \(\bullet \)    Mapping with others;

   \(\bullet \)    Sharing, reusing, contributing;

   \(\bullet \)    Quality control and maintenance.

Content

\(\bullet \)    Entries / instances—with all property components required, including semantic and linguistic, format requirements, following standards and best practices;

\(\bullet \)    URIs—with namespace of any entry from any source;

\(\bullet \)    Rights and contributors;

\(\bullet \)    Provenance data;

\(\bullet \)    Updates info (new concepts, terms, relations, sources, etc.);

\(\bullet \)    Samples, previews, feedback, issues;

\(\bullet \)    Related images;

\(\bullet \)    Sources and URIs of the related real things;

\(\bullet \)    Alignments coded with appropriate degrees.

Interactions

\(\bullet \)    Working platforms (spreadsheet, local database, open tool, etc.);

\(\bullet \)    Desktops/mobile applications;

\(\bullet \)    Web sites (HTML, navigate-able);

\(\bullet \)    API-based services;

\(\bullet \)    SPARQL endpoints (with or without templates);

\(\bullet \)    Datasets.

Goals

\(\bullet \)    Create and maintain high-quality vocabularies;

\(\bullet \)    Follow the vocabulary principles of user-warrant, literary-warrant, organizational warrant;

\(\bullet \)    Follow international standards for KOS structure, components, and interoperability;

\(\bullet \)    Comply with Linked Data principles;

\(\bullet \)    Enrich, extend, and update contents constantly;

\(\bullet \)    Share, reuse, and contribute (both in and out) in vocabulary productions.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zeng, M.L., Mayr, P. Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) in the Semantic Web: a multi-dimensional review. Int J Digit Libr 20, 209–230 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00799-018-0241-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00799-018-0241-2

Keywords

Navigation