Using Topic Maps in Establishing Compatibility of Semantically Structured Hypertext Contents
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432 Knowl. Org. 39(2012)No.6
G. Baião, G. Â. Borém Lima. Using Topic Maps in Establishing Compatibility ...
Using Topic Maps in
Establishing Compatibility of Semantically
Structured Hypertext Contents
Guilherme Baião Salgado Silva* and
Gercina Ângela Borém de Oliveira Lima**
* Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627 Sala: 4053 – Pampulha
31270-010 Belo Horizonte/MG, Brazil
** Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627 Sala: 4053 – Pampulha
31270-010 Belo Horizonte/MG, Brazil
Guilherme Baião Salgado Silva holds a Master’s in Information Science (UFMG, Brazil) and a Bachelor’s
in computing science (Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Brazil), and is a specialist in database (Centro
Universitário de Belo Horizonte, Brazil). He works as a systems analyst-programmer and manager of in-
formation databases of the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais State (Brazil).
Gercina Ângela Borém Lima is full professor of information science at the Information Science School
– UFMG (Brazil). She holds a PhD in Information Science from UFMG (Brazil) and a Master’s in Li-
brary Science from Clark Atlanta University (USA). Currently, she is the vice president of ISKO’s Bra-
zilian Chapter, the coordinator of the Graduate Program in Information Science at UFMG. She has
been funded by a grant from the research agency CNPq to coordinate the Research Group MHTX
(models for hypertext organization) since 2010. Current research includes the areas of knowledge or-
ganization and hypertext systems, both applied to digital library.
Baião Salgado Silva, Guilherme, and Lima, Gercina Ângela Borém de Oliveira. Using Topic Maps in Es-
tablishing Compatibility of Semantically Structured Hypertext Contents. Knowledge Organization.
39(6), 432-445. 30 references.
ABSTRACT: Considering the characteristics of hypertext systems and problems such as cognitive
overload and the disorientation of users, this project studies subject hypertext documents that have un-
dergone conceptual structuring using facets for content representation and improvement of informa-
tion retrieval during navigation. The main objective was to assess the possibility of the application of topic map technology for
automating the compatibilization process of these structures. For this purpose, two dissertations from the UFMG Information
Science Post-Graduation Program were adopted as samples. Both dissertations had been duly analyzed and structured on the
MHTX (Hypertextual Map) prototype database. The faceted structures of both dissertations, which had been represented in
conceptual maps, were then converted into topic maps. It was then possible to use the merge property of the topic maps to pro-
mote the semantic interrelationship between the maps and, consequently, between the hypertextual information resources
proper. The merge results were then analyzed in the light of theories dealing with the compatibilization of languages developed
within the realm of information technology and librarianship from the 1960s on. The main goals accomplished were: (a) the de-
tailed conceptualization of the merge process of the topic maps, considering the possible compatibilization levels and the appli-
cability of this technology in the integration of faceted structures; and (b) the production of a detailed sequence of steps that
may be used in the implementation of topic maps based on faceted structures.
Received 10 July 2010; Revised 14 August 2012; Accepted 23 August 2012
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1.0 Introduction with others, in distinct ways, in each of these struc-
tures.
The growing use of hypertext systems through the This study is intended to assess, in the light of
Web has triggered a series of changes in information theories for the compatibility of languages and vo-
organization, storage, and retrieval concepts. With cabularies, topic map standard as a tool for the auto-
their non-linear associative structure, hypertext mated integration of heterogeneous faceted concep-
documents offer a number of innovations in relation tual structures in hypertextual contents. These maps
to traditional printed documents, mainly in regard to may be used for the representation of information us-
research and learning processes, since hypertextual ing Knowledge Organisation Systems (KOS), such as
reading is predominantly based on navigation. On the thesauri, taxonomies, conceptual maps, and faceted
other hand, hypertext systems have some disadvan- classifications (Garshol 2004).
tages for users, including cognitive overload and dis-
orientation during navigation. 2.0 Topic maps
With the goal of mitigating such problems, several
hypertext structured navigation systems have been Topic maps form a standard that allows for the im-
proposed. These new models are based on the appli- plementation of information representation instru-
cation of techniques and methodologies for the or- ments, a standard that is used to describe and navigate
ganization of information in the hypertextual seman- through informational objects in digital systems in a
tic network and on interfaces that allow for oriented contextualized manner. According to Park (2003),
navigation supported by the ability of visualizing the topic maps and the organization of knowledge are
global structure of the network in a number of ways, natural partners, since the first one was invented so as
such as hierarchical diagrams and conceptual maps. to meet the requirements and solve problems with
Some projects, like the Hypertextual Map (MHTX) the latter, mainly in respect to the semantic integra-
proposed by Lima (2004), suggest the application of tion (or compatibilization of heterogeneous subject
the theory of facet analysis in the analysis of tradi- schemes) and shared construction of conceptualiza-
tional documents and their conversion into hypertext- tions (or mental models). For Park, the construction
ual documents for later availability in a digital library of topic maps must always be based on theories,
of theses and dissertations. However, the hypertext- techniques, and methodologies developed by knowl-
ual documents in these repositories have heterogene- edge organization for the construction of intellectual
ous semantic structures, unified search requires the structures, such as faceted classification.
identification of interrelationships between document As in other information representation instru-
structures, a rather complex process. ments (such as thesauri and concept maps, for exam-
Therefore, the problematic issue to be dealt with in ple), topic maps are based on the representation of
this study is characterized by the existence of distinct subjects (topics) through relations (associations).
conceptual structures for the representation of differ- Based on the mapping of subjects and associations,
ent hypertextual documents in one same repository “paths” that point to information resources that are
(a digital library, for example), and which may ap- relevant for these subjects are constructed. This para-
proach subjects that are correlated among themselves digm requires that the topic map’s author think in
or even approach the same subject through different terms of topics (subject matter, conversation topics,
terms and contexts. For that reason, the creation of specific notions, ideas or concepts) and associate
mechanisms that enable the interrelationship between various types of information to a specific topic. For
these structures tends to facilitate the retrieval of in- example, a topic called “hardware” can be associated
formation by users. with another “topic” called “printer” throught an as-
Considering that the subject matter analysis of sociation of type “is a.” The topic “printer,” in turn,
each document was conducted based on theory of can be linked to different kinds of information re-
facet analysis and supported by literature warranty in sources (occurrences), like an image of a printer or a
relation to the documents analyzed, at the end of the text that describe its functionality.
process we shall have different controlled vocabular- Lima and Fagundes (2004) note that the original
ies being used for the organization of documents. application of this language was the construction of
These differences occur mainly due to the possibility indexes and glossaries for documents, which was later
of designating different terms for the same subject extended to the Web for the definition of relations be-
and to the possibility of one subject being associated tween entities, constituting one structure that makes
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G. Baião, G. Â. Borém Lima. Using Topic Maps in Establishing Compatibility ...
data search more efficient. Librelotto (2005) lists the components, the first group was named TAO by
following as main objectives of topic maps: Pepper and the second group, IFS. Comments will be
made on each of these concepts below.
a) to structure information resources by means A topic is the representation of a subject. More
of mechanisms that are external to these re- generically, a subject could be anything: a person, a
sources; concept, an entity, etc. In an ideal representation, the
b) to allow for searches that retrieve the desired relation between topics and subjects is of a “one-to-
information; and, one” type; that is, each topic represents one and only
c) create different views for users or specific ap- one subject, and each subject is represented by a single
plications by means of information filters. topic.
Within the topic map, any topic is an instance of
Garshol (2002) observes that, through topic maps, it one or more “topic types.” For instance, it can be said
is possible to create external indexes to describe in- that the “indexer” topic is of type “Person” (the type
formation that is present in documents or databases. “Person” being one topic in itself), and that the “sub-
According to Ahmed and Moore (2006), the sepa- ject matter analysis” and “translation” topics are of the
ration between the conceptual structure and indexed “Process” type and “book” is a “material” type topic.
resources presents three remarkable benefits: For each topic in the map, it is possible to define
one or more topic names. Librelotto (2005) notes that
a) the map serves as one representation, at the the possibility of attributing various names to one
highest level, of the indexed information, thus topic may have two objectives: to facilitate the under-
facilitating the location of resources and the standing of the meaning of the topic through alterna-
conceptual structuring of those resources being tive descriptions and to indicate the use of different
represented; names in different contexts, like language, domain,
b) ease of topic map fragmentation so as to geographical area, historical period, and so on. Ac-
meet different requirements; and, cording to Park (2003), the utilization of multiple
c) ease of combination among topic maps that names for one same topic is a fundamental requisite
index different sets of resources. for the robustness, scalability, and interoperability of
maps.
The topic map standard was initially conceived in the In a topic map, associations are meant to express a
beginning of the 1990s. Since then, several research relationship between one or more topics. An associa-
studies have been conducted with the goal of creating tion of topics is, formally, a linking element that de-
norms and standards for their use, as well as of assess- scribes the relations between two or more topics
ing their applicability. In the late ’90s, the ISO/IEC (Pepper 2000) and the roles each of them play in that
group created an international standard ISO 13250 association. Associations between topics may also be
for the formalization of knowledge structures repre- grouped according to their association types, which,
sented by this technology. Soon after the publication in turn, are also defined through topics. In these as-
of ISO 13250, studies were begun aimed at its adapta- sociations as well, as cited in Pepper (2000), we can
tion to XML (eXtensible Markup Language), which define also the role of each topic. For this purpose,
already stood out in terms of acceptance as a language the association roles element is utilized. For example,
for communication among information systems on when there is a need to represent, in a topic map, a
the Web (Park and Hunting 2003). At that same time, whole-part type relation between subject matter
the independent organization TopicMaps.org was analysis processes and subject extraction, it is possible
founded with the goal of creating an XML specifica- to define not only the type of relation (whole-part),
tion for topic maps. XTM 1.0 (XML Topic Maps) ap- but also to define that the whole is the subject matter
peared in the beginning of 2001. analysis and the part is the extraction of subjects.
According to Pepper (2000), the topic map stan- Contrary to what happens in thesauri and in other
dard was created based on three main components traditional classification schemes, topic maps allow
(also present in the bibliographical indexes): topics, for the representation of any type of relation between
associations, and occurrences. In addition to these subjects. The class-instance type relation is estab-
three, Pepper also highlights other important ele- lished by typifying topics, associations, or occur-
ments in the topic maps: subject identity, facets, and rences (Pepper 2000). For the remaining types of re-
scope. Due to the mnemonic composition of these lations, new associations must be defined.
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In topic maps, an occurrence is any information ambiguities and reducing the chance of errors when
that, in some manner, is specified as being relevant for merging topic maps (Pepper 2001). Topic characteris-
a certain topic (subject). That is, occurrences allow a tics are understood to be the names, associations, and
topic to be related to any number of resources con- occurrences in which the topic takes part. According
sidered to be relevant for it. These resources are then to Ahmed and Moore (2006) “scope is the term used
called topic occurrences. Ruiz (2005, 86) defines oc- in the topic map norm to refer to a restriction or a
currence as “external information resources, linked context in which something is said about a topic.” If
by a reference that is useful for its location, which de- no scope is attributed to the name, to the occurrence,
fine or exemplify the meaning of the topic.” For Pep- or to the association, this means that all topic charac-
per (2001), occurrences may be external to the topic teristics are valid in any situation. The merge process
(one Web page about that topic, for instance) or in- is a resource made available by topic maps to integrate
ternal (defined in the map proper). As with topics two maps into one, in a manner that guarantees that
and associations, occurrences may also be classified topics that represent the same subject in the two maps
by means of occurrence types. Therefore, it is possi- are transformed into one single topic in the resulting
ble, for example, to distinguish those occurrences map. When this merging takes place, the characteris-
that define the topic from those occurrences that ex- tics of the merged topics are to be unified, thus elimi-
emplify or instanciate the topic. nating duplication, and kept in the resulting topic
As mentioned before, in the second group of topic (names, occurrences, associations, and identifiers).
map components defined by Pepper (2000), we will This process can be automated through applica-
find the element responsible for the identification of tions that are specific for the manipulation of topic
subjects, facets, and scope. maps. These applications use two distinct possibilities
The very first of them, the subject identifier, is in- to determine that two topics represent the same sub-
tended to guarantee that a subject is represented by ject. The first one occurs when the single subject iden-
one single topic in the map. For that purpose, the tifier is the same for two distinct topics, whether the
subject can be identified in the topic map through: identifier is an addressable object or is a PSI. The sec-
ond occurs when there are one or more names of a
a) already existing and addressable electronic re- topic that coincide with one or more names of an-
sources, such as an image on a webpage, for in- other.
stance, or The second case requires that the homonymy
b) a subject indicator created and made available for problem be taken into account, that is, when one
this specific purpose, since the subject in question same term represents two or more different subjects.
is not addressable, such as a subject “Brazil,” for In order to deal with this problem, applications can
instance. take two different paths: in the first situation, the ap-
plication presents to the user those topics that were
In the latter case, the resource created by a commu- identified with the same name so that the user may
nity with the specific goal of providing a subject with decide whether the topic should be merged or not. In
one single identification is called a published subject this case, the process is no longer totally automated;
indicator or simply PSI. The Topicmaps.org site in the second situation, the application takes into ac-
(http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/), for example, de- count the equivalence of the names only if they are
fines a series of PSIs related to electronically non- defined for the same scope, thereby turning it into a
addressable subjects, such as languages, countries, and fully automated process.
the subjects themselves that are involved in the con- Another merging possibility among map elements
struction of topic maps. The second component, the is the use of the mergemap component to specify the
facets, is in fact metadata used to describe occur- topics that are to be considered as being one only.
rences within a topic map. This resource was adopted The mergemap refers to an external map through a
by standard ISO 13250 and eliminated by the XTM URI, thus allowing for the indication, in the map top-
standard, since, in the latter, the resource and the ics, of corresponding topics in other maps.
property value must be considered topics that are as- Since some topic maps may contain a great quantity
sociated by means of “applicable to” type associations of topics and associations, it is currently possible to
(Park 2003). find tools that enable the visualization of topic maps
The scope is used in topic maps to define the con- through different interfaces: textual, generally made
text in which topic characteristics are valid, removing available through HTML pages, graphs, trees or maps
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G. Baião, G. Â. Borém Lima. Using Topic Maps in Establishing Compatibility ...
of several different types, including tridimensional Gernot Wersig, Eric Coates, Elaine Svenonius, Da-
types. Omnigator, for instance, enables the visualiza- gobert Soergel, Linda C. Smith and V. M. Glushkov.
tion of maps both in page format and in graphic for- In addition to these authors, Lancaster (1986) points
mat (http://www.ontopia.net/omnigator/). Another out the work of H. Neville and R. T. Niehoff, cited in
example is the TMNav, which allows for the visualiza- Soergel (1974).
tion of maps in several different graphic forms, among In 1971, UNESCO’s UNISIST report dedicated an
which is the tree form. TMNav is one of the tools entire section to the conversion and compatibility of
available in the TM4J (http://tm4j.org/), which is an indexing instruments. The report defines compatibili-
application package for the creation, management, and zation and conversion as follows (Dahlberg 1981, 86):
visualization of topic maps. The most recent studies
about topic maps concentrate on the implementation The report defines ‘compatibility’ as the quality
of resources aimed at making the definition of restric- of systems whose products may be used in an
tions in relationships1 and inference rules viable. interchangeable manner, despite the differences
in notation, structure, physical support, etc.,
3.0 Compatibilization of languages and with no special automated conversion; and
controlled vocabularies ‘conversion’ as the process through which in-
formation entries are transformed based on
Studies concerned with the compatibilization of lan- code transcription, data structure, etc., thus al-
guages were started in the 1960s (Dahlberg 1981). lowing for them to be interchangeable between
Dahlberg (1981) highlights the work conducted by two or more services or systems that utilize dif-
William Hammond and Staffan Rosenborg, Simon M. ferent conventions and media.
Newman, Madeline M. Henderson, John S. Moats,
and Mary Elizabeth Stevens. One of the main results In the following decade, the 1980s, there was little re-
reached by the studies at that time was the definition search into the theme (Maniez 1997, 213). At that
of some core concepts for the field, such as converti- time, technologies that allowed for the interchange of
bility, compatibility, and their respective applications, data among different bases were rather restricted. In
mainly within the scope of cooperation among in- the 1990s, studies were then resumed due to the
formation centers. William Hammond, in 1965, de- global expansion of information networks, the ease of
fined compatibility as: “the capacity of an informa- simultaneous access to different collections and the
tion system to accept indexing data and summariza- increased amount of interchange among different da-
tion from another system on any subject matter that tabases, most importantly over the Web (Maniez
is common to both” (Newman 1965, 7). 1997; Hudon 2004). These studies presented new
According to Maniez (1997) the words “integra- definitions for compatibility. Noteworthy among
tion,” “harmonization,” “reconciliation,” and “con- them is the definition provided by Gerhard Riesthuis
cordance” are usually applied to indicate the concept in a seminar on system integration and compatibiliza-
of convergence, that is, the same concept of “com- tion held in 1995, in Varsovia: compatibility means
patibilization.” However, Lancaster (1986) considers that, for each term in a language there is a corre-
integration of vocabularies as a specific method of sponding term with the same meaning in another lan-
compatibilization, in which there is no conceptual guage, and that is why it is possible to convert terms
analysis, that is, for a certain user request, all related of one language into another, with no alterations in
occurrences (including word variations) and elements meaning (Maniez 1997). Maniez (1997) also com-
are shown as a result, without showing the relation or ments that the compatibilization of languages is a
the context in which each one of them are present. crucial aspect in any information retrieval system,
Coates (1970) comments that up until then coop- since, for these systems, users are required to use a
eration among libraries was based solely on the union language that is compatible with that which was used
of catalogues, that is, there were no efficient mecha- for indexing the entries, considering the subjectivity
nisms that allowed for the exchange of descriptions of implicit in the indexing process.
a subject matter. However, according to Maniez In Brazilian literature, among studies produced
(1997), the 1970s witnessed an increase in the produc- since the beginning of the current decade, we high-
tion of studies on language compatibility. Some rele- light those conducted by Dr. Maria Luiza de Almeida
vant authors of that time cited by Dahlberg (1978) Campos. Campos (2005) cites as the main language
were, among others: Hans Wellisch, Verina Horsnell, compatibility theorists in information science: Soer-
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G. Baião, G. Â. Borém Lima. Using Topic Maps in Establishing Compatibility ...
gel (1982), Dahlberg (1981), Neville (1970), and f) the lack of subjects in some of the systems,
Glushkov et al. (1978). although this same subject occurs in other sys-
According to Zhang (2006), the objective of pro- tems involved. This last obstacle tends to be
moting the compatibility of indexing languages is to bigger as the overlaying of subject matters dealt
enable users, through a single search strategy, to re- with by those vocabularies involved decreases.
trieve information stored in any of the bases or re-
positories that comprise a certain information re- In addition to these problems, Lancaster (1986)
trieval system. For Rada (1987), the integration2 of comments on problems related to the use of compu-
controlled indexing languages may come to serve for tational processing in an attempt to automate the
different purposes: compatibilization process and notes, as the main is-
sue, the possibility that one same term may have dif-
a) to enable users to use a term for a certain ferent meanings. For the same author, another prob-
subject and, based on that, allow for the indica- lem is the existence of errors in the form in which the
tion of appropriate descriptors in each base; terms are written in some systems. For Doerr (2001),
b) to permit the indexing process to be shared the difficulties found in the compatibilization process
through the possibility of converting one the- originate mainly in the subjectivity of the choice of
saurus into another; descriptors and hierarchical relations during the con-
c) to make the identification of relations be- struction of controlled vocabularies.
tween different controlled vocabulary subjects The compatibilization of controlled vocabularies
possible; and can occur at three levels: terminological (or verbal),
d) to increase the vocabulary content. conceptual, and structural (Soergel 1982). At the first
one, the terminological level, procedures are based on
In 1965, William Hammond had listed the following the comparison of names or descriptors that have
compatibilization objectives (Newman 1965): been attributed to the subjects. The second level,
conceptual, may be considered the most complex of
a) to provide for the dissemination of informa- all, since it is at this level that nearly all problems pre-
tion resulting from ongoing searches; viously mentioned are found. Due to this complexity,
b) to eliminate the need for doubled indexing contrary to what occurs at the terminological level,
and for search report summaries; and compatibilization hardly ever occurs in an automated
c) to furnish for the retrieval of reports stored manner at the conceptual level. Also at the conceptual
in different repositories, based on the original level, methods for the validation of the previous stage
indexing. may be proposed, in view of the fact that homonyms
may generate erroneous terminological compatibiliza-
For Guinchat and Menou (1994), the compatibility be- tion from the conceptual point of view. In turn, com-
tween documentary languages is of utmost importance patibilization at the structural level is responsible for
for the exchange of information between units that deal guaranteeing the conformity of those relations estab-
with the same or interrelated subject matters. Accord- lished among elements.
ing to Soergel (1982), the main obstacles found in the Hudon (2004) mentions a fourth level, the com-
controlled vocabulary compatibilization process are: patibilization of subject matter. This level is related to
the possibility of representing the same subject mat-
a) different levels of precombination of the de- ters in different controlled languages, whether by
scriptors used by each of the systems; means of a single element or through the combina-
b) different degrees of specificity for subjects tion of two or more of them. Glushkov et al. (1978),
that compose each one of the systems; in turn, divided the compatibilization of vocabularies
c) different ways to relate one specific term to into two levels: the semantic level, linked to the ca-
one single generic term in the case of polyhier- pacity of both to represent the same body of knowl-
archies; 3 edge, and the structural level, related to the similarity
d) different possibilities for the aggregation of according to internal characteristics, which corre-
specific subjects formed by terms that, in an iso- sponds to the terminological, conceptual, and struc-
lated manner, do not represent subjects; tural levels mentioned by Soergel (1982).
e) the possibility of different connotations for In the compatibilization model proposed by Dahl-
one same term (homonyms); and berg (1981), for instance, the three noticeable stages
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of compatibilization are: verbal (alphabetical com- from distinct vocabularies: (1) exact correspondence,
parison matrix constructed in topic 4 of the author’s (2) synonyms, (3) generic to specific, (4), mappable
study), conceptual (topics 5.1 to 5.4) and structural to a different pre-coordination level, (6) semantic fac-
(5.5 to 5.7). toring, and (6) antonyms. It is important to note,
We found different techniques and algorithms for however, that Neville (1970) did not consider the
the integration of languages, among which we may treatment of homonyms, except in those cases in
highlight mapping, the use of intermediary languages, which at least one of the vocabularies involved con-
microthesauri, macrothesauri, and the universal the- strues the occurrence of homonymy, as well as, for
saurus. Among these, mapping is the one most often example, a case in which a vocabulary distinguishes
found in references to the subject. the elements “tank (war vehicle)” and “tank (con-
The mapping consists of determining, for each tainer)” and the other vocabulary presents only the
term of a vocabulary, the term with the closest corre- term “tank.” Also with respect to homonymy, it is
spondence in another vocabulary. This mapping may worth noting that it is a type of correspondence that
be unidirectional or bidirectional. Unidirectional is not as common when we are working with vocabu-
mapping identifies, for those terms in a first vocabu- laries from the same knowledge field, as was done in
lary X, those with the closest possible equivalence in the study by Neville.
a second vocabulary Y. Therefore, all terms from X For Tennis (2001), the work of Neville (1970)
will have a correspondent in Y, but not the other way represents a specific type of mapping, the supra-
around. For the reverse order also to take place, it is thesauri, which may be defined as a type of mapping
necessary to undertake bidirectional mapping, that is, that utilizes intermediary language, in which this lan-
also map those equivalent terms in X for each term in guage is generated after an iterative process of con-
Y. According to Doerr (2001), mapping is the basic ceptual analysis of the involved thesauri. Therefore,
process in all other compatibilization techniques. the supra-thesauri only exist after the analysis of a
As for the number of vocabularies involved in- predefined set of thesauri, and that is why its applica-
creases, the situation becomes extremely complex, tion is limited to this group. This procedure is not
and a more viable alternative is then the use of inter- supported by any literary warrant, as it is replaced by
mediary languages. In this case, each vocabulary must the conceptual warrant derived from the involved vo-
be mapped bidirectionally with the intermediary lan- cabulary.
guage and, in so doing, produce the correspondence Soergel (1974) presents a table for the mapping of
among all vocabularies involved. controlled vocabularies in which he suggests five pos-
With respect to the main difficulties found during sible levels of conceptual equivalence among elements
mapping (whether intermediary languages were used of distinct languages and, for each of these levels, five
or not), Lancaster (1986) points out: possible levels of terminological equivalence: same
term, distinct terms, and descriptor combinations
a) differences between pre-coordination levels (utilizing logical operators). The table proposed by
of involved vocabularies; Soergel (1974) is presented in Table 1 below.
b) differences between levels of specificity; and The mapping of one vocabulary into another is a
c) the lack of corresponding elements in one of tiresome and time-consuming intellectual task (Lan-
the vocabularies. caster, 1986). For this reason, some studies were con-
ducted in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the pur-
For both the first two situations, the solution pro- pose of developing algorithms that would automate at
posed by the author is to map one element of a vo- least a part of the process. Some types of mappings
cabulary in relation to various elements in the other. that may be realized automatically were identified in
Eventually, the solution would be to add the element these algorithms.
into one of the vocabularies. This situation occurs in Lancaster (1986) also produces another specific
smaller proportions as the overlaying of subject mat- type of technique for the compatibilization of vo-
ters covered by both vocabularies increases. cabularies which he calls the integrated vocabulary
Neville (1970) presents an example of a step-by- approach and whose purpose is slightly different
step mapping of thesauri, which he denominated rec- from that of intermediary languages, as equivalences
onciliation of thesauri. Considering the terminologi- among elements of involved vocabularies are defined
cal and conceptual models, the author identified six according to the user’s search strategy and, conse-
possible correspondence types between elements quently, no new neutral language is created. In those
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G. Baião, G. Â. Borém Lima. Using Topic Maps in Establishing Compatibility ...
Table 1. Terminological and conceptual compatibilization matrix Source: Adapted from SOERGEL, 1974, p. 506.
cases, the users themselves are the ones who select case, the categorization of subjects and facets was
the comparison strategy: exact equivalence, syno- based on formal categories and subcategories pro-
nyms, related terms, number of terms to be exhibited posed by Dahlberg (1978).
as results, etc. The search result displayed the occur- It is worth noting that, in addition to the differ-
rences at the selected data bases, each one with their ences between the categorization models adopted in
specific terms and the reason for which the occur- the construction of each one of the two schemes, the
rence was considered. For Lancaster (1986), the com- latter was constructed independently of the scenario
patibility matrix proposed by Dahlberg (1981) is an- used in the first one, that is, at no time was there any
other example of the integrated vocabulary approach. preoccupation with the compatibility between the
two. Therefore, they can be considered an ideal sam-
4.0 Procedures adopted ple for construing the problematic scenario previ-
ously described.
Two faceted conceptual structures were utilized as the According to Garshol (2004), the three steps for
empirical object for the experiment. The first one was the creation of a topic map based on a faceted classifi-
developed by Lima (2004) during the implementation cation system are:
of the MHTX prototype, presented in her doctorate
dissertation. It is the result of the facet analysis of the a) create, for each facet, a “facet” type topic
doctoral dissertation by Madalena Martins Lopes named after the facet;
Naves, PhD in Information Science from the UFMG b) create, for each highest level term of each
Information Science School, from the year 2000. In facet, a “term” type topic, whose name will be
that analysis, the set of principles suggested by the the term proper, and associate it to the corre-
Spiteri Simplified Model was utilized. sponding facet using a “belonging to facet” type
The second one was constructed by Professor association;
Gercina Ângela Borém de Oliveira Lima, in partner- c) create, for each term just below the highest
ship with Professor Maria Luiza de Almeida Campos, level term, a “term” type topic whose name will
both with degrees in librarianship and PhDs in in- be the term proper, and associate it to its father
formation science. It resulted from the facet analysis using a “generic/specific” type association.
of the doctoral dissertation by Lima (2004). In that
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In order to maintain the representativeness of the a PSI may be represented by any type of data, the ideal
conceptual maps developed by Lima (2004) and avoid situation is that they be in a repository from which
semantic loss in the faceted structure, it was neces- they are made available on the Web and that each of
sary to make some adaptations to the route suggested their elements be addressable by means of a specific
by Garshol (2004): URI. This allows for the reutilization and the collabo-
rative construction of ever more complete and more
a) instead of creating one single “facet” type comprehensive PSI repositories from the conceptual
topic, eight topics were created, each of them point of view.
representing one different facet or subfacet In order to assemble a second topic map, the same
level, since, in the scheme proposed by Lima procedures were adopted, this time based on a dis-
(2004), at each level a different symbol attribute tinct faceted structure that was obtained from the
was given in the conceptual map; analysis of the dissertation by Lima (2004). However,
b) for each association roles were also defined in this second map, the PSIs were not added, since
for the topics involved. In a “belonging to facet” the creation of a PSI for each new topic, as was done
type association, for example, one of the topics in the first map, might generate more than one PSI
involved takes up the “facet” role and the other for the same subject, in the event a subject was being
one the “term” role; dealt with in both maps. That is, the reutilization of
c) in those cases in which synonymous terms already published subject matters demands previous
were kept (Concept/Idea/Thought, for in- manual conceptual analysis to be performed by the
stance), the “topic names” property was used to professional constructing the topic map. Since this
indicate that all the terms referred to one same study deals with the compatibilization by means of
subject; automated resources already present in the topic
d) to indicate the division criteria, “division cri- maps, conducting the analysis for the insertion of
teria” type topics were created and, subse- PSIs in the second map would be justifiable.
quently, associated to the corresponding facet The software used to aid in the construction, editing
through a “divides the facet” type association. and navigation of the topic maps was Topincs , version 1.3.3, which
In order to make a “belongs to the facet” type associa- is a free, open code software application for academic
tion between those terms subordinate to each of these purposes and which allows for the exportation of maps
criteria and the immediately superior facet, it was nec- into XTM files. This resource provides for the visuali-
essary to add a third role indicating the division crite- zation of maps created in other topic map editing tools
ria with the goal of making explicit which terms that and navigators that support the same standard.
are subordinate to the facet belong to which criteria. TMNav was used for graphic visualization of the
This means that, in the case of subordinations for maps. This software enables different graphic forms of
which there was an explicit division criterion in the visualization, such as hierarchical (in tree format) and
original scheme, a ternary relation was generated in- through a hyperbolic map, which, according to Lima
volving the facet, the subfacet (whose role was defined (2004) and Silva (2007) is a highly recommended in-
as “term”) and the division criteria in question. terface for navigation in hypertextual resources.
Following that, occurrences were created for each Several other software programs were analyzed be-
one of the topics. Each occurrence pointed to the fore these were selected. However, some presented a
HTML page corresponding to the part of Naves’s high level of installation and handling complexity, re-
(2000) dissertation that best defined its semantic con- quiring, inclusively, the mastering of a programming
tent. Therefore, all links between elements of the map language or code architecture (TM4J, available
and the respective information resources that had http://www.techquila.com/tm4j.html), requires broad
been created by Lima (2004) were kept. From that knowledge of Java for the installation and compila-
point on, it was possible to navigate in context tion of its components). Others, like TMProc4 do not
through the topic map. support the XTM standard and require the installa-
The next step was the creation of a PSI repository. tion of several other little-known software programs.
As previously mentioned, PSIs are especially respon- For the automated merging of the two topic maps
sible for the portability of topic maps, for they are in- produced during the previously described stages, the
tended to provide one singular identification of a sub- Ontopia OKS Samplers was used.
ject with no ambiguities. For that reason, even though
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5.0 Results analysis Symbol Description
The first step of the results analysis was the manual ▲ Terminological and conceptual equivalence;
structural divergence;
unification of the faceted structures involved. The
■ Terminological variation; conceptual equiva-
unified structure resulting from this procedure was lence; structural divergence;
used as a parameter for comparison with the topic ◊ Terminological divergence; conceptual di-
map obtained after the automated merging of the two vergence only in relation to the level of
previously generated maps originating from these specificity; structural equivalence;
same structures. For the production of the manually □ Structural equivalence only;
unified scheme, the structure related to the disserta- Table 2. Symbols attributed to each of the relation types
tion by Lima (2004) was used as the basis. Following identified during manual unification.
that, an attempt was made to allocate into this basic
structure each of the descriptors from the second Figure 1 shows a small part of the structure resulting
scheme, related to the dissertation by Naves (2000), from the unification as a function of the steps de-
considering the subject to which each one referred to scribed previously.
in each piece of work separately. The identification of the relations, besides allowing
During this process, it was possible to identify dif- for a better comparison of results, serves as a justifi-
ferent types of relations between the elements of cation for the insertion of each term from the second
these two structures. These relations were classified scheme into the first scheme. An example of that is
considering the three levels of compatibilization the term “exact sciences” that, as it had been inserted
(terminological, conceptual, and structural) presented in the symbol ◊, allows us to deduce that there is a di-
by Soergel (1982). The first type of relation identified vergence only in the specificity level. Considering
was the terminological, conceptual and structural that the hierarchical chain in which the term now
equivalence, that is, the same descriptor present in takes part, one may deduce that it is a subject whose
both structures, thus denoting the same concept and specificity level is greater than that of “Natural Real
in similar hierarchies. Sciences” and smaller than “Computer Sciences.”
A second type of relation was identified among the In order to facilitate the comparison of results from
elements of the same terminology and conceptual load both processes (the manual unification of the two
with slight variations such as number variation. An- schemes and the automated merging of the topic
other type of relation was identified among those ele- maps), it was necessary to navigate throughout the re-
ments that were equivalent from the conceptual and sulting topic map using OKS Samplers so as to extract
terminological point of view, but were presented under a hierarchical structure in the same format as that of
a different subordination in each scheme, which implies the scheme generated during the manual unification.
a divergence at the structural level. The fourth type is a At this point, it was noticed that there were topics
variation of the latter, due to terminological variations in the resulting topic map that were subordinate to
between descriptors. The fifth type was identified more than one “parents” topic, that is, that polyhier-
among elements with different descriptors and which archies occurred. This happened in all those cases in
were conceptually divergent only in relation to their which two identical descriptors were present at differ-
specificity. The last type of relation identified occurred ent levels in the original schemes. This type of relation
in those cases in which the elements had no previous had been dealt with using the symbol ▲ in the manual
relations, but had their allocation defined so as to pro- unification process. Figure 2 exemplifies that with the
vide for the structural compatibility between the “terminology” topic for which distinct subordination
schemes involved and the resulting scheme. could be observed.
In order to provide for an easier identification of The occurrence of polyhierarchies, allied to other
the types of relations in the resulting scheme, the fol- factors that will be commented on later in this article,
lowing symbol mapping strategy was adopted: make it evident that merging the maps at the struc-
tural level results in a sum or union; that is, for those
Symbol Description cases in which the same descriptor occurs in both
maps, the two hierarchies in which they occur remain
∆ Structural, conceptual and terminological
after merging.
equivalence
╤ Terminological variation; structural and
By comparing the two schemes, one observes that
conceptual equivalence the terminological variations, even when small, ex-
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G. Baião, G. Â. Borém Lima. Using Topic Maps in Establishing Compatibility ...
Figure 1. Scheme resulting from the manual unification.
Figure 2. Example of polyhierarchy in the topic map
erted negative influence on the process of merging fore, at the moment the user, when navigating
the maps, as among the characteristics of the topics through the map, reached a topic resulting from the
used for the identification of equivalences are the unification of two topics (one from each map used in
names that are attributed to them. The “authors” and the input) the two relevant information resources
“author” topics, for instance, which in both maps were displayed.
represented the same subject, were not unified. This Those cases that were treated with the ◊ symbol
means that the relations identified by the ╤ and ■ (terminological divergence, conceptual divergence
symbols in the manually unified scheme did not re- only in relation to the specificity level, and structural
ceive the treatment expected in the automated merg- equivalence) did not receive any type of treatment in
ing. As to those topics that took part in relations the automated process, and were presented in the re-
identified by the symbol ∆ (terminological and con- sulting scheme as non-related topics. Finally, the
ceptual equivalence), they were duly unified. cases of simply structural equivalence, represented in
It is important to note that in those cases in which the manual unification by the symbol □, were duly
two topics were unified into one, all properties of treated in the resulting merge topic map mainly
both topics such as names, associations, and, mainly, thanks to the terminological compatibility between
occurrences were kept in the resulting topic. There- the large categories dealt with in the two schemes.
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6.0 Final considerations and future developments ments may come to propose new subject matter
analysis models based on the theory of facet analysis
The topic map merge may be defined, within the that may serve as the basis for the construction of
scope of interoperability between vocabularies, as an more complete topic maps, under the semantic point
automated terminological compatibilization, based on of view, and more prepared for compatibilization
topic names; that is, two topics in different maps that through the utilization of scopes, for example. In ad-
have one of more common descriptors are unified dition to that, other proposals for the conversion of
into one single topic in the resulting map. It is in this traditional IC classification schemes into topic maps
topic that the sum or union of the characteristics of may be developed, with the use of types of topics, as-
the original topics is deposited. Occasional variations sociations, and roles that are different from those
in the utilization of descriptors may influence nega- used in this project.
tively the result of the process, even when it is with The occurrence of polyhierarchies in the map re-
regard to small variations, such as divergence in the sulting from the automated merging proved to be ef-
utilization of a descriptor in the singular or plural. ficient in the sense that it showed different concep-
Some future studies may propose the incorporation tual definitions for one same term, the occurrence of
of algorithms for the mating of spelling verifications which is clearly possible when we are working with
and standards, such as those currently used by information resources bearing different authorships.
Google, into topic map manipulation tools, thus pro- This fact acquires even greater relevance in those
viding for the treatment of small terminological varia- cases in which the content of the information re-
tions or spelling mistakes. The structural compatibili- sources that are being dealt with belong to knowledge
zation while merging takes place as a consequence of areas whose terminology is not well defined. Such is
occasional unifications at the terminological level. the case with disciplines dealing with bibliographical
At the conceptual level, the proposal in the topic classification (Satija, 2000), since, in these fields, au-
maps is to use the PSI concept. However, the identifi- thors will use terminologies that differ from those
cation of equivalences between one new topic and ex- used in other fields. With no possibilities for poly-
isting PSIs is a completely manual process, which re- hierarchies, there would be the risk of some term be-
quires intense intellectual effort on the part of the user ing housed under a subordination whose semantic
responsible for the new map. That is, the utilization of value does not coincide with any of the occurrences
PSIs, which is of fundamental importance if topic that are likely to be accessed by the user.
maps are to accomplish their goal of interoperability, is For the same reasons, we must emphasize the im-
similar to the process of utilizing intermediary lan- portance of the possibility of attributing various
guages for the compatibilization of vocabularies. names to the same topic. Once such equivalences are
Research into the compatibilization of vocabularies explicit, even when one any subject is referred to by
may come to contribute towards the development of different authors through distinct terms, the literary
new topic map interoperability techniques. The great warrant remains. Most specifically in the cases of sys-
majority of these studies, whose initial development tems that favor context navigation to the detriment
dates back to 1960s, were focused mainly on its appli- of other search techniques, the role literary warrant
cation in thesauri. It was only more recently that plays is even more important than that it plays in
these studies have begun to be revisited with the goal other systems that prioritize other search techniques.
of integrating other forms of information representa- In the case of textual search, for example, the user
tion, such as ontologies, for example). warrant becomes essential.
The topic maps generated from faceted schemes In relation to the objective of the topic maps,
are extremely simple from the point of view of the re- which is to provide for contextualized navigation and
sources offered by the maps (endless types of associa- offer greater flexibility for the representation of sub-
tions, names of topics, scope, etc.), due to a fragility jects and relationships, it is possible to say that the
of semantic explicitation of these schemes: types of technology fulfills its role well. It supports a diversity
limited relations, scope, and cardinality are not con- of navigation interfaces (textual, hierarchical, in sev-
sidered. In addition, polyhierarchy is not allowed, eral forms of conceptual maps, or in various other
since the principles defended by Ranganathan estab- graphic forms), with most of them permitting the
lish that the ranking classes must be mutually exclu- user to efficiently access the location of any hypertext
sive; that is, no subject from the structure may belong knots in relation to its global structure. Such effi-
to more than one class in the rank. Future develop- ciency is founded on mapping directly between the
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G. Baião, G. Â. Borém Lima. Using Topic Maps in Establishing Compatibility ...
structure represented by the map and the sources of 4. TMProc was developed by the Ontopia group
information to which this structure refers. Addition- (http://www.ontopia.net/) and was one of the first
ally, there are no restrictions or limits for semantic software applications developed for the manipula-
representation; any idea, object or thought, as well as tion of topic maps.
any type of relation they may have, may be repre-
sented by means of topic maps. The possibility of es- References
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