Tutorial 7A: Thesauri and ontologies in digital libraries Part I. Structure and
use in knowledge-based assistance to users.
Half day
This tutorial provides a bridge by presenting methods of subject
access as treated in an information studies program for those coming
to digital libraries from other fields. It will elucidate through
examples the conceptual and vocabulary problems users face when
searching digital libraries. It will then show how a well-structured
thesaurus / ontology can be used as the knowledge base for an
interface that can assist users with search topic clarification (for
example through browsing well-structured hierarchies and guided facet
analysis) and with finding good search terms (through query term
mapping and query term expansion--synonyms and hierarchic
inclusion). It will touch on cross-database and cross-language
searching as natural extensions of these functions. It will also
mention the use of more richly structured ontologies, including
Semantic Web applications. The tutorial will cover the thesaurus
structure needed to support these functions: Concept-term
relationships for vocabulary control and synonym expansion, conceptual
structure (semantic analysis, facets, and hierarchy) for topic
clarification and hierarchic query term expansion). It will introduce
a few sample thesauri and ontologies and some thesaurus-supported
digital libraries and Web sites to illustrate these principles. See
also afternoon tutorial Thesauri and ontologies in digital libraries
Part II. Design, evaluation, and development.
Target Audience:
The tutorial is mainly targeted towards researchers and practitioners
that are working in the area of digital libraries, digital library
architectures, and innovative digital library services. Furthermore,
the tutorial will also be an opportunity for other players to gain
insights in the area of current developments in the area of next
generation digital library architectures and new applications of Grid
technology and the Peer-to-peer paradigm.
Level of experience required:
Introductory
Presenter:
Dagobert Soergel holds an MS equivalent in mathematics and physics
(1964) and a PhD in political science (1970), both from the University
of Freiburg, Germany. He is Professor of Information Studies,
University of Maryland, where he teaches courses in information
retrieval, thesaurus development, expert systems, and information
technology, and an information systems consultant. He has been a
visiting professor at the universities of Western Ontario, Chicago,
and Konstanz, Germany. Among other books, he has authored Organizing
Information (1985), which received the American Society of Information
Science Best Book Award, Indexing Languages and Thesauri. Construction
and Maintenance (1974) and numerous papers. He has designed several
thesauri, most recently the Alcohol and Other Drug Thesaurus
http://etoh.niaaa.nih.gov/AODVol1/Aodthome.htm (for which he chaired
the advisory committee) and the Harvard Business Thesaurus (under
development). He is developing TermMaster, a thesaurus management
software package. In 1997 he received the American Society of
Information Science Award of Merit.
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