/research/projects/rdf_topicmaps/default.htm

originally: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/rdf_topicmaps/default.htm

RDF Topicmaps

The RDF Topicmaps project explores subject navigation of Web sites using semi-automatically generated finding aids.

Background

Many institutions are struggling to solve problems with their official Web sites, but the contents constantly change, and the editors can't exercise sufficient control. One result is that an institution's major presence on the Web is difficult to navigate.

Goals

The goals of the project include:

Description

RDF topicmaps are created by:

Some topics generally are found to be unique to specific sites, while others are common to multiple sites. Dr. Godby gathered subject/topic metadata from Web sites by examining:

Some of the term relationships found on the sites were identified as:

The subject/topic extraction software is embedded in a library of Open Source code that:

Open issues include:

Interim conclusions

Based on project results thus far it appears that the enterprise succeeds or fails on the strength of the knowledge ontology. Sophisticated user interface design is required to exploit all of the encoded information.

Demo and Open Source code are accessible at: http://topicmap.oclc.org:5000.

Research team