XML Topic Maps: Creating and Using Topic Maps for the Web

KO as a Use Case for TMs

TMs and KO are natural partners because the invention of TMs was to a large extent driven by KO requirements. The original aim of TMs was to aid semantic integration of independently maintained back-of-the-book indexes in technical documentation, where the underlying corpora constantly changed. The constant change of corpora is what we now experience with living documents on the Web. That the indexes are independently maintained is in line with the trend in KO toward decentralized provision of information, where central control cannot be exerted any longer.

Semantic integration is about (re-) constructing shared conceptualizations (or mental models), about modeling structures in sophisticated finding aids, particularly ...