Topic maps

Topic maps is a way to represent knowledge. In Biblioscape, the categories module can be used to implement most features in topic maps. Biblioscape uses the concept of topic maps for knowledge management. There are three main concepts in topic maps.

• Topic: A topic can be used to represent anything. It could be a concept, a person, an object, a file, an event, etc. A topic has a main name. But if needed, it can also have several other names. For example, if you have a topic named "United States", you can also give it other names like "US", "USA", "United States of America". A topic can also have a type. For example, the above topic "United States" can be assigned the type "Country". In Biblioscape, we use the word "Category" instead of "Topic" because the categories module is not just designed for topic maps.
• Occurrence: A topic may be linked to other resources. For example, you may link the topic "United States" to a web page, a video file on your computer, or a paper you wrote in high school. All these kinds of links are called occurrences. You can assign a type to such a link and it is called occurrence type. For example, you can assign the type "Video" when linking "United States" to a video file on your PC. In Biblioscape, when you link a category to references or notes in the same database, such links are considered occurrences. Occurrence type is also a topic. In Biblioscape, create a category "Video" and assign it as "Occurrence Type". Next time you link "United States" to a file, you will be able to pick "Video" as "Link type".
• Association: A topic may also be linked to other topics. For example, you may link the topic "United States" to other topics like "Nazi Germany", "Microsoft", "New York City", etc. All these links are called associations. You can assign a type to such a link and it is called association type. For example, you can assign the type "military conflict" to the link between "United States" and "Nazi Germany". When linking two topics, you can assign a role to each topic in such a link. It is called "association role". For example, for the link "military conflict" between "United States" and "Nazi Germany", you can assign the role "Winner" to "United States" and the role "Loser" to "Nazi Germany". Association role assignment is not needed for most associations. In Biblioscape, when you link a category to another category, such a link is considered an association. Both association type and association role themselves are topics. In Biblioscape, first create a category "military conflict" and assign it as "Association Type". Create another two categories "Winner" and "Loser" as "Association Role Type". When you link category "United States" to another category "Germany", you will be able to pick "military conflict" as "Link type", "Winner" as "Link from Role", and "Loser" as "Link to Role".

Besides the three main concepts "Topic", "Occurrence" and "Association", there are a few other things need to be understood.

• Topic type: Topics can be classified according to their kind. This classification depends on the nature of the information, as well as the needs of the application. For example, if you build a topic maps about the Renaissance, you may assign topics to one of the following types: humanism, art, science, and religion. Topic types are themselves defined as topics. In Biblioscape, when creating a new category "Art", you can selects its "Type" as "Topic Type". The next time when you create a category "The School of Athens", you will be able to select "Art" as its type.
• Scope: In topic maps, if you need to put things into context, you can use scope. A scope is used to limit the validity of a name, an association (a link), etc. For example, when building a topic maps about cooking, you may need to create a topic (category) "Wine". Since French cooking is so important for this topic, you want to include French word for wine "Vin" as the other name for the topic "Wine". In such a case, you can add a scope "French" for the word "Vin". Scope themselves are topics. In Biblioscape category editor window, you can assign a topic "French" as "Scope". The next time you need to add a scope to another word, "French" will be in the drop down list for you to pick from.
• Topic names: In real world, a topic can have more than one names. Since a topic represents a subject, if that subject is a person, it could have a nickname, a login name, etc. In Biblioscape, you can add several names for a topic using the "Other names" box. All the names are treated as a synonyms ring. As explained in the Scope section, you can scope a name.
• Subject identity: The goal of topic maps is to achieve a one-to-one relationship between a topic (category) and the subject it represents. Topics maps created by different people may use the same topic name to represent different things. In such a case, a computer may not be able to know the same topic name means differnt things. To prevent this problem, we can use URI as the subject identity. For example, when creating the topic "The School of Athens", you can use this URI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Athens as the subject identity. Both people and computer will know you are talking about the famous painting, not about public schools in Athens, Georgia.

In Biblioscape, the references module is for managing bibliographic data. The notes module is for managing information which could be a web page clipping, a seminar note, etc. The categories module is for managing knowledge. Knowledge is represented by concepts (topics, categories), links between concepts (associations), and resources about a concept (occurrences).