Re: Linkbases, Topic Maps,and RDF Knowledge Bases -- help me understand, please

[Iain W Fergusson <fergusson_iain@jpmorgan.com>]

Mike,

If an RDF knowledge base is like a book, then a Topic Map is like a "Mind Map" (
i.e. one of those drawings with bubbles connected by lines, representing
concepts and the relationships between them )

It is possible to summarize all the important concepts discussed in a book on a
single-sheet Mind Map.
If you draw a Mind Map of 2 books, you can relate a concept in the first book to
a concept in the second book via a concept common to both.

Similarly, a Topic Map of an RDF knowledge base can show at a glance the overall
structure. If you extend the Topic Map to include another knowledge base ( not
necessarily an RDF one ), you can reason about the combined contents.

Topic Maps contain <topic> and <association> elements ( cf. bubbles and lines ),
connected by xlinks.  The <association> element represents a high-level type of
link, while the xlinks are lower-level, related to the XML representation.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Iain





mike.champion@softwareag-usa.com on 06/04/2001 14:33:35

To:   xml-dev@lists.xml.org
cc:   (bcc: Iain W Fergusson)
Subject:  Linkbases, Topic Maps, and RDF Knowledge Bases -- help me understand,
      please




The xmlhack article about the turmoil in the XML Topic Maps world
http://xmlhack.com/read.php?item=1158 got me wondering yet again:
CONCEPTUALLY (not syntactically, politically, religiously, or
organizationally), what are the similarities and and the differences among
XTM topic maps, XLink link bases, and RDF knowledge bases (or whatever the
correct term for a "web" of RDF is)?




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