Publications

Szostak, Rick, Andrea Scharnhorst, Wouter Beek, and Richard P. Smiraglia. “Connecting KOSs and the LOD Cloud.Challenges and Opportunities for Knowledge Organization: Proceedings of the Fifteenth International ISKO Conference 9-11 July, Porto, Portugal, ed. Fernanda Ribeiro and Maria Elisa Cerveira. Advances in Knowledge Organization 16. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag, 521-29.

Abstract:
This paper describes a specific project, the current situation leading to it, its project design and first results. In particular, we will examine the terminology employed in the Linked Open Data cloud and compare this to the terminology employed in both the Universal Decimal Classification and the Basic Concepts Classification. We will explore whether these classifications can encourage greater consistency in LOD terminology. We thus hope to link the largely distinct scholarly literatures that address LOD and KOSs.

Coen, Gerard, Smiraglia, Richard P., Scharnhorst, Andrea, and Peter Doorn. 2018. “Building a Knowledge Organisation Systems (KOS) Observatory“. Data Archiving and Networked Services.

Smiraglia, Richard P., and Rick Szostak. “Converting UDC to BCC: Comparative Approaches to Interdisciplinarity. Challenges and Opportunities for Knowledge Organization: Proceedings of the Fifteenth International ISKO Conference 9-11 July, Porto, Portugal, ed. Fernanda Ribeiro and Maria Elisa Cerveira. Advances in Knowledge Organization 16. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag.

Abstract:
The knowledge organization domain has been turning its attention increasingly to problems of interdisciplinarity. Recently we have attempted to explore the approaches to interdisciplinarity represented by the synthetic and faceted Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) and that of the phenomenon-based Basic Concepts Classification (BCC). The questions for research are: how do both classifications express the same sets of concepts, what are the specific advantages or disadvantages of disciplinary versus phenomenon-based classification in the gathering of concepts, and how can these classifications be used to generate interdisciplinary ontologies for the Semantic Web? The study reported here takes an empirical approach to the comparison of the UDC and the BCC assigned to a set of documents found in the OCLC WorldCat. The present study demonstrates both the greater economy and greater conceptual precision in the phenomenon-based BCC. The network analysis suggests that there is great navigational strength in both approaches.

Martínez-Ávila, Daniel, Smiraglia, Richard P., Szostak, Rick, Scharnhorst, Andrea, Beek, Wouter, Siebes, Ronald, Ridenour, Laura, & Vanessa Schlais. 2018. “Classifying the LOD Cloud: Digging Into the Knowledge Graph”. X Encontro Internacional De Informação, Conhecimento E Ação (X EIICA). Marília, Brazil.

Abstract:
This paper reports on a three year research project “Digging Into the Knowledge Graph,” funded as part of the 2016 Round Four Digging Into Data Challenge (https://diggingintodata.org/awards/2016/project/digging-knowledge-graph). Our project involves comparing terminology employed within the LOD Cloud with terminology employed within these two general but different KOSs. We are exploring whether these classifications can encourage greater consistency in LOD terminology and linking the largely distinct scholarly literatures that address LOD and KOSs. The outlines of our project have been described in Szostak et al. (2018). The primary task in the first year was to convert the BCC to LOD. The UDC summaries were converted to LOD in 2016; our group, working together with the UDC Consortium, will undertake conversion of an abridged version of the UDC as a next step.

Smiraglia, Richard P. 2018. “Digging into the [Mensural Music] Knowledge Graph: A Use Case in the LOD Cloud.” Panel presentation at the 87th Annual Meeting of the Music Library Association. In What to Expect When You’re Analyzing, Transforming, and Inputting: A Linked Data Guide. Portland, Oregon.

Abstract:
Digging Into the Knowledge Graph is a three-year research project funded as part of the Trans-Atlantic Partnership’s 2017 Digging Into Data challenge. Our project has as its goal the enhancement of linked open data (LOD) for social sciences and humanities. Specifically, our two use cases are economics and musicology. The musicology use case is to enhance the contents of the Computerized Mensural Music Editing project (http://www.cmme.org). Partners in the project are the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s iSchool, University of Alberta, and the Data Archiving and Networked Services Division of the Royal Netherlands Academy of the Arts and Sciences. Following analysis of the internal structure of the CMME database, it was determined that approximately 4000 works by 221 composers could be linked to the Virtual International Authority File. The individual works also will be linked to LOD versions of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) and Basic Concepts Classification (BCC), both of which will require revisions to accommodate mensural music editions. Form and genre term lists, as yet undetermined, also will be linked. This part of the project will enhance the presence of mensural music in the LOD cloud and provide data models and best practices for LOD in the humanities. It also demonstrates difficulties and suggests remedies for representation of music in classifications and controlled vocabularies.