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

498 Pages·2002·5.994 MB·English

by  Jack Park, Sam Hunting

XML Topic Maps: Creating and Using Topic Maps for the Web
By Jack Editor Park,, Sam Technical Editor Hunting,

Publisher: Addison Wesley

Pub Date: July 16, 2002

ISBN: 0-201-74960-2
Table of
Pages: 640
Contents

The explosive growth of the World Wide Web is fueling the need for a new generation of

technologies for managing information flow, data, and knowledge. This developer's
overview and how-to book provides a complete introduction and application guide to the
world of topic maps, a powerful new means of navigating the World Wide Web's vast sea
of information.

With contributed chapters written by today's leading topic map experts, XML Topic Maps
is designed to be a "living document" for managing information across the Web's

interconnected resources. The book begins with a broad introduction and a tutorial on

topic maps and XTM technology. The focus then shifts to strategies for creating and

deploying the technology. Throughout, the latest theoretical perspectives are offered,
alongside discussions of the challenges developers will face as the Web continues to
Y
evolve. Looking forward, the book's concluding chapters provide a road map to the future
of topic map technology and the Semantic WeLb in general.
F
Specific subjects explored in detail include:
M

• Topic mapping and the XTM specification
A
• Using XML Topic Maps to build knowledge repositories

• Knowledge RepreseEntation, ontological engineering, and topic maps

• Transforming an XTM document into a Web page
T
• Creating enterprise Web sites with topic maps and XSLT
• Open source topic map software
• XTM, RDF, and topic maps
• Semantic networks and knowledge organization
• Using topic maps in education
• Topic maps, pedagogy, and future perspectives

Featuring the latest perspectives from today's leading topic map experts, XML Topic

Maps provides the tools, techniques, and resources necessary to plot the changing course

of information management across the World Wide Web.

Team-Fly®
Table of Content
Table of Content................................................................................................................................i
Copyright...........................................................................................................................................v
Foreword..........................................................................................................................................vi
Preface............................................................................................................................................vii
Acknowledgments...........................................................................................................................ix
Contributors......................................................................................................................................x
Chapter 1. Let There Be Light........................................................................................................1
Opening Salvo..............................................................................................................................1
Resources.....................................................................................................................................6
What's in Here?4.........................................................................................................................8
Chapter 2. Introduction to the Topic Maps Paradigm...............................................................13
Managing Complex Knowledge Networks.............................................................................13
Primary Constructs....................................................................................................................14
The Big Picture: Merging Information and Knowledge........................................................16
Design Principles for XTM........................................................................................................17
From ISO/IEC 13250 to XTM...................................................................................................19
Summary.....................................................................................................................................23
Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................................23
Chapter 3. A Perspective on the Quest for Global Knowledge Interchange........................24
Information Is Interesting Stuff.................................................................................................25
Information and Structure Are Inseparable............................................................................26
Formal Languages Are Easier to Compute Than Natural Languages..............................26
Generic Markup Makes Natural Languages More Formal..................................................27
A Brief History of the Topic Maps Paradigm.........................................................................29
Data and Metadata: The Resource-Centric View.................................................................31
Subjects and Data: The Subject-Centric View......................................................................32
Understanding Sophisticated Markup Vocabularies............................................................34
The Topic Maps Attitude...........................................................................................................36
Summary.....................................................................................................................................38
Chapter 4. The Rise and Rise of Topic Maps...........................................................................39
Milestones in Standards and Specifications..........................................................................40
Milestones in Software..............................................................................................................49
The Future of Topic Maps........................................................................................................49
Chapter 5. Topic Maps from Representation to Identity Conversation, Names, and
Published Subject Indicators........................................................................................................51
What Is the Conversation About?...........................................................................................51
So What about Published Subject Indicators?......................................................................56
Back to the Conversation Subject...........................................................................................58
Chapter 6. How to Start Topic Mapping Right Away with the XTM Specification................61
XTM Topic Mapping..................................................................................................................61
Why Topic Maps?......................................................................................................................61
Appetizer.....................................................................................................................................63
Main Course...............................................................................................................................67
Dessert........................................................................................................................................71
Brandy, Cigars...........................................................................................................................74
Summary.....................................................................................................................................76
Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................................76
Resources...................................................................................................................................77
Chapter 7. Knowledge Representation, Ontological Engineering, and Topic Maps...........79
Knowledge as Interpretation....................................................................................................79
Data, Knowledge, and Information.........................................................................................79
Knowledge Issues: Acquisition, Representation, and Manipulation..................................81
ii
The Roots of Ontological Engineering: Knowledge Technologies.....................................83
New Knowledge Technology Branches: Toward Ontological Engineering......................89
Ontological Engineering...........................................................................................................91
Ontologies and Topic Maps.....................................................................................................95
Summary...................................................................................................................................101
Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................102
References...............................................................................................................................102
Selected Information and Research Sites...........................................................................115
Chapter 8. Topic Maps in the Life Sciences............................................................................117
A Literature Review.................................................................................................................117
The Need for Classification....................................................................................................117
The Five Kingdoms.................................................................................................................119
Kingdom Animalia....................................................................................................................120
Creating Topic Maps for a Web Site[7]..................................................................................122
Summary...................................................................................................................................132
Resources for More Information on the Life Sciences.......................................................133
Chapter 9. Creating and Maintaining Enterprise Web Sites with Topic Maps and XSLT.134
The XTM Framework for the Web.........................................................................................135
XTM as Source Code for Web Sites.....................................................................................137
HTML Visualization of Topic Map Constructs.....................................................................139
Topics........................................................................................................................................140
XSLT Layers.............................................................................................................................146
The XSLT Layout Layer..........................................................................................................147
The XSLT Back-End and Presentation Layers...................................................................151
Summary...................................................................................................................................158
Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................159
References...............................................................................................................................159
Chapter 10. Open Source Topic Map Software......................................................................161
About Open Source Software................................................................................................161
Four Projects............................................................................................................................162
SemanText...............................................................................................................................165
XTM Programming with TM4J...............................................................................................171
Nexist Topic Map Testbed.....................................................................................................199
GooseWorks Toolkit................................................................................................................214
Chapter 11. Topic Map Visualization........................................................................................219
Requirements for Topic Map Visualization..........................................................................219
Visualization Techniques........................................................................................................221
Summary...................................................................................................................................232
References...............................................................................................................................233
Chapter 12. Topic Maps and RDF............................................................................................234
A Sample Application: The Family Tree...............................................................................234
RDF and Topic Maps..............................................................................................................235
Modeling RDF Using Topic Map Syntax..............................................................................244
Summary...................................................................................................................................269
References...............................................................................................................................269
Chapter 13. Topic Maps and Semantic Networks..................................................................271
Semantic Networks: The Basics...........................................................................................271
Comparing Topic Maps, RDF, and Semantic Networks....................................................273
Building Semantic Networks from Topic Maps...................................................................273
Harvesting the Knowledge Identified in Markup.................................................................293
Identifying and Interpreting the Knowledge Found within Documents............................293
Summary...................................................................................................................................294
References...............................................................................................................................294
Chapter 14. Topic Map Fundamentals for Knowledge Representation..............................296
iii
A Simple KR Example.............................................................................................................296
A Quick Review of Concepts for Topic Maps and KR.......................................................298
Topic Map Templates.............................................................................................................298
Class Hierarchies.....................................................................................................................300
Association Properties............................................................................................................302
Inference Rules........................................................................................................................303
Consistency Constraints.........................................................................................................310
Summary...................................................................................................................................315
References...............................................................................................................................315
Chapter 15. Topic Maps in Knowledge Organization[1]..........................................................317
Suggestions for Reading This Chapter................................................................................317
What Is KO?[17].........................................................................................................................323
KO as a Use Case for TMs....................................................................................................349
Illustrative Examples...............................................................................................................359
A Look into the Future: Toward Innovative TM-Based Information Services.................368
Summary...................................................................................................................................371
Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................372
Selected Abbreviations...........................................................................................................372
References...............................................................................................................................375
Chapter 16. Prediction: A Profound Paradigm Shift...............................................................394
Language..................................................................................................................................394
Transmitting the Word.............................................................................................................395
Lightness of Being...................................................................................................................396
A Brief History of Knowledge Representation and Education..........................................400
The Ephemeral Nature of Many New Ideas........................................................................402
What the Research Suggests about Knowledge Representation and Learning...........403
A Paradigm Shift: Patterning Speech to Patterning Thought...........................................410
Summary...................................................................................................................................411
Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................412
References...............................................................................................................................412
Chapter 17. Topic Maps, the Semantic Web, and Education[1]............................................419
What Is the Semantic Web?..................................................................................................419
How Can Topic Maps Play an Important Role in the Semantic Web?............................422
What's Next?............................................................................................................................422
Closing Salvo...........................................................................................................................436
References...............................................................................................................................436
Glossary........................................................................................................................................438
Appendix A. Tomatoes Topic Map............................................................................................449
Appendix B. Topic Map for Chapter 9......................................................................................452
Appendix C. XSLT Style Sheet for Chapter 9.........................................................................465
Appendix D. Genealogical Topic Map......................................................................................471

iv
Copyright
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implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is
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W3C specifications and code copyright © 2003 World Wide Web Consortium (Massachusetts Institute
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Park, Jack.
XML topic maps : creating and using topic maps for the Web / Jack Park and Sam Hunting.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-201-74960-2 (paperback)
1. XML (Document markup language) 2. Metadata. I. Hunting, Sam. II. Title.
v
QA76.76.H94 P376 2002
005.7'2—dc21 2002003679
Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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request to:
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Boston, MA 02116
Fax: [phone]
Text printed on recycled paper
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10—CRS—0605040302
First printing, July 2002

Foreword
In 1962 I wrote a paper, "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework," in which I laid out
my vision for how humanity can tackle its most complex, urgent problems. I proposed a framework
driven by a simple premise: As problems get harder, we need to get collectively smarter.
As I considered ways to increase our collective intellectual capabilities, I thought about language and
the symbols that humans use to create conceptual models of the world. Our most basic conceptual
structures have been evolving for thousands of years. Alphabets evolved from pictographs, followed
by white space and punctuation. The introduction of the printing press led to conceptual structures
such as paragraphs, page numbers, footnotes, concordance indices, and tables of contents.
I realized that computers offered radical new ways of portraying and manipulating conceptual
structures, and that further evolving these symbols and techniques could greatly augment our
capabilities.
Although one idea proposed in that paper—hypertext—has became pervasive today in simple form, I
have been waiting for 40 years for the active exploration of concept mapping. As a result, I am
vi
delighted to see the work being done with Topic Maps, and I wholeheartedly support this book, which
was edited by my friend and colleague Jack Park.
In order to achieve the full potential of Topic Maps, we need tools to integrate these conceptual maps
with our vast repositories of documents and recorded dialog, as well as tools for manipulating and
viewing these structures in different ways. I hope that this book is a first step in that direction, and that
you, the reader, will help make these possibilities reality.
—Douglas C. Engelbart

Preface
In a former life, I built microprocessor-based data acquisition systems, originally for locating and
monitoring wind and solar energy systems. I suppose it is fair to say that I have long been involved in
roaming solution space. Along the way, farmers, on whose land the energy systems were often
situated, discovered that my monitoring tools helped them form better predictions of fruit frost,
irrigation needs, and pesticide needs. My program, which ran on an Apple II computer that had
telephone access to the distributed monitoring stations, printed out large piles of data. Epiphany
happened on the day that a manager of one of those monitoring systems came to me and asked, "What
else is this data good for?" That was the day I entered the field of artificial intelligence, looking for
ways to organize all that data and mine it for new knowledge.
A recent discussion on National Public Radio focused on the nature and future of literature. Listening
to that conversation while navigating the perils of Palo Alto traffic, I heard two comments that I shall
paraphrase, with emphasis placed according to my own whims, as follows: In the past, we turned to
the great works of literature to ponder what is life. Today, we turn to the great works of science to
ponder the same issues.
In some sense, the message I pulled out of that is that we (the really big we) tend to appeal to science
and technology to find comfort and solutions to our daily needs. In that same sense, I found
justification for this book and the vision I had when the book was conceived. Make no mistake here—
I already had plenty of justification for the vision and the book. As is often pontificated by many, we
are engulfed in a kind of information overload that threatens to choke off our ability to solve major
problems that face all of humanity.
No, the vision is not an expression of doom and gloom. Rather, it is an expression of my own deep
and optimistic belief that it is through education, through an enriched human intellect, that solutions
will be found, or at least, the solution space will become a more productive environment in which to
operate. The vision expressed here is well grounded in the need to organize and mine data, all part of
the solution space.
While walking along a corridor at an XML conference in San Jose early in the year 2000, I noticed a
sign that said "Topic Maps," with an arrow pointing to the right. I proceeded immediately to execute a
personal "column right" command, entered a room, and met Steve Newcomb. The rest all makes sense.
While in Paris later that year, I saw the need to take the XTM technology to the public. This book was
then conceived at XML 2000 in Paris, and several authors signed on immediately. This book came
with a larger vision than simply taking XTM to the public. I saw topic maps as an important tool in
solution space. The vision included much more; topic maps are just one of many tools in that space. I
wanted to start a book series, one that is thematically associated with my view of solution space.
vii
This book is the first in that series, flying under the moniker Open Knowledge Systems. By using the
word open, I am saying that the series is about making the tools and information required to operate in
solution space completely open and available to all who would participate. Open implies that each
book in the series intends to include an Open Source Software project, one that enables all readers to
immediately "play in the sandbox" and, hopefully, go beyond by extending the software and
contributing that new experience to solution space.
Each contribution to the Open Knowledge Systems series is intended to be a living document, meaning
that each work will be available at http://www.nexist.org.[1] The entire contents of this Web site will
be browsable and supported with an online forum so that topics discussed in the books can be further
discussed online.
[1]
As this book is going into print, the Web site is going online.
This book is about topic maps, particularly topic maps implemented in the XTM Version 1.0
specification format, as conceived by the XTM Authoring Group, which was started by an
experienced group of individuals along with the vision and guidance of Steve Newcomb and Michel
Biezunski, both contributing authors for this book. As with many new technologies, the XTM
specification is, in most regards, not yet complete. In fact, a standard like XTM can never be complete
simply because such standards must coevolve with the environment in which they are applied. In the
same vein, a book such as this cannot be a coherent work simply because much of what is evolving
now is subject to differing opinions, views, and so forth.
There are a few assumptions made by all of the authors who contributed to this book. Mostly, the
assumptions presume some minimal familiarity with Extensible Markup Language (XML), Extensible
Style Language (XSL and XSLT), and Resource Description Framework (RDF). Please keep in mind
that the book presents many Web site references. Web sites occasionally disappear. While the links
presented were tested during the writing phase and again during final manuscript editing, do not be
surprised if some of them fail to remain in service. Since this book will remain a living document on
the Web, we hope to keep all links up-to-date on the book's Web site.
Because of my view that solution space itself is coevolving along with the participants in that space, I
have adopted an editorial management style that I suspect should be explained. My style is based on
the understanding that I am combining contributions from many different individuals, each with a
potentially different worldview and each with a different writing style. The content focus of this book
is, of course, on topic maps, but I believe that it is not necessary to force a coherent worldview on the
different authors—it is my hope that readers and, indeed, solution space will profit by way of
exposure to differing views and opinions. There will, by the very nature of this policy, be controversy.
Indeed, we are exploring the vast universe of discourse on the topic of knowledge, and there exists
plenty of controversy just in that sandbox alone.
There is also the possibility of overlap. Some chapters are likely to offer the same or similar (or even
differing) points of view on the same point. Case in point: knowledge representation. This book has
several chapters on that topic: one on ontological engineering, one on knowledge representation, and
one on knowledge organization. Two chapters talk in some detail about semantic networks, and other
chapters discuss how people learn. It's awfully easy to see just how these can overlap, and they do. My
management style has been that which falls out of research in chaos theory: use the least amount of
central management, and let the authors sort it out for themselves. History will tell us whether this
approach works.

viii
Acknowledgments
Producing this book turned out to be much harder than I expected. It's true, I was warned in advance
that I was biting off more than I could chew, but such warnings never stopped me in the past. Let me
tell you what was hard about the project.
It wasn't what people warned—that coordinating the efforts of many authors would be difficult. I
chose some of the best authors in the world, and nobody let me down. I strongly believe that the
results prove that. The difficulty was this: coordinating the manuscript with the rapidly changing
technological landscape was a killer. Readers may also think I experienced difficulty in coordinating
the various writing styles of a diverse authoring community. Actually, that was not a difficulty at all. I
simply decided up front that the nature of this book would be "style permissive," and the result is a
book with chapters of varying length and content. I decided very early that this book was not intended
to be a "cookbook" for building topic maps. I believed that, given the rapidity with which the nature of
topic maps technology might evolve, a "cookbook" approach would be premature.
This manuscript was first proposed in Paris during one of the earliest XTM Authoring Group meetings.
Fat chance I had there to anticipate just how much our thinking would evolve over time. The
manuscript was well developed by the time the first working version of XTM was made public. That's
when the technological landscape started to evidence the massive convulsions of a magnitude-8
earthquake. Nevertheless, my team of coauthors persisted, and Sam Hunting jumped in recently and
contributed an additional chapter (Chapter 4), which provides a bridge between the latest activities in
the XTM community and the presentations of the other chapters. Sam and I gratefully acknowledge
the assistance of Steve Newcomb and Michel Biezunski in developing the glossary. I gratefully
acknowledge Sam's "hero's effort" in helping me to bring this book to completion. Working with
Chrysta Meadowbrooke at Stillwater Publishing Services to massage this manuscript into shape was
an enormous pleasure. I thank Kathy Glidden of Stratford Publishing Services for keeping this project
on track.
Now, let me tell you what was, at once, easy and fun about this project. VerticalNet funded all of my
early work on the XTM project, with the full and enthusiastic support of Hugo Daley and Adam
Cheyer. I am very grateful for that support. The production of this book was made possible by the
incredible enthusiasm and efforts of each of the coauthors who submitted a chapter for me to include
and by the assistance of Mary T. O'Brien and Alicia Carey, both at Addison-Wesley. Mary O'Brien
agreed with me that this book should be a "living document" with a Web presence and the ability to be
kept up-to-date.
Perhaps, for me, the most profound influence on this project came from the two individuals who
started topic maps in the first place, Steve Newcomb and Michel Biezunski. Along the way, by
personal contact and by way of e-mail lists involved with topic maps, several other individuals have,
in many ways, also contributed to this work. I am sure I will miss some names, but those who are
pounding their way to visibility include Glen and Helen Haydon, Douglas Engelbart, Mary Keeler,
Murray Altheim, Simon Buckingham Shum, Bernard Vatant, Mary Keeler, John Sowa, Robert Barta,
Scott Tsao, Ann Wrightson, Steve Heckler, Sunthar Visuvalingam, Steve Pepper, Jeff Conklin,
Kathleen Fisher, Alex Shapiro, Eugene Kim, Eric Armstrong, Rod Welch, and Peter Jones. I am also
pleased to acknowledge and thank the reviewers of this manuscript who made many valuable
comments and suggestions.
This book would not exist without the enthusiastic support of my wife, Helen, and the support of our
children, John and Nefer, who also teamed up to contribute a chapter to the manuscript.
ix
—Jack Park
Brownsville, California
March 2002

Contributors
Kal Ahmed
Founder, Techquila
Kal Ahmed is a consultant specializing in XML document and knowledge management solutions. He
has long experience with XML and SGML document management systems and more recently has
worked extensively with Topic Maps, both as a founding member of TopicMaps.org and as a
contributor to the XTM 1.0 specification. Kal is the lead developer of the open source topic map
toolkit TM4J and hosts other topic map and meta data processing tools on his site,
http://www.techquila.com.
Michel Biezunski
Consultant, Coolheads Consulting
Michel Biezunski is an editor of the ISO/IEC Topic Maps standard. He holds a Ph.D. in the history of
physics. He has been at the origin of the topic maps paradigm, together with Steven Newcomb, and is
still actively involved in the design of its Reference Model. He is helping corporations and
government agencies to implement topic map applications.
Kathleen M. Fisher
Professor of Biology and Director, Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education,
San Diego State University
Dr. Kathleen Fisher has worked in biology education research and development for 30 years. Her
recent book with coauthors J. Wandersee and D. Moody, Mapping Biology Knowledge, is now
available in paperback from Kluwer. She developed the SemNet learning and knowledge construction
tool with the SemNet Research Group. The Semantica software series knowledge transfer tools,
successors to the SemNet software, are now being produced and marketed by Semantic Research, Inc.,
1055 Shafter Street, San Diego, CA. The Semantica 2.1 authoring tool and the Semantica 3.0 Reader
will be released in summer 2002.
Eric Freese
Senior Consultant, Chair, TopicMaps.org
Eric Freese has 15 years of experience in the area of information, document, and knowledge
management. His experience includes research, analysis, specification, design, development, testing,
implementation, integration, and management of database systems and computer technologies in
business, education, and government environments. Eric is also the chief architect and developer of
x