1. VOCABULARY AS A SERVICE
SKOS in the public sector
Jan Voskuil (Taxonic)
October 15th
2. Libraries make their indexes (thesauri)
available in SKOS
Opening up large sets of content items
Benefits:
Available as a service
Linking terms across vocabularies
Reuse (open standard)
Basis for new techniques: Big Data,
Entity Extraction
9. 9
Combining uses: Thesaurus & Dictionary
Index terms, thesaurus Dictionary, glossary
> Dictionary and thesaurus may be the same thing!
> They can exist separately and be interconnected
11. 11
Combining uses: Dictionary & Value List
Dictionary, glossary
Value lists, taxonomy
> Each value list has a unique URI
> The glossary has a unique URI
> Each concept has a unique URI
> Glossary and value list may share
the same concepts
14. 14
Why is this important for public sector organizations?
T R A N S P A R A N C Y C O M P L E X I T Y
15. 15
Benefits for public sector
To the outside world:
• Transparency
• Interoperability
• Reuse
Internally:
• Knowledge management
• Sharing data across projects
• Insight in IT-systems
• Innovations
16. 16
Stimulating the update of SKOS
• Bureau Forum Standaardisatie
• Comply-or-explain list
• SKOS is on the list!
• Goal: stimulate uptake
– Awareness
– Tip the balance
– Fear of being an early adopter
17. 17
Where improvements are expected
• Conceptual Dictionary DJI
– Published in PDF (as part of the report “DJI in feiten en cijfers”)
– Compare: http://firebrary.nl
• Justice Thesaurus
– Published in PDF
– Reused through proprietary XML
• SBI-codes
– Published in PDF
– Compare: NACE-list (https://ec.europa.eu/esco/lod/model)
– SKOS helps Big Data analyses
18. 18
Central takeaways
• Glossaries, library thesauri and value lists as a service with SKOS;
• Public sector organizations can benefit greatly in doing so
• SKOS is now a mandatory standard in the Netherlands
19. Jan Voskuil Taxonic (co-founder, CEO)
Consultancy in Linked Data with a focus on SKOS
Certified Solution Partner for PoolParty
jan.voskuil@taxonic.com
http://taxonic.com