National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Architecting a Cross-Disciplinary Architecting a Cross-Disciplinary Thesaurus for the Semantic WebThesaurus for the Semantic Web

W. Davenport RobertsonW. Davenport RobertsonNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research

Triangle Park, NC, USATriangle Park, NC, USA

Jane GreenbergJane GreenbergSchool of Information and Library Science, University of North School of Information and Library Science, University of North

Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USACarolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

International Conference on Dublin Core and International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications (DC-2004), Shanghai, Metadata Applications (DC-2004), Shanghai,

China, 14 October 2004China, 14 October 2004

National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

The National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesThe Department of Health and Human ServicesThe National Institutes of Health

National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Scienceshttp://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/cehp

选择有针对性的最新、最前沿的环境健康新闻、政策及研究综述 以季刊形式发行，发行量 37,000份 向读者提供中文简体和繁体两种版本 提供印刷本或上网浏览两种阅读形式

National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

http://www.ils.unc.edu/mrc/mrg.indexhttp://www.ils.unc.edu/mrc/mrg.index

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Previous Findings on MetadataPrevious Findings on Metadata

• Need for Need for subjectsubject metadata metadata• Need for authority list of termsNeed for authority list of terms• Authors want guidance for subject metadataAuthors want guidance for subject metadata• Authors would like cataloger assistanceAuthors would like cataloger assistance• Searchers dissatisfied with surrogatesSearchers dissatisfied with surrogates

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Needs Assessment for an Needs Assessment for an Environmental Health ThesaurusEnvironmental Health Thesaurus

• ““Environmental health” is cross-disciplinaryEnvironmental health” is cross-disciplinary• Environmental health information is crucial for Environmental health information is crucial for

our well-being.our well-being.• A controlled vocabulary is necessary for A controlled vocabulary is necessary for

retrieving accurate informationretrieving accurate information• No thesaurus adequately covers No thesaurus adequately covers

environmental health todayenvironmental health today• Recommendation: combine parts of existing Recommendation: combine parts of existing

thesaurithesauri

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Thesaurus A, Server 1

Thesaurus B, Server 2

Thesaurus C, Server 3

Thesaurus D, Server 4

Thesaurus E, Server 5

Thesaurus F, Server 6

Metathesaurus Ontology Server

(Local)

Figure 1. Decentralized Cross-Disciplinary Metathesaurus

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Decentralized Semantics Approach Decentralized Semantics Approach for a Metathesaurusfor a Metathesaurus

• Applied examplesApplied examples– Metadata author Metadata author – Web site searcherWeb site searcher

• W3C interoperability principles for shared W3C interoperability principles for shared ontologies (OWL Web Ontology Language)ontologies (OWL Web Ontology Language)

• Advantages of inter-disciplinary modelAdvantages of inter-disciplinary model– Integral to the Semantic WebIntegral to the Semantic Web– Distributed resources reduce load on individual componentsDistributed resources reduce load on individual components– Individual components can maintain their independenceIndividual components can maintain their independence– Components can be re-used in other metathesauriComponents can be re-used in other metathesauri

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Decentralized Semantics Decentralized Semantics RequirementsRequirements

• Semantic Web thesaurus standards under Semantic Web thesaurus standards under development development (http://www.w3.org/2004/03/thes-tf/mission)(http://www.w3.org/2004/03/thes-tf/mission)

• Open Biological Ontologies example of a Open Biological Ontologies example of a consolidated registry consolidated registry (http://obo.sourceforge.net/)(http://obo.sourceforge.net/)

• SWOOP example of software that integrates SWOOP example of software that integrates multiple ontologies for searching multiple ontologies for searching (http://www.mindswap.org/)(http://www.mindswap.org/)

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Decentralized Metathesaurus Decentralized Metathesaurus RequirementsRequirements

• Components must be open, preferably open Components must be open, preferably open sourcesource

• Component ontologies must be listed in an Component ontologies must be listed in an ontology registryontology registry

• Components must use Semantic Web Components must use Semantic Web standardsstandards– Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs)Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs)– RDF, RDFS, XMLRDF, RDFS, XML– OWL Web Ontology LanguageOWL Web Ontology Language

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ConclusionConclusion

• Standards and tools are still under developmentStandards and tools are still under development• Appropriate domain components for an environmental Appropriate domain components for an environmental

health metathesaurus have to be selected (EPA, NCI, health metathesaurus have to be selected (EPA, NCI, MeSH, etc.)MeSH, etc.)

• Organizations have to be convinced of value Organizations have to be convinced of value • Thesauri have to be converted to Semantic Web Thesauri have to be converted to Semantic Web

ontologiesontologies• This model can be applied to other cross-disciplinary This model can be applied to other cross-disciplinary

fields fields