SKOS can handle a variety of knowledge systems including classification schemes, subject heading systems, thesauri, etc. As a real world example, the Library of Congress is apparently looking at representing LCSH in SKOS. Tom On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 6:07 PM, Jon Phipps <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Yitzchak, > > Probably the quickest explanation is to look at the first few slides > from a presentation that I gave on SKOS at the Open Forum on Metadata > Registries last year... > http://www.slideshare.net/jonphipps/skos-2007-open-forum-on-metadata- > registries-nyc/ > > Currently, SKOS is headed towards being a W3C recommendation. There's > a new RFC draft of the SKOS Primer... > http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-skos-primer-20080221/ > > From the new primer: "SKOS — Simple Knowledge Organisation System — > provides a model for expressing the basic structure and content of > concept schemes such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject > heading lists, taxonomies, folksonomies, and other types of > controlled vocabulary. As an application of the Resource Description > Framework (RDF) SKOS allows concepts to be documented, linked and > merged with other data, while still being composed, integrated and > published on the World Wide Web." > > But comparing SKOS to other projects in Libraryland is liable to be > anything but quick, imho. There are other standard methods for > describing thesauri and vocabularies (Z39.19, ISO2788/5964, BS8723 -- > and see http://www.w3c.rl.ac.uk/SWAD/thes_links.htm), but none that > I'm aware of that are as rdf-centric as SKOS. > > Hope this gives you a better place to start, > > Jon Phipps > Cornell University Library > > > > > On Mar 4, 2008, at 9:55 AM, Yitzchak Schaffer wrote: > > > Greetings all: > > > > Many thanks to all the presenters for a great conference! > > > > One thing that people kept mentioning was SKOS. That was a duhh point > > for me; I just took a look at the w3.org and Wikipedia pages on it, > > but > > it doesn't look like something I can spend time trying to figure out > > right now. Does anyone have a quick explanation comparing this to > > other > > projects/concepts in Libraryland? > > > > Many thanks, > > > > -- > > Yitzchak Schaffer > > Systems Librarian > > Touro College Libraries > > 33 West 23rd Street > > New York, NY 10010 > > Tel (212) 463-0400 x230 > > Fax (212) 627-3197 > > [log in to unmask] >