Topic Maps and Semantic Search
Tonight was another one of the monthly users' group meetings on Topic Maps, and tonight the subject was Topic Maps and Semantic Search. There were two presentations, one on Compass, a Topic Maps search tool, and a case study of a Norwegian web site. ...
Read | 2007-01-30 16:14 | 1 comment(s)
Upcoming Topic Maps events
There are quite a few upcoming Topic Maps-related events here in Oslo, so I thought I'd do a summary of them. Firstly, there is a user's group meeting tomorrow (January 30th) on Topic Maps and semantic search. This meeting was so popular (at least 70 people signed up) that they've had to move it from the course room to the canteen. On February 27th there will be another user's group meeting on "Topic Maps and Web 2.0"; details on that will appear later, but you may want to pencil it in now. ...
Read | 2007-01-29 13:26 | 1 comment(s)
CTM: What is it, and why is it needed?
ISO has been working on CTM (Compact Topic Maps syntax) for a while now, but very little has been published about it yet. I got a question about it by email, and decided to blog about it in case others were curious, too. ...
Read | 2007-01-26 17:30 | 2 comment(s)
Comparing Topic Maps and RDF
The Topic Maps and RDF technology stacks are quite complex, and it's not easy to see how the various pieces compare. So I thought I'd write a little bit about this. It was Trond's comment that triggered this, but I've seen no end of people struggle with this. I've written about this before, but I think it's possible to do a lot better. So, here goes. ...
Read | 2007-01-06 18:52 | 8 comment(s)
Published subjects and PSIs
People often find the basic idea of published subjects quite clear and simple, but stumble over the detail, so I thought I'd write a little overview over the territory. The idea is to sketch out the basic concepts and how it all works. ...
Read | 2007-01-04 15:25 | 1 comment(s)
A new book on Topic Maps
Those of you who have been waiting for a new Topic Maps book will be happy to hear that one has just been published. It was edited by Naito-san with the contributions of several Japanese people (Komachi-san, at last, but also others), if I read the cover correctly. And, yes, it was written in Japanese, so if, like me, you cannot read Japanese you'll have to settle for looking at the pictures. ...
Read | 2007-01-01 20:15 | 2 comment(s)
Some thoughts on identity
The concept of identity is at the heart of both Topic Maps and RDF, and consequently it has been much discussed over the last few years, but I've seen very little writing on what identity itself actually is. This posting offers some thoughts on that. ...
Read | 2006-12-31 16:26 | 0 comment(s)
The bank is as secure as the user
In the post office today I learned something unexpected about how people use their internet bank accounts. I was going to post some cards and letters, and this being just before Christmas there was quite a queue. I spotted a computer in the office that was obviously set up for customers to use, and started fiddling around with it. ...
Read | 2006-12-20 20:43 | 5 comment(s)
Why XTM 2.0 is different from 1.0
Many people have asked what the changes between versions 1.0 and 2.0 of XTM are, and what the rationales for the various changes are. The actual list of differences can be found in the standard itself, but the standard says nothing about why they were made, and so I thought I would give a quick overview of that here. ...
Read | 2006-12-16 19:17 | 6 comment(s)
An introduction to XTM 2.0
Various people have asked for an introduction to XTM 2.0, since the actual standard is not very easily readable, and so I thought I would provide that. This posting is just a simple walk-through of the syntax with examples. People have also asked for an explanation of the differences with version 1.0, and I'll do a separate posting on that later when time allows. ...
Read | 2006-12-09 14:17 | 0 comment(s)
