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What is a Namespace? |
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What is a resource? |
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What is RDF? |
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What is resource discovery? |
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What is the difference between controlled vocabularies, thesauri, classifications, ontologies? |
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What is XML? |
| 7.
What is AGROVOC? |
| 8.
Who developed AGROVOC and when was it developed? |
| 9.
Where is AGROVOC used? |
| 10.
How big is AGROVOC? |
| 11.
In what language is AGROVOC available? |
| 12.
How often is AGROVOC updated? |
| 13.
How can I suggest a term for inclusion in AGROVOC? |
| 14.
Do you have any automatic service to keep me informed about AGROVOC updates? |
| 15.
How is AGROVOC structured? |
| 16.
Is AGROVOC available free of charge? |
| 17.
How can I download a copy of AGROVOC? |
| 18.
What will be the future for AGROVOC? |
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1. What is a Namespace?
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In XML, where the term originates, namespace is a collection of names, identified by a URI reference which are used in XML documents as element types and attribute names. XML namespaces differ from the "namespaces" conventionally used in computing disciplines in that the XML version has internal structure and is not, mathematically speaking, a set. Similarly, in the context of metadata namespaces, often also used in XML and RDF, they allow the names of elements to be uniquely identified. For example, the namespace of Dublin Core is indicated in XML as:
xmlns:dc = " http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" The namespace of AgMES is indicated as xmlns:ags = "http://purl.org/agmes/1.1/" This helps us to distinguish between elements with the same name. Therefore, in XML or RDF syntax, the "Creator" element taken from DC will have the tags <dc:creator /> while the "Citation" element from AgMES will be encoded as <ags:citation /> In other words, any closed set of terms or names (such as those from AgMES) are a namespace. Similarly, a controlled vocabulary such as AGRIS Subject Categories, a Thesaurus such as AGROVOC, are namespaces managed and maintained by authorities such as FAO. For more information, see:AgMES Stance on Namespaces and Application Profiles
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2. What is a resource?
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A resource is "anything that has identity". This includes information objects such as documents, web pages, fishing gear, corporate bodies, etc.
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3. What is RDF?
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RDF (Resource Description Framework) is a framework for metadata; it provides interoperability between applications that exchange machine-understandable information on the Web. It contains three basic elements: - Resources, which is everything described in RDF "expressions"; - Properties, which are specific aspects, characteristics, attributes, or relations used to describe a resource; - Statements, which describe a specific resource together with a named property, plus the value of that property. For More information, see: W3C pages on RDF
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4. What is resource discovery?
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Resource discovery involves the finding and retrieving of resources that are relevant to the user of the system. "Finding" involves locating resources and presenting these to the user as a possible (and partial) solution of the find. The resources of interest can then be "retrieved" by accessing the resources and allowing the user to save or download a local copy for use.
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5. What is the difference between controlled vocabularies, thesauri, classifications, ontologies?
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A "controlled vocabulary" is a way to insert an interpretive layer of semantics between the term entered by the user and the underlying database to better represent the original intention of the terms of the user. Controlled vocabularies aid in collation of distributed data by providing a semantically understood and shared concept. For example, if all the resource * types* are taken from a controlled list, one can provide all the "Audio" resources by searching only those marked with Type=Audio. A "thesaurus" is "The vocabulary of a controlled indexing language, formally organized so that the a priori relationships between concepts (for example as "broader" and "narrower") are made explicit" (ISO 2788, 1986:2). "A controlled set of terms selected from natural language and used to represent, in abstract form, the subjects of documents" (ISO 2788, 1986:2) The term "ontology" has been used for a number of years by the artificial intelligence and knowledge representation community but is now becoming part of the standard terminology of a much wider community including information systems modelling and XML. It describes domain knowledge in a generic way and provides an agreed-upon understanding of a domain. A more concise definition might be: An ontology is a system that contains terms, the definitions of those terms, and the specification of relationships among those terms. For more information, see: AOS Website.
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6. What is XML?
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Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a simple, very flexible text format derived from SGML (ISO 8879), originally designed to meet the challenges of large-scale electronic publishing. XML is a Meta-mark-up language that is used to create mark-up languages that are suited for a particular purpose. The author can make up the tags as the document is being developed. XML has no predefined tags such as those in HTML. The mark-up language uses tags that enclose parts of the document. These tags are used to identify each element or unique part of the document.
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7. What is AGROVOC?
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AGROVOC is a multilingual structured and controlled vocabulary designed to cover the terminology of all subject fields in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and related domains (e.g. environment).
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8. Who developed AGROVOC and when was it developed?
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The AGROVOC Thesaurus was developed by FAO and the Commission of the European Communities in the early 1980s. Since then it has been updated continuously by FAO.
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9. Where is AGROVOC used?
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AGROVOC is mainly used for indexing and retrieving data in agricultural information systems both inside and outside FAO. Its main role is to standardize the indexing process in order to make searching simpler and more efficient, and to provide the user with the most relevant resources.
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10. How big is AGROVOC?
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At present AGROVOC contains more than 28,000 descriptors and more than 10900 non-descriptors (synonyms). Each descriptor has its equivalent in other languages. Descriptors are indexing terms which consist of one or more words representing always one and the same concept. Non-descriptors are terms which help the user to find the appropriate descriptor(s). Non-descriptors are followed by a reference (USE operator) to the descriptor, which is the preferred term. For indexing purposes, it is important that only descriptor terms are used. For more information: http://www.fao.org/aims/ag_figures.jsp.
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11. In what language is AGROVOC available?
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AGROVOC is available in 16 languages: the five FAO official languages (which are English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic), Czech, Portuguese, Japanese, Thai, Slovak, German, Hungarian, Polish, Farsi, Italian and Hindi.
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12. How often is AGROVOC updated?
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Until recently AGROVOC was updated on a yearly basis. The decision has now been taken to provide updates on a periodic basis - on average every three months. AGROVOC users are encouraged to propose terms for inclusion in the database. Their suitability, for inclusion in the thesaurus, is then assessed by the AGROVOC team in FAO.
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13. How can I suggest a term for inclusion in AGROVOC?
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You can send your suggestions to the AGROVOC team at FAO by sending an email to fao-agris-caris@fao.org.
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14. Do you have any automatic service to keep me informed about AGROVOC updates?
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An RSS feed, a method of syndicating content online, is available to keep you posted on all the changes made to the thesaurus. [link to RSS feed]
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15. How is AGROVOC structured?
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AGROVOC is made up of terms, which consist of one or more words representing always one and the same concept. For each term, a word block is displayed showing the hierarchical relation to other terms: BT (broader term), NT (narrower term), RT (related term), UF (non-descriptor). Scope notes are used in AGROVOC to clarify the meaning of both descriptors and non-descriptors.Taxonomic and geographical terms are marked for easy searching, filtering and downloading. The structure of the AGROVOC thesaurus in a relational database format is available here : ftp://ftp.fao.org/gi/gil/gilws/aims/kos/agrovoc_formats/db_format.doc
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16. Is AGROVOC available free of charge?
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AGROVOC is free of charge for educational or other strictly non-commercial purposes. Downloading is authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged.
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17. How can I download a copy of AGROVOC?
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AGROVOC is available for downloading in MySQL, TagText, ISO2709 and Microsoft Access formats. To download the AGROVOC database for off-line use, please send your request to fao-agris-caris@fao.org. When sending the request please specify the following: Full Name, Email, Organisation, Reason for downloading AGROVOC, Comments. AGROVOC is also available through web services. More information available here: http://www.fao.org/aims/ag_webservices.jsp
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18. What will be the future for AGROVOC?
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AGROVOC is the foundation that underpins the development of the Agricultural ontology service (AOS) project. By making use of knowledge contained in vocabulary systems and thesauri such as AGROVOC, AOS is committed to developing specialized domain-specific terminologies and concepts that will better support information management for the web environment.
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