High-Level Thesaurus (HILT) project: Recent work

1
High-Level Thesaurus (HILT) project Recent work

• IFLA 2007
• Dewey Translators Meeting
• 21 Aug 2007, Durban

2
The Problem

• Spade Shovel? Digging tool? Playing cards?
• Shaufel? La Pelle?
• HILT aims to facilitate cross-searching
  distributed information services by subject in a
  multi-scheme, multi-lingual common information
  environment
• Archives, Libraries, Museums, Online

3
Requirements

• Success requires distributed collaborative action
  at local, national, and international level
• Focus of HILT to identify a generic
  standards-based approach allowing widespread
  participation

4
HILT Background

• Funded by Joint Information Systems Committee,
  and supported by OCLC
• To provide subject interoperability in a
  multi-scheme environment via inter-scheme mapping
• Ideally by identifying a generic approach that
  can be developed through distributed
  collaborative action

5
Mapping

• DDC used as a semantic translator between
  different Anglophone subject terminologies
• Availability of DDC mappings to captions,
  relative index and LCSH
• Tested with other terminologies
• DDC also used to classify collections
• Subject landscaping gives best places
  (catalogues) to search for items
• (Item gt Collection) (Specific gt General)
  Truncation of DDC notation

6
Possibilities

• Recent development of a distributed
  machine-to-machine architecture
• Search/Retrieve over Web Simple Knowledge
  Organization System
• Allows other, non-DDC mappings to be used within
  the HILT model
• Encouraging the wider participation required to
  facilitate global subject interoperability
• A model architecture for collaboration whatever
  the preferred approach to interoperability

7

• Can see description (top)
• Top levels browse hierarchy
• Search box common - teeth

8

• System responds by finding term
• Identifying possible DDC captions
• Returning to user as shown
• User then chooses best fit for topic
• Number 3, dental diseases

9

• DDC no. For Dental diseases 614.5996, Screen
  shows using for 3 things
• 1. Successive truncation used to find these
  relevant services at DDC 610
• 2. Identifying the subject schemes they use
  (MeSH in these two instances)
• 3. Determining best term in scheme via mapping
  to DDC 614.5996 (dentition)

10

• Finally, dentition used to search last of these
  services send back relevant hits

11
(No Transcript)
12
6 functions based on use cases

• Get_DDC_records
• Returns DDC captions and numbers related to an
  input term list for user to choose best fit
  caption/no.
• Get_collections
• Returns collections classified under a specified
  DDC number or its stem, including subject scheme
  used
• Get_non_DDC_records
• Returns mappings to other schemes from a
  specified (untruncated) DDC number

13
6 functions based on use cases

• Get_explain
• Information about the service
• Get_all_records
• Combines the functions of get_DDC_records and
  get_non_DDC_records
• Get_filtered_set
• Allows specified fields from specific
  terminologies or combinations of terminologies to
  be searched enabling functionality beyond phase
  II to be added

14
Further information

• Website (all HILT phases)
• http//hilt.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/
• E-mails
• d.m.nicholson_at_strath.ac.uk
• e.mcculloch_at_strath.ac.uk

15
www.slainte.org.uk/edugit/index.htm