9 th Open Forum on Metadata Registries Harmonization of Terminology, Ontology and Metadata 20th – 22nd March, 2006, Kobe Japan. TBX TermBase Exchange Format Alan Melby, Marc Carmen, Gerhard Budin Brigham Young University, University of Vienna

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Outline  (A) Introduction to TBX  (B) TBX with Other Standards  (C) MLTMS (An example of TBX)  (D) Other Standards  (E) Tasks for TBX

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 A: Introduction to TBX  TBX ® stands for TermBase eXchange  TBX is a Terminological Markup Framework (TMF) markup language –TMF is an ISO standard (16642)  TBX is consistent with ISO (MARTIF)  TBX is maintained by OSCAR (  The TBX specification is free  But why should I care about TBX?

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Who Should Care about TBX?  If you don ’ t care about terminological consistency in your translation/localization work, then you have no reason to care about TBX  If you only need a simple bilingual list of terms (source term and target term) with no additional information, then you don ’ t need TBX; just use a two-column spreadsheet for your list

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 On the other hand …  If you do care about terminological consistency and you maintain one or more terminology databases (termbases), then you should be interested in TBX, unless you want your termbase to be locked into the terminology management software you are currently using.  Portability of complex terminological data is the key benefit of TBX

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 What does TBX look like?  A TBX file is an XML document  A TBX file consists of: –A header that describes the file –A set of entries, one per concept in the termbase –For each concept, a set of terms, grouped by language, that designate the concept  A terminological concept entry (termEntry) –Can be multilingual –Can be monolingual

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Example of a TBX file  [+ ref to DTD/schema]   [ global info ]   [concept entries] 

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 TBX Header   from Budin Kobe 2006   SYSTEM "TBXDCSv05c.xml" 

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Food Sample Dollop of Cream & Frog Legs

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 TBX Body   [concept: a dollop of cream]   [concept: frog legs] 

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Concept Entry for “ Dollop of cream ”   Recipe Ingredient  s81  a spoonful of cream   a dollop of cream   sahnehaube 

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Concept Entry for “ Frog Legs ”   Restaurant Menu Item  s79  the thigh of a frog leg (the foot has been removed)   frog legs   cuisses de grenouilles 

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 B: TBX with Other Standards  (1) TBX and ISO (TMF)  (2) TBX and ISO (Data Categories)  (3) TBX and SKOS

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, : TBX and ISO  TBX is a TML (Terminological Markup Language) of TMF (ISO 16642) ( see Annex B )  TBX maps to the TMF meta-model –A TBX file is a TDC (terminological data collection) –martifHeader provides GI (global information) –termEntry: TE (terminological entry) –langSet: LS (language section) –tig/ntig: TS (term section)  A TMF DCS (Data Category Selection) in TBX is in XCS (eXtensible Constraint Specification) format  TBX uses ISO for its XML style

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 TMF Metamodel Global Information (GI) Complementary Information (CI) Term Section(s) (TS) Term Component Section(s) (TCS) Language Section(s) (LS) Terminological (Concept) Entry/Entries (TE) Terminological Data Collection (TDC)

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 TMF and lexical resources  In general, a terminological resource is organized into concept entries, each of which includes one or more terms designating a particular concept  In general, a lexical resource is organized into lexical entries, each of which includes one or more senses of a particular lexical item (a word or phrase)  A concept entry containing multiple terms can be split into multiple lexical entries, one per term, and multiple lexical entries associated with the same concept can be combined into one concept entry

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, : TBX and ISO  All data categories in the default TBX DCS are taken from ISO 12620

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, : TBX and SKOS  A typical concept entry will contain a subject field to specify the domain of the concept.  However, the subject field is typically some kind of hierarchy that is flattened into a string within TBX  SKOS makes it possible to represent the subject field hierarchy as a hierarchy and then create a link within TBX

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS)  “ SKOS is an area of work developing specifications and standards to support the use of knowledge organisation systems (KOS) such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading lists, taxonomies, other types of controlled vocabulary, and perhaps also terminologies and glossaries, within the framework of the Semantic Web. ” - (Accessed on 3/17/06)

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Sample SKOS   Food   Recipe Ingredient   Restaurant Menu Item 

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Visual Representation of SKOS Food Recipe Ingredient Restaurant Menu Item AppetizerEntreeSaladSoup Grocery Store Item Homemade Item

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 GEvTerm Initiative  The information previously used dealing with food has been taken from FooNaVar, a project of the GEvTerm Initiative.  The GEvTerm Initiative is a terminological database that has committed to being fully TBX and SKOS compliant  Another example of TBX in use is...

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 C: Multilingual Thesaurus for Medieval Studies (MLTMS)  “ Imagine the ability to search across web-resources using your native modern european language and find appropriate primary and secondary sources in Latin, French, Italian, German, Spanish, English, etc., based upon the meaning rather than the form of the search term. Imagine having a tool that would enable you to search for a concept and be able to construct the forms it has taken historically as well as the ability to link outward for both evidence and argument. Imagine a tool that would enable you to study the slippage of concept which is beyond naming. Imagine having a tool that can deconstruct ontological orders asking for different kinds of readings. ” - (Accessed on 3/17/06)

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 Why did MLTSM use TBX?  integration of terminological data from multiple sources;  querying multiple termbases through a single user interface by passing data through a common intermediate format on a batch or dynamic basis;  placing data on an FTP site for download by interested parties;  peer review by colleagues of tentative entries - (Accessed on 3/17/06)

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 MLTSM Sample   personnel  personne qui accomplit un travail copie ou d'écriture   copiste  entryTerm   écrivain  synonym   scribe  entryTerm 

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 MLTSM Sample (Rendered with XSLT)

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 TBX  HTML  The last few slides have provided an example of rendering HTML from a TBX file. Here is a brief diagram of the process. TBXXSLTHTML Processed byResults in

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 D: Other Standards  ISO and XCS, which defines a flavor of TBX, both provide a list of data element types

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 E: Tasks for TBX  Encourage translation technology vendors to implement TBX  Revise the specification  Compare ISO to XCS

9th Open Forum for Metadata Registry, Kobe, 2006 For More Information  TBX webpage:  or  Alan K. Melby Translation Research Group Brigham Young University Department of Linguistics Provo, Utah USA