An ontology is a semantic structure that formalizes the knowledge that members of a community have about a given domain. consists of concepts and relations among those concepts.
Concepts and words In an ontology, concepts are talked about and referred to using words. Concept: Lexicalizations, within and across languages –Synonyms: { … fishing vessel, fishing boat, fishing craft … } –Translations: {… fishing boat; bateau de pêche; 捕捞渔 船 … } 捕捞渔 船
Concepts and properties Concepts have attributes and participate in relations with other concepts. Relation
What can an ontology do for multilingual resource discovery?
An ontology can also be used…
…to find multilingual resources in a bibliographical database. ENGLISH SPANISH FRENCH
In addition, it can identify hierarchically related concepts… hierarchically related concept
... to search for resources... hierarchically related concept
...as well as non-hierarchically related concepts… non-hierarchically related concept
... to search for resources... non-hierarchically related concept
An ontology can also be used to query multiple databases. “navire de p ê che”, “fishing vessel”, “embarcaciones de pesca” “vessels and craft” “fishing vessels” “fishing vessels”
Results from multiple database querying
An ontology can help the user refine their query. Original query: bateau de pêche To refine your query, click on the concepts you are interested in. They will appear to the left. Search: