SKOS Core Vocabulary
Dave Beckett
Nikki Rogers
Participants in W3C's Semantic Web Deployment Working Group.
An RDF vocabulary for describing the basic structure and content of concept schemes such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading lists, taxonomies, 'folksonomies', other types of controlled vocabulary, and also concept schemes embedded in glossaries and terminologies.
Alistair Miles
Sean Bechhofer
Concept
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
An abstract idea or notion; a unit of thought.
2008-05-xx
Concept Scheme
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A concept scheme may be defined to include concepts from different sources.
Thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading lists, taxonomies, 'folksonomies', and other types of controlled vocabulary are all examples of concept schemes. Concept schemes are also embedded in glossaries and terminologies.
A set of concepts, optionally including statements about semantic relationships between those concepts.
2008-05-xx
Collection
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
Labelled collections can be used with collectable semantic relation properties e.g. skos:narrower, where you would like a set of concepts to be displayed under a 'node label' in the hierarchy.
A meaningful collection of concepts.
2008-05-xx
Ordered Collection
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
Ordered collections can be used with collectable semantic relation properties, where you would like a set of concepts to be displayed in a specific order, and optionally under a 'node label'.
An ordered collection of concepts, where both the grouping and the ordering are meaningful.
2008-05-xx
in scheme
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A concept may be a member of more than one concept scheme.
A concept scheme in which the concept is included.
2008-05-xx
has top concept
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A top level concept in the concept scheme.
2008-05-xx
top concept in scheme
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
Relates a concept to the concept scheme that it is a top level concept of.
2008-05-xx
preferred label
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
No two concepts in the same concept scheme may have the same value for skos:prefLabel in a given language.
The range of skos:prefLabel is the class of RDF plain literals.
skos:prefLabel, skos:altLabel and skos:hiddenLabel are pairwise disjoint properties.
The preferred lexical label for a resource, in a given language.
2008-05-xx
alternative label
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
Acronyms, abbreviations, spelling variants, and irregular plural/singular forms may be included among the alternative labels for a concept. Mis-spelled terms are normally included as hidden labels (see skos:hiddenLabel).
The range of skos:altLabel is the class of RDF plain literals.
skos:prefLabel, skos:altLabel and skos:hiddenLabel are pairwise disjoint properties.
An alternative lexical label for a resource.
2008-05-xx
hidden label
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
The range of skos:hiddenLabel is the class of RDF plain literals.
skos:prefLabel, skos:altLabel and skos:hiddenLabel are pairwise disjoint properties.
A lexical label for a resource that should be hidden when generating visual displays of the resource, but should still be accessible to free text search operations.
2008-05-xx
notation
Initial description.
Alistair Miles
2008-05-xx
By convention, skos:notation is used with a typed literal in the object position of the triple.
A notation, also known as classification code, is a string of characters such as "T58.5" or "303.4833" used to uniquely identify a concept within the scope of a given concept scheme.
2008-05-xx
note
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
This property may be used directly, or as a super-property for more specific note types.
A general note, for any purpose.
2008-05-xx
change note
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A note about a modification to a concept.
2008-05-xx
definition
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A statement or formal explanation of the meaning of a concept.
2008-05-xx
editorial note
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A note for an editor, translator or maintainer of the vocabulary.
2008-05-xx
example
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
An example of the use of a concept.
2008-05-xx
history note
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A note about the past state/use/meaning of a concept.
2008-05-xx
scope note
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A note that helps to clarify the meaning of a concept.
2008-05-xx
semantic relation
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
This property should not be used directly, but as a super-property for all properties denoting a relationship of meaning between concepts.
A concept related by meaning.
2008-05-xx
has broader
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
Broader concepts are typically rendered as parents in a concept hierarchy (tree).
By convention, skos:broader is only used to assert an immediate (i.e. direct) hierarchical link between two conceptual resources.
A concept that is more general in meaning.
2008-05-xx
has narrower
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
By convention, skos:broader is only used to assert an immediate (i.e. direct) hierarchical link between two conceptual resources.
Narrower concepts are typically rendered as children in a concept hierarchy (tree).
A concept that is more specific in meaning.
2008-05-xx
related to
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
skos:related is disjoint with skos:broaderTransitive
A concept with which there is an associative semantic relationship.
2008-05-xx
broader transitive
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
By convention, skos:broaderTransitive is not used to make assertions. Rather, the properties can be used to draw inferences about the transitive closure of the hierarchical relation, which is useful e.g. when implementing a simple query expansion algorithm in a search application.
skos:broaderTransitive is a transitive superproperty of skos:broader.
2008-05-xx
narrower transitive
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
By convention, skos:narrowerTransitive is not used to make assertions. Rather, the properties can be used to draw inferences about the transitive closure of the hierarchical relation, which is useful e.g. when implementing a simple query expansion algorithm in a search application.
skos:narrowerTransitive is a transitive superproperty of skos:broader. By convention, skos:narrowerTransitive is not intended to be used in assertions, but provides a mechanism whereby the transitive closure of skos:narrower can be queried.
2008-05-xx
member
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
A member of a collection.
2008-05-xx
member list
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
For any resource, every item in the list given as the value of the skos:memberList property is also a value of the skos:member property.
An RDF list containing the members of an ordered collection.
2008-05-xx
mapping relation
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
These concept mapping relations mirror semantic relations, and the data model defined below is similar (with the exception of skos:exactMatch) to the data model defined for semantic relations. A distinct vocabulary is provided for concept mapping relations, to provide a convenient way to differentiate links within a concept scheme from links between concept schemes. However, this pattern of usage is not a formal requirement of the SKOS data model, and relies on informal definitions of best practice.
Definition
2008-05-xx
broader match
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
skos:broadMatch is used to state a hierarchical mapping link between two conceptual resources in different concept schemes.
2008-05-xx
2008-05-xx
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
skos:narrowMatch is used to state a hierarchical mapping link between two conceptual resources in different concept schemes.
narrower match
related match
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
skos:relatedMatch is used to state an associative mapping link between two conceptual resources in different concept schemes.
2008-05-xx
exact match
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
skos:exactMatch is used to link two concepts, indicating a high degree of confidence that the concepts can be used interchangeably across a wide range of information retrieval applications. skos:exactMatch is a transitive property, and is a sub-property of skos:closeMatch.
skos:exactMatch is disjoint with each of the properties skos:broadMatch and skos:relatedMatch.
2008-05-xx
exact match
Initial description.
Sean Bechhofer
2008-05-xx
skos:closeMatch is used to link two concepts that are sufficiently similar that they can be used interchangeably in some information retrieval applications. In order to avoid the possibility of "compound errors" when combining mappings across more than two concept schemes, skos:closeMatch is not declared to be a transitive property.
2008-05-xx