SKOS Core is an RDF vocabulary for describing language-oriented knowledge organisation systems (KOS) such as thesauri, glossaries, terminologies, taxonomies and controlled vocabularies in RDF.
Status of this Document
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication.
This document is an Editor's Draft for review by the Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group (hereafter 'the Working Group') and the participants of the public-esw-thes@w3.org mailing list and is subject to change without notice. This document has no formal standing within W3C. Please consult the Working Group's home page and the W3C technical reports index for information about the latest publications by this group. This document may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.
This document is published by the Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group, part of the W3C Semantic Web Activity. The Working Group intends the SKOS Core Vocabulary Specification to become a W3C Working Group Note. However, other outcomes are possible within the framework of the W3C process and will be considered in response to deployment experience and feedback from the W3C membership. The Working Group has discussed the potential for SKOS Core to evolve into possible future W3C Recommendation Track work items, and would value feedback on the level of formal standardization that is appropriate.
We encourage public comments. Please send comments to public-esw-thes@w3.org [archive] and start the subject line of the message with "comment:".
Publication as a Working Draft does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership.
Contents
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Introduction
About SKOS Core
SKOS Core is an RDF vocabulary for describing language-oriented knowledge organisation systems (KOS) such as thesauri, glossaries, terminologies, taxonomies and controlled vocabularies in RDF.
It may also be used to describe weblog category schemes and web directories in RDF.
SKOS Core Namespace
The base namespace for all terms in the SKOS Core vocabulary is:
http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#
About This Document
The latest version of this specification (available from [SPEC LATEST]) can be relied upon to provide an up-to-date overview of the SKOS Core vocabulary. This specification is generated from the RDF description of the SKOS Core vocabulary, and is regenerated whenever a change is made to the underlying RDF description.
The RDF description of the SKOS Core vocabulary can be obtained from here.
This document provides an overview of the SKOS Core vocabulary only, and is intended as a reference companion to the SKOS Core Guide [CORE GUIDE], which is currently under development and will be published as a working draft shortly.
Guide to Term Summary Tables
Each term (i.e. class or property) of the SKOS Core vocabulary is summarised in this document as a table. Each table may have the following rows:
Class or Property:
URI:
The Universal Resource Identifier.
Label:
A human-readable label.
Definition:
An explanation of the meaning of a class or property.
Comment:
Additional information about meaning and/or proper use.
Example:
An example of the use of a class or property.
Status:
The status (stability level) of the class or property.
Issued:
Date on which the class or property was issued.
Modified:
Date on which the class or property was last modified.
Super-classes:
(Classes only) any declared super-classes.
Super-properties:
(Properties only) any declared super-properties.
Domain:
(Properties only) the declared domain for the property.
Range:
(Properties only) the declared range for the property.
Additional types:
(Properties only) any declared additional types (e.g. owl:TransitiveProperty) for the property.
Inverse of:
(Properties only) any declared inverse properties.
Replaces:
Any deprecated terms which the given term has replaced in recommended usage.
Version info:
A note about the modification and/or history of a class or property.
Replaced By:
(Deprecated terms only) the term to use instead of the deprecated term.
Deprecated:
(Deprecated terms only) the date of last modification (i.e. deprecation) of the term.
SKOS Core Evolution and Management
SKOS Core is a living vocabulary, which means it may continue to evolve indefinitely.
Each term in the vocabulary has a term status level assigned. The status of a term indicates its level of stability, i.e. how much it may be expected to change in the future. The following status values are allowed:
unstable
The term is unstable, and feedback is welcomed on it's current form and utility (analagous to 'alpha' release in software development). It may currently be poorly defined. It's meaning and/or form may be expected to change at any time. Do not implement mission critical systems that depend on this term persisting in its current form.
testing
The term has gone beyond the raw proposal stage, and is undergoing testing (analagous to 'beta' release in software development). This term may still change in response to feedback from testing, although it may be expected not to undergo any radical change. The cost to early implementors of changing the term will be considered, however the goal of achieving wider interoperability and long-term stability may override those considerations.
stable
No substantial (meaning changing) alterations will take place. Implementors can expect the term to persist in its current form indefinitely.
A term may also be marked as deprecated, in which case instructions will be given on what to use in its place.
Taking Part in SKOS Core Development
SKOS Core is maintained by an open community of developers, users, and domain experts. All development work is discussed via the public-esw-thes@w3.org mailling list. This mailing list is public, and anyone is free to subscribe and/or post mails. A public archive of the mailing list is also available online [PUBLIC-ESW-THES ARCHIVE].
Proposals for additions or modifications to SKOS Core may be made via the public-esw-thes@w3.org mailing list. These are reviewed by the members of the mailing list, and if a reasonable consensus is reached, an action is taken.
See the reference [SKOS DEVEL] for more information.
Collections can be used with semantic relation properties e.g. skos:narrower, where you would like a set of concepts to be displayed under a 'node label'.
The meaning of a skos:Concept should be inferred by taking into account all of the following (where present): the preferred label, all alternative labels, the definition, scope notes, examples, any other annotations, depictions, and the concept's position in the network of semantic relations with other concepts from the same source.
Ordered collections can be used with semantic relation properties, where you would like a set of concepts to be displayed in a specific order, and optionally under a 'node label'.
Acronyms, abbreviations, spelling variants, and irregular plural/singular forms may be included among the alternative labels for a concept, to assist search.
A general note not intended for public consumption.
Comment:
This property can be used directly for general notes, or as a super-property for more specific note types where the notes are NOT intended for public consumption.
This property can be used directly for general notes, or as a super-property for more specific note types where the notes are intended for public consumption.
