View source for SkosCoreGuideToc/SectionVersioning

__NOTOC__
= Section: Versioning and Change Management =

== Discrete Scheme Versions ==

This section describes how discrete versioning of SKOS concept schemes '''may''' be represented in RDF, using properties from OWL and Dublin Core vocabularies.

It is recommended that you assign a URI to the '''base scheme''' and to each '''scheme version'''.  For example:


<pre><nowiki>
Base scheme URI:

http://my.example.org/thesaurus

Scheme versions URIs:

http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.0
http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.1
http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.2
http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.3
</nowiki></pre>


For all concepts you publish, declare that they are a part of the base scheme:


<pre><nowiki>
<rdf:RDF 
  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 
  xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#">

  <skos:Concept rdf:about="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/102#concept">
    <skos:inScheme rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus"/>
  </skos:Concept>

</rdf:RDF>
</nowiki></pre>


Then, for each concept, you may additionally declare that they are a part of one or more of the scheme versions, for example:


<pre><nowiki>
<rdf:RDF 
  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 
  xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#">

  <skos:Concept rdf:about="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/102#concept">
    <skos:inScheme rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.0"/>
    <skos:inScheme rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.1"/>
    <skos:inScheme rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.2"/>
  </skos:Concept>

</rdf:RDF>
</nowiki></pre>


N.B. We recommend that you '''do not''' change the URI for a concept with each scheme version.  The more stable your concept URIs are, the more consistently they will be applied.

== Scheme Version Metadata ==

Some properties from OWL and Dublin Core allow you to describe the relationships between versions of a scheme.  For example:


<pre><nowiki>
<rdf:RDF  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
          xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"
          xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
          xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
         
  <skos:ConceptScheme rdf:about="http://my.example.org/thesaurus">
    <dc:title xml:lang="en">My Example Thesaurus</dc:title>
    <dc:description xml:lang="en">An example thesaurus invented for the SKOS Core guide.</dc:description>
    <dcterms:hasVersion rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.0"/>
    <dcterms:hasVersion rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.1"/>
    <dcterms:hasVersion rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.2"/>
    <dcterms:hasVersion rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.3"/>
  </skos:ConceptScheme>

  <skos:ConceptScheme rdf:about="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.3">
    <dc:title xml:lang="en">My Example Thesaurus Version 1.3</dc:title>
    <dc:description xml:lang="en">An example thesaurus invented for the SKOS Core guide.</dc:description>
    <dcterms:isVersionOf rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus"/>
    <dcterms:issued>2004-10-05</dcterms:issued>
    <dcterms:modified>2004-10-08</dcterms:modified>
    <owl:priorVersion rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.2"/>
    <owl:priorVersion rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.1"/>
    <owl:priorVersion rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/1.0"/>
    <owl:versionInfo>13 new concepts, 6 concept changes from version 1.2</owl:versionInfo>
  </skos:ConceptScheme>

</rdf:RDF>
</nowiki></pre>


== Tracking Changes to Concepts ==

Some basic housekeeping of concepts can be done with Dublin Core properties, for example:


<pre><nowiki>
<rdf:RDF 
  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 
  xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"
  xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">

  <skos:Concept rdf:about="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/102#concept">
    <dcterms:issued>2004-10-05</dcterms:issued>
    <dcterms:modified>2004-10-08</dcterms:modified>
  </skos:Concept>

</rdf:RDF>
</nowiki></pre>


Changes to a concept can be recorded via history notes.  A structured value history note captures the most information, for example:


<pre><nowiki>
<rdf:RDF 
  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 
  xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"
  xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">

  <skos:Concept rdf:about="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/102#concept">
    <skos:historyNote rdf:parseType="Resource">
      <rdf:value>The preferred label was changed from 'pink' to 'pink (colour)'.</rdf:value>
      <dc:date>2004-10-08</dc:date>
      <!-- Other properties of the note ... -->
    </skos:historyNote>
  </skos:Concept>

</rdf:RDF>
</nowiki></pre>


See also the section [advnaced notes].

== Concept Stability, Deprecation and Replacement ==

@@TODO concept is candidate, concept is deprecated.


<pre><nowiki>
@@TODO
</nowiki></pre>


The replacement of one concept by another can be represented using properties from Dublin Core, for example:


<pre><nowiki>
<rdf:RDF 
  xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 
  xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"
  xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">

  <skos:Concept rdf:about="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/102#concept">
    <dcterms:isReplacedBy rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/6077#concept"/>
  </skos:Concept>

  <skos:Concept rdf:about="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/6077#concept">
    <dcterms:replaces rdf:resource="http://my.example.org/thesaurus/102#concept"/>
  </skos:Concept>

</rdf:RDF>
</nowiki></pre>


@@TODO replacement with combinations ???


<pre><nowiki>
@@TODO
</nowiki></pre>