- Paperback: 640 pages
- Publisher: Addison Wesley; 1 edition (16 July 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0201749602
- ISBN-13: 978-0201749601
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 18.9 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,506,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
XML Topic Maps (XTM) represent a powerful new tool for transforming the Web from a vast, chaotic sea of data into a highly usable information resource. XML Topic Maps is the first comprehensive, authoritative guide to this new technology. Edited by Jack Park, a leader of the XTM community, with contributions from leading members of the community, it covers every aspect of XML Topic Map creation and usage. Drawing on the XTM 1.0 standard, a complete XML grammar for interchanging Web-based Topic Maps, this book shows how XML Topic Maps can be utilized as an enabling technology for the new "Semantic Web," in which information is given well-defined meaning, making it possible for computers and people to cooperate more effectively than ever before. Coverage includes: creating, using, and extending XML Topic Maps; ontological engineering; and the use of XML Topic Maps to create next-generation knowledge representation systems and search tools. Park shows how to use Topic Maps to visualize data; how Topic Maps relate to RDF and semantic networks; and finally, how Topic Maps presage a profound paradigm shift in the way information is represented, shared, and learned on the Internet -- and everywhere else. For every Web designer, developer, and content specialist concerned with delivering and sharing information in more useful and meaningful forms.
From the Back Cover
The explosive growth of the World Wide Web is fueling the need for a new generation of technologies for managing information flow, data, and knowledge. This developer's overview and how-to book provides a complete introduction and application guide to the world of topic maps, a powerful new means of navigating the World Wide Web's vast sea of information.
With contributed chapters written by today's leading topic map experts, XML Topic Maps is designed to be a "living document" for managing information across the Web's interconnected resources. The book begins with a broad introduction and a tutorial on topic maps and XTM technology. The focus then shifts to strategies for creating and deploying the technology. Throughout, the latest theoretical perspectives are offered, alongside discussions of the challenges developers will face as the Web continues to evolve. Looking forward, the book's concluding chapters provide a road map to the future of topic map technology and the Semantic Web in general.
Specific subjects explored in detail include:
- Topic mapping and the XTM specification
- Using XML Topic Maps to build knowledge repositories
- Knowledge Representation, ontological engineering, and topic maps
- Transforming an XTM document into a Web page
- Creating enterprise Web sites with topic maps and XSLT
- Open source topic map software
- XTM, RDF, and topic maps
- Semantic networks and knowledge organization
- Using topic maps in education
- Topic maps, pedagogy, and future perspectives
Featuring the latest perspectives from today's leading topic map experts, XML Topic Maps provides the tools, techniques, and resources necessary to plot the changing course of information management across the World Wide Web.
0201749602B08282002
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have been studying Topic Maps for about a year now. Based on web sites, technical journals and conference articles my knowledge of Topic Maps was quite well established but there were still grey areas.
As far as I know, this is the first book that is entirely devoted to the subject of Topic Maps. I was therefore very pleased to find that the range of chapters covered all of the things I was concerned with and I found answers to many of my questions. There were also new things that I had not been aware even after a year of searching the Web.
The subject of Topic Maps has developed over past years and having read articles from different authors from past years, it was good to find that this book summarises the state of the field to date. It was with a sense of relief that I read this book and realised that I was on the right track and agreeing with the expert authors.
Obviously there are some negative points that I could mention but these are really minor details and I cannot imagine that the editors could have made a better job of compiling this collection of expert voices into a single voice.
This book is therefore an excellent summary of the field as it is - like a snap shot of time - and a very useful one for anyone trying to get up to speed in the area. If this book had been around a year ago - when I started looking into Topic Maps - I would have been able to learn all I needed to know in 1 month rather than 12.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a difficult and evolving arena, this book covers the subject area comprehensively but also at some depth. If you are looking to buy only one book on topicmaps then this is it. I've read most of it in detail and even though some of the content is syndicated - the author has done an excellent job in bringing it all together. A very useful and informative book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Interesting approach to knowledge management
21 July 2002
Format:Paperback
In order to fully appreciate this book you will need a good working knowledge of XML and associated W3G documents, and more than a casual exposure to knowledge management. The first four chapters are a blend of historical information about XTM (XML topic maps) and fundamental technical information that describes design rationale and components of XTM (which is a separate open source initiative that is based on the ISO/IEC 13250 Topic Maps standard).
Chapters 5, 6 and 7 dive into the mechanics of XTM and knowledge management, and requires the prerequisite knowledge I cited above. This part of the book is not an easy read. This is not a reflection of the authors/editors ability to write as much as it is of the nature of the material. Knowledge management and development issues are given both wide and deep treatment in these chapters. Chapters 8 and 9 go deeper into the XML family as they relate to XTM (with an emphasis on XSLT), and address creating and maintaining sites that use XTM/XSLT as the core of a knowledge management strategy.
Related topics are covered in Chapters 10 through 13, including open source tools, RDF (widely used as a mechanism for weblogs and blogs that are gaining popularity), and semantic networks (intelligent agent-based systems). The final two chapters tie together the preceding material with a chapter devoted to topic map fundamentals for knowledge representation and a chapter about topic maps in knowledge organizations.
If you are interested in using an XML-like technology as the foundation of a knowledge management strategy, or are interested in learning about new directions in the integration of web technologies and knowledge management this book is ideal. For the technical reader the code examples, pointers to open source and commercial solutions and the website that supports this book (using topic maps, of course), this book is an excellent way to leverage knowledge of XML and use it to develop knowledge management solutions.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
XML Topic Maps - the next level above XML?
11 Oct 2002
Format:Paperback
Since Tim Berners-Lee wrote of the Semantic Web
several years ago, there has been speculation about
how we might embed meaning within Web pages, as
opposed to merely displaying content. To answer this,
XML offers the separation of content from display.
From its user definable tags, different user
communities can define their own sets of tags and
associate meaning with those. XML offers the
infrastructure. But it is still fairly low level.
Assembler language, as it were, compared to more
powerful languages like C or Java.
several years ago, there has been speculation about
how we might embed meaning within Web pages, as
opposed to merely displaying content. To answer this,
XML offers the separation of content from display.
From its user definable tags, different user
communities can define their own sets of tags and
associate meaning with those. XML offers the
infrastructure. But it is still fairly low level.
Assembler language, as it were, compared to more
powerful languages like C or Java.
So if XML is like an assembler, what is the analog of
C? This book puts forward XTM, XML Topic Maps, as the
answer. It consists of 17 chapters by different
authors, outlining various aspects of XTM. The
chapters can be divided into two types.
One type has nitty gritty explanations, replete with
examples of XTM written in XML. If you are a
programmer, these chapters are for you. There are web
sites listed with XTM definitions that you can
incorporate into your XTM, just like using standard
namespaces available on the web in normal XML.
The other chapters deal with the much deeper and
harder problem of how XTM may be used for Knowledge
Organisation and Knowledge Representation. They are
high level and abstruse, edging up to the issues of
semiotics and artificial intelligence.
As a side note: In the XTM examples and
implementations given, I was surprised to see no
mention of altavista's graphical representation of
search results, circa 1998. This was not in XTM, but
it conveyed the flavour. What happened was that if you
searched for, say, 'tornado', the results would appear
as a graph. The nodes would be the main keywords in
the documents containing 'tornado'. Nodes would be
connected to each other if documents contained both
those words. In this case, one might see two non
intersecting clusters - one related to weather
patterns, and the other to jet planes. By clicking on
a node, you could expand it into finer grained graphs.
It complements this book, whose main thrust is in
manually describing XML documents in an XTM format,
because it could achieve much the same visual results,
but derived automatically from arbitrary web pages.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A multi-faceted look at a complex topic
2 Sep 2004
Format:Paperback
This book is a must for anyone interested in Topic Maps. It would certainly pay to have some familiarity with XML, URIs, etc, because otherwise the examples will be hard going. If you do know XML, then you'll be away, because XTM is a very small and simple vocabulary.
Each chapter is by a different author, and each one comes at the subject from a different angle. Topics covered include tutorials for using the XTM specification, topic maps for website Information Architecture, Knowledge Representation, Ontological Engineering, e-learning, visualisation, relationship to RDF, information about various software implementations (a bit dated now, but still valuable), as well as sample topic maps and XSLT code.
Because of the diverse - even contradictory - viewpoints, the book as a whole provides an excellent overview of the field.
Each chapter is by a different author, and each one comes at the subject from a different angle. Topics covered include tutorials for using the XTM specification, topic maps for website Information Architecture, Knowledge Representation, Ontological Engineering, e-learning, visualisation, relationship to RDF, information about various software implementations (a bit dated now, but still valuable), as well as sample topic maps and XSLT code.
Because of the diverse - even contradictory - viewpoints, the book as a whole provides an excellent overview of the field.
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