Saturday, October 09, 2004

Topic Maps (a Quickstudy by Russell Kay) I've put up several other postings about topic maps and concept maps and mapping software. This short article from Computerworld by Russell Kay is an excellent introduction to the subject. "DEFINITION: Topic maps are a way to represent knowledge structures and their relationships to information resources. Based on XML, topic maps are related in concept to but more powerful and inclusive than book indexes."  The author includes a useful selection of Topic Map Resources (see the enclosure link). I agree with the author's conclusion that topic maps are not yet ready for prime time; we must still continue to use schematics drawn on envelopes (as Berner-Lee did when sketching the Web) until mapping software becomes much more flexible and accessible. "But in a few more years, as Moore's Law continues to expand our computing capabilities, we may well see topic maps come into their own. An application programming interface specification for topic maps (http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2004-04-09-a.html) was released in April, so development in this area is proceeding. For now, topic maps are something to be aware of, even if they're not quite ready for prime time." ____JH  9:32:13 AM    COMMENT []