Re: Announce: Topic Map Standard out for Final Committee Draft

Ralph Ferris (ralph@fsc.fujitsu.com)
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 04:28:16 -0500


At 08:48 AM 11/14/98 -0800, Dave Winer wrote:
>What kind of applications would we use the Topic Map structures for?
>
>It always helps me to understand this kind of stuff if I can understand a
>compelling application for it.
>

Topic Navigation Maps (TNMs) provide a means of structured navigation
through a body of related information. TNMs represent a generalization of
concepts such as indices, glossaries, thesauri, and tables of contents.
They follow a pattern of:

Subject
Subject definition
Links between related subjects

Link elements are used to create associations between related subjects;
metadata can be used to describe the relationships.

TNMs also provide a means of expressing inter-relationships between bodies
of information. They are a key potential application area for
XML/XLink/XPointer. Or, said another way, TNMs represent a means for
applying XML/XLink/XPointer to KM.

Best regards,

Ralph E. Ferris
Fujitsu Software Corporation