Title: Towards a novel content organisation in agriculture using semantic technologies: a study with topic maps as a tool

Authors: Shelly Patwar, Pritpal Kaur, Asil Gerard Sylvester, Venkataraman Balaji

Addresses: Knowledge Management and Sharing Group, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru – 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India. ' Knowledge Management and Sharing Group, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru – 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India. ' Knowledge Management and Sharing Group, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru – 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India. ' Knowledge Management and Sharing Group, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru – 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract: Agricultural information management needs to be responsive to the needs of varied stakeholders, and content repurposing to suit multiple audiences is a key requirement. A framework that combines the semantic web techniques of Topic Maps (TM) and a global agricultural thesaurus, the FAO AGROVOC, has been developed on a pilot basis for five crops. The framework when overlaid on a web-based collection of information objects reveals interesting possibilities, especially in presenting the repository content in noticeably different ways to a subject-matter specialist or to an extension worker. Results are discussed and opportunities for further development are briefly described.

Keywords: semantics; ontology; knowledge modelling; topic maps; content repurposing; content organisation; agriculture; agricultural information management; semantic web; agricultural thesaurus; crop information.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMSO.2009.026255

International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, 2009 Vol.4 No.1/2, pp.65 - 71

Published online: 30 May 2009 *

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