Ontopia: The Topic Map Company

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This page contains pointers to papers that introduce the basic ideas of topic maps. Other pages provide links to the specifications, to papers exploring various aspects of topic maps, and to news from the world of topic maps.

Introductions

The TAO of topic maps, Steve Pepper, April 2002
The classic introduction to topic maps, which takes as its starting point the forms of navigation with which we are all familiar from the world of printed information: indexes, glossaries and thesauri.

What are Topic Maps?, Lars Marius Garshol, September 2002
This article published on XML.COM gives a basic introduction to Topic Maps.

The XML Papers: Lessons on Applying Topic Maps, Steve Pepper and Lars Marius Garshol, October 2002
A new, follow-on article for those that have already read "The TAO". This paper describes some of the basic steps in applying topic maps in a real world application, a topic map-driven web portal of conference papers.

Metadata? Thesauri? Taxonomies? Topic Maps! — Making sense of it all, Lars Marius Garshol, March 2004
Describes how topic maps compare to familiar concepts like metadata, taxonomies, and thesauri, and how they go beyond what these can do, while at the same time allowing these familiar techniques to be used with topic maps.

Towards Seamless Knowledge — Integrating Public Sector Portals in Norway, Steve Pepper, April 2004
The story of how Topic Maps has "taken off" in Norway — primarily as a vehicle for web portals in the public sector — and how this is paving the way for realizing the vision of "Seamless Knowledge".

All the following articles contain basically the same exposition of the core concepts as "The TAO". The only reason for including these older versions is that they include some unique material, which may be of interest.

Navigating haystacks and discovering needles, Steve Pepper, September 1999
An article that appeared in Markup Languages: Theory and Practice, Vol. 1 No. 4 (MIT Press, 1999). Contains additional material under the subject headings "Topic maps and reference works publishing" and "Topic maps and RDF". (But see also more recent material on topic maps and RDF.)

Euler, topic maps and revolution, Steve Pepper, May 1999
The original paper from XML Europe 1999 containing an introduction (now superceded), an account of the applicability of topic maps to reference works publishing (see rather the Markup Languages article, above), and the Euler Connection.




MORE PAPERS:


Technical Specifications


Advanced Topic Maps


Topic Map News