[topicmapmail] topic maps and thesauri and controlled vocabulary

[Peter]

On the Information Architecture list (SIGIA) there was some discussion and 
confusion about thesauri, controlled vocabularies, taxonomies and topic 
maps. I wrote some things about it here: 
<http://easytopicmaps.com/index.php?page=TopicmapThesaurusOrControlledVocabulary> 
but I'm still confused a bit.

Is there someone here who feels like explaining this clearly? One of the 
things I'm not sure about is how topicmaps provide for hierarchical 
categories, and also how they provide for facets. I see that thesauri 
provide a limited hierachical capability (broader terms = narrower terms), 
but I don't see how facets work with thesauri either....

By the way, in the Information Architecture, no-one really knows a lot 
about topic maps, which is surprising because they are the people who will 
be creating them.
Peter