Topic Maps

The Topic Maps standard started from an effort to make back-of-the-book indexes interoperable. The original project was developed by Steven R. Newcomb whom I joined. Together we developed the CApH specification (Conventions for the Application of HyTime), and then I took the initiative to submit a proposal to ISO for an international standard. This work led to the publication of the first version of the Topic Maps standard in 2000. This version is based on SGML and HyTime, two ISO standards that were the precursors of XML and some of its satellites. I advocated for an XML version and that was the start of TopicMaps.org that I co-chaired with Steve Newcomb. We created the XTM specification, and the work was eventually led to fruition and final editing was done by Steve Pepper and Graham Moore. I then decided to propose to ISO to incorporate the XTM Document Type Definition in the Topic Maps standard: that process took place in 2002 and led to the publication of the second edition of the Topic Maps standard in 2002-3. Customer requirements have become quite sophisticated, and technologies are evolving to figure out how to address these emerging needs. An annual conference on Topic Maps is organized in Germany.

I created TM Loom, originally designed as a topic-map based technology. This technology, field tested over 10 years, has been designed to facilitate the creation and maintenance of information networks and resulting navigable knowledge bases. Once the application has been properly set up, it just takes the push of a button to apply the topic map to the information set. This application has been highly customized recently and its main application is to serve as an engine to produce automatically the IRS Tax Map, currently used by the call centers assistors to access information based on subjects. This work has been made possible through a cooperative work done by Coolheads Consulting, and Plexus Scientific. A version of TaxMap is available in a Cd-Rom that can be ordered from the IRS Web site. It has been published by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS).

Infoloom - 402 85^th Street 5C Brooklyn NY 11209. Voice: +1 (718) 921-0901. Email:info@infoloom.com  Web: http://www.infoloom.com