Transcript A Collaborative Approach to Developing a Multilingual

A Collaborative Approach to
Developing a Multilingual
Forestry Thesaurus
• A project in development between
IUFRO, CABI and FAO
– Gillian Petrokofsky, CAB International
– Barbara Richards, FAO
– Niels Bruun de Neergaard, IUFRO
Introduction and
Background
• Explosion in online information
requires improved information
management tools
• Users need to be able to locate
information
– by subject
– in many languages
• Sustainable forest management is a
global concern; in response IUFRO
created GFIS that requires
GLOBAL MANDATE:
The Intergovernmental Forum on Forests urged
international organizations, donor countries and financial
institutions to enhance access to forest-related
information and …
to work with IUFRO in exploring possibilities for a
global forest information service.
(February 2000)
Problem:
locating relevant information sources
corresponding to needs
Solution:
IUFRO Task Force develops an
Internet based Metadata service
to provide coordinated worldwide
access to forest related information.
Global Forest Information Service:
A Network of Forest-Related Databases
launched on 29 August
2002
Copenhagen
Introduction and
Background
• Differences in terms used in different databases
• We need to collaborate to improve access to global
forestry information with a Multilingual Forestry
Thesaurus.
What is a Multilingual Forestry
Thesaurus?
• A controlled vocabulary of terms used to
describe the subject content of information
resources in the domain of forestry - it brings
together terms such as ‘forestry policy’, ‘forest
policy’ and ‘forestry policies’
• A multilingual thesaurus has terms in multiple
languages that are coded or linked across those
languages.
What is a Multilingual Forestry
Thesaurus?
Why develop a Multilingual
Forestry Thesaurus?
• Will allow us to take advantage of the current
ability of the software and hardware of different
information systems to communicate with each
other.
French
Agrovoc
Translation
Thesaurus
English
CABI
Why develop a Multilingual
Forestry Thesaurus?
• It will enrich metadata in forestry information
systems.
Why develop a Multilingual
Forestry Thesaurus?
• It will significantly enhance the Global Forest
Information System (GFIS)
Why develop a Multilingual
Forestry Thesaurus?
•
It will improve multilingual access to forestry
information. For example, users can have the
following subject choices:
Forestry > Forestry - General aspects > Forestry policies
Foresterie > Foresterie - Considérations générales > Politique
forestièref
Ciencias forestales > Ciencias forestales - Aspectos generales
> Política forestal
Why develop a Multilingual
Forestry Thesaurus?
• Users can also search and view subject information
in the language of their choice:
Developing the thesaurus
collaboratively
• Because forestry information
encompasses broad crossdisciplinary coverage, a forestry
thesaurus needs to reflect this
• We need to ensure its usability by a
wide audience
• We need to encourage participation
of subject specialists, native
speakers, users and information
managers.
Developing the thesaurus
collaboratively
• Goal of collaboration is to provide a means of
cooperation and communication between systems
and providers at a broad level without excessive
rigidity.specialized wood
energy terms
local forest type
terms
specialized
entomology terms
specialized forest
fire terms
Project activities
• Map AGROVOC and CAB Thesaurus
forest-related terminology as a basis for
harmonising Metadata in GFIS
• Identify subject gaps in existing
thesauri by examining current terminology
usage by researchers in bibliographic
references in CAB ABSTRACTS database
• Solicit feedback on missing or outdated
terms
– through Website
– FAO Forestry Department
Project activities
• Examine possibilities of mapping
harmonised terms to commonly used
multilingual library classification
systems, e.g. the Forest Decimal
Classification (FDC).
• Produce a complete project proposal
and work plan to create a multilingual
forestry thesaurus.
Existing resources
•
•
•
•
•
•
CAB Thesaurus
Agrovoc
Mapped CABI-Agrovoc terms
GFIS Africa subject indexing
Identification of additional terms
Expertise within IUFRO Member
Institutions, FAO and CABI
• IUFRO’s SilvaVoc clearinghouse
for multilingual forest
terminology.
Main benefits of
collaborative approach
• GFIS can take advantage of networks
developed by IUFRO, FAO and CABI
to harness the views of people on the
ground... the eventual users of the
system.
Main benefits of
collaborative approach
• The Multilingual Forestry Thesaurus
will function as a reference tool that
structures and standardises forestry
terminology in multiple languages for
use by GFIS
• It will also be able to be used in any
number of different systems to
improve access to forestry
information.