What Topic Maps Do
When XML is introduced into an organization it is usually used for one of two purposes: either to structure the organization's documents or to make that organization's applications talk to other applications. These are both useful ways of using XML, but they will not help anyone find the information they are looking for. What changes with the introduction of XML is that the document processes become more controllable and can be automated to a greater degree than before, while applications can now communicate internally and externally. But the big picture, something that collects the key concepts in the organization's information and ties it all together, is nowhere to be found.
[Diagram]
SemLink is a project whose aim is to link together different lexical resources via a set of mappings. These mappings will make it possible to combine the different information provided by these different lexical resources for tasks such as inferencing. We also plan to use the mappings to aid in semi-automatic extension of each resources coverage, to increase the overall overlap in coverage. Currently, we are creating mappings between the following resources:
* PropBank: A corpus of one million words of English text, annotated with argument role labels for verbs; and a lexicon defining those argument roles on a per-verb basis.
* VerbNet: A lexicon that groups verbs based on their semantic/syntactic linking behavior.
* FrameNet: A lexicon based on frame semantics.
* WordNet: A lexicon that describes semantic relationships (such as synonymy and hyperonymy) between individual words.
The content of all four of these resources can be browsed on-line using the Unified Verb Index. A presentation giving an introduction to SemLink, and two of the resources it combines (PropBank and VerbNet), was given at the SIGSEM/ISO workshop held jointly with the IWCS-7 conference.