Main organisers: Helen Goulis (Academy of Athens) co-chair, Eleni Tsouloucha (FORTH-ICS) co-chair

Established in the context of DARIAH-EU, the Thesaurus Maintenance WG (TMWG) aims at developing a model to render existing terminologies used across the humanities, interoperable and effectively managed. The compilation of a common and consistent overarching thesaurus for the humanities (Backbone Thesaurus-BBT), under which all the vocabularies used in the different disciplines can be mapped to one set of top level terms, lies in the core of this effort. To this end, we focus on uncovering the semantic principles and the methodology guiding the selection of the concepts that serve as a common ground for thesaurus building –and, in that sense, enable cross-disciplinary resource discovery.

BBT runs on BBTalk, a platform facilitating the dynamic alignment of specialist thesauri to the BBT –in the sense that the users of BBTalk can make requests for changes on the structure of the BBT, to the end that it accommodates thesauri covering highly specific and developing areas of knowledge. BBTalk is currently used by the BBT managing team; a group of scholars in charge of discussing and implementing the proposed changes on BBT, whose members are affiliated with DARIAH and the TMWG. In this session we will be exploring topics regarding the methods to building and managing thesauri, exemplified by use cases from the BBT, and the specialist thesauri of the Academy of Athens (AA), the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI), and the Fédération et ressources sur l'Antiquité (FRANTIQ).

TENTATIVE AGENDA:

• Report on the activities of the WG over the last year, building up to the presentation of the BackBone Thesaurus (BBT) –scope of the endeavor, structure of the BBT and methods followed in its making–, the tools developed to enable managing the BBT (ΒBTalk).
• Use cases of alignment of local thesauri to the BBT.
• Exchange on how to structure specialist thesauri. Educational/training material on thesaurus-building.
• How to increase the impact of our work/joint projects, leading to greater dissemination and new collaborations (open invitation to thesauri holders).
• Side-projects that might be of interest to the TMWG. Discussion of the terms and hierarchies of the BBT, questions regarding the alignment of specialist thesauri to the BBT – depending on participation.

 We wish to bring a poster for the Marketplace.

List of envisioned participants

Gerasimos Chrysovitsanos (Academy of Athens)

Patricia Kalafata (Academy of Athens)

Blandine Nouvel (Centre national de la recherche scientifique)

Evelyne Sinigaglia (Centre national de la recherche scientifique)

Matej Durco (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)

David Wigg-Wolf (German Archaeological Institute)

Others to be confirmed