Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit

1. Environmental Thesaurus/Terminology WorkshopUNEP Regional Office of EuropeGeneva, April 14th – 15th Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit EARTh Environmental Applications Reference Thesaurus A proposal for a new environmental thesaurus model Paolo PLINI, Fulvio MAZZOCCHI CNR - Environmental Terminology Unit UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th

2. About us Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit • The Environmental Terminology Unit (UTA) is a research unit of the Institute for Atmospheric Pollution of CNR, the Italian National Research Council • The Unit is active since 1987 in the field of the Environmental Knowledge Organization, Terminology and Thesauri. It was involved in the development of EnVoc (UNEP, 1997) and GEMET (EEA, 1999) • The group is characterized by a interdisciplinary approach to environmental issues UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th

3. SomePremises Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit • The information environment is rapidly changing due to: • Internet and its requirements; • Data sharing and interoperability issues; • Enlargement of information usership; • Artificial Intelligence opportunities … • Thesauri have been developed mainly in library environment • International Standards were produced more than 15 years ago. Traditional thesauri present problems in satisfying all the requirements posed by the new information context. UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th • Some intrinsic and/or contingent weakness of traditional thesauri are emerging and are represented by: • Weak conceptualisation; • Structure too rigid or oriented to a single specific application; • Limited differentiation of relations; • Improvable semantic control; • Improvable optimisation of the coverage; • Limited usability in Artificial Intelligence environment …

4. The Vision Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit We are working on a new thesaurus model to be applied in the environmental domain. The thesaurus should: • be able to combine the search of stable logical and conceptual basis with a flexibilitytowards different applications; • be able to represent a semantic mapping of the environmental domain and to ensure an optimal conceptual coverage; UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th • be based on the awareness of the cultural dimension of knowledge organization; • allow different levels of comprehensibility and applicability for users with different expertise; • ensure the porting of the thesaurus into different technological applications.

5. EARTh Architecture Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit • Classification System • Based on Categories • Faceted structure • Thematic set-up to be developed for applications • Thesaurus Relations • Differentiation and better semantic expression of relations • Thesaurus Content • Optimised coverage • Updated conceptual and terminological content UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th • Increased Semantic Control • Software • Delphi, SQL, Unicode, Client/Server  Separate presentation

6. EARTh Classification Scheme Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit • The Classification Scheme of EARTh is based on categories. • Categorial approach ensure: • stable conceptual basis for knowledge organization, • a tool to classify concepts starting from their most basic meaning, as referred to by the logic inherent to the system, • a stronger control over semantic arrangement, • top level applicability to different domains, enhancing interdisciplinarity. UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th EARTh first and second level categories

7. EARTh Matrix Classification - 1 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit Faceted structure The faceted structure of EARTh is based on different classification levels. The hierarchical arrangement completes the vertical structure of the Thesaurus. Node labels will indicate the use of different subdivision criteria in generic hierarchical relations. UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th

8. EARTh Matrix Classification - 2 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit Themes to be developed for applications The model envisages that the faceted structure may be complemented by a system of themes. Although CNR is developing an operational proposal, different thematic systems should be developed according to the specific needs of users. UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th

9. EARTh Relations Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit • We are working to refine the relation arrangement. Each relation will be further differentiated into subtypes according to their semantic content. • Differentiation of Partitive Relations (example from “A Taxonomy of Part-Whole Relations”, Westhoff et al., 1987) • Integral object – component • Collection – member • Mass – portion • Stuff – object • Activity – feature • Area – place • Synonyms and lexical variants are being distinguished. • The extended arrangement of relations will support better semantic control, conceptual navigation and automated processing. • Increasing and specifying associative relations will better represent the conceptual interconnections of the domain, complementing the hierarchical structure. UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th

10. EARTh Content Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit • The conceptual and terminological coverage is being optimised in order to represent a sound semantic map of the domain. • The thesaurus content is being updated in order to follow the evolution of knowledge and of domain language. • EARTh term base is represented by the selection made within the following sources: • GEMET (1999) • UN Environment and Development (1992) • Italian Thesaurus of Earth Sciences (2000) • Inland Water terminology (2001) • Snow and Ice Terminology (2003) • Remote Sensing Terminology (2004) • Emergency Management Terms Thesaurus (1998/2003) • other reference documents in specific fields or concerning contemporary science (chaos theory, complexity) or related to biocultural diversity issue. • The terminological base is now approx. 20.000 terms. • At present, EARTh contains about 7.000 already selected and arranged. UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th

11. Thank you for your attention! Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Institute for Atmospheric Pollution – Environmental Terminology Unit An EARTh Prototype Version should be presented in Rome in Dec. 2004 • http://uta.iia.cnr.it • uta@iia.cnr.it • +39 06 90672 712 • +39 06 90672 660 UNEP Workshop - Geneva, April 14th – 15th Paolo Plini, Fulvio Mazzocchi, Mario Palmera, Valentina De Santis, Bruno Felluga 2, Sandra Lucke 2, Sabina Di Franco 2 2 CNR-IIA consultant