Importing vocabulary

Import vocabulary
Describes the import and reuse of external vocabularies
Collection
Loading... Example of a FOAF import and its bindings to properties declared in Semantic MediaWiki (en)
Keywords
import vocabulary · foaf · RDF
Table of Contents

In Semantic MediaWiki it is possible to import and reuse vocabulary that belongs to existing Semantic Web documents or standards by associating the vocabulary's elements with wiki terms.

• A shared vocabulary can help clarify that the same word can mean a different concept or a different word (phrase) can refer to the same concept 1:92
• A shared vocabulary can help the dissemination of data and avoids information to remain isolated (because of an incapability to process information when it is distributed) 1:92 and :392

General Concepts

Normally, concepts that can be described (and be used for description) in the wiki are defined by the wiki and thus are local. So the URI that RDF export uses to denote a concept is usually from a specific namespace that should be used only by the wiki. Even if you create a property that seems to come from a well-known vocabulary because you name it foaf:knows, it would still be exported with the URI

http://''your.site''/wiki/Special:URIResolver/Property-3AFoaf-3Aknows

which is the XML-compatible URI derived from the article URL (see RDF export for details). Semantic MediaWiki's mechanism for importing vocabularies solves this problem by allowing the reuse of external vocabulary in a controlled way.

Because of this mechanism, it is not required to change the names of your local properties. You can name the properties in your wiki the way you want and still reuse any vocabulary at any later point in time. "Importing" vocabulary simply will result in a change in the RDF representation.

Importing and specifying vocabularies

• Vocabulary definition
• Example of importing FOAF vocabulary
• Best practices

Selected list of imported vocabularies

The following list of examples contains vocabularies that may or may not be completed. The vocabularies in bold are being imported automatically when SMW is installed.

• schema Schema.org
• foaf Friend Of A Friend
• rdfs RDF Schema
• owl Web Ontology Language (OWL)
• SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS)
• dct DCMI Metadata Terms (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative)
• dcmitype DCMI Type (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative)
• dcam Dublin Core Terms for vocabulary description (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative)
• dc Dublin Core Metadata /elements/1.1/ (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative)
• bibo Bibliographic Ontology
• frbr Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records

See also

• Help:Uri blacklist
• RDF export describes how Semantic MediaWiki generates machine-readable documents in OWL/RDF format
• Pretty URIs to describe pretty URIs (or "cool URIs") which are more compliant to linked data principles
• Help:Ontology import obsolete information about an alternative way of importing data from ontologies
• Help:Ontology mapped data import with a script (status unknown) for a way to upload complete ontologies
• rdfs and FOAF import definition
• John Doe shows some examples on how external vocabularies can be linked to internal declared properties