Construction of a taxonomy for medieval Portuguese history: problems and challenges

Filipa Medeiros,Hermínia Vasconcelos Vilar,José Antonio Moreiro González

doi:10.3989/redc.2016.1.1243

Abstract

Our main goal was to design and build a taxonomy of medieval Portuguese history using an interdisciplinary approach based on doctoral research. First, the criteria used for the selection of the vocabulary and its formal and semantic normalization were determined. Then species were listed, followed by the characterization of categories and their respective subclasses. As conclusions we highlight the successful application of the selected terms, as well as the fact that the taxonomy’s categories are being continuously updated and expanded, both in their global extension and in the depth of their thematic representation. In addition we offer proposals for continuing the ontological development of this taxonomy.

Highlights

This note describes a taxonomy aimed at organizing and representing information related to Portuguese Medieval History between the 12th and the 15th centuries, which is currently available online as a structured list
The construction of a taxonomy within the scope of Medieval History is, as we shall see, a pioneering choice and, as such, there are no parameters available for comparison. It should be understood as an instrument that undergoes a continuous construction and evaluation process, but whose purposes are clear. The construction of this taxonomy seeks to fill a gap found in the Portuguese information units specialized in Medieval History, many of which are integrated into universities and their research centres
We make some essential considerations: First, it should be noted that the taxonomy we constructed, when applied to research, successfully tested the methods previously tried by experts for designing, developing and maintaining controlled vocabularies of this nature

Summary

Introduction

This note describes a taxonomy aimed at organizing and representing information related to Portuguese Medieval History between the 12th and the 15th centuries, which is currently available online as a structured list. This is an applied work (Medeiros, 2014), adapting methods that have already been tested by experts in order to build the taxonomy. The construction of a taxonomy within the scope of Medieval History is, as we shall see, a pioneering choice and, as such, there are no parameters available for comparison It should be understood as an instrument that undergoes a continuous construction and evaluation process, but whose purposes are clear.

Methods

Results

Conclusion