A semantic web methodological framework to evaluate the support of integrity in thesaurus tools

With the Semantic Web, thesauri regain a relevant role supporting semantic searches and other added-value services. Thesaurus standards define the constructs a thesaurus can have and the integrity rules it must comply with. Thesaurus editors can be helped in their work if thesaurus tools offer them support for integrity, warning when integrity rules are violated and/or helping them to correct these mistakes. The most recent thesaurus standard is ISO 25964, which supersedes ISO 2788, evolving towards concept-based thesauri and better aligned with the Semantic Web approach than the term-based thesauri of ISO 2788. However, the W3C recommendation for Knowledge Organisation System (KOS) representation in the semantic web context is Simple Knowledge Organisation Systems (SKOS), which is in fact prior to ISO 25964. This article focuses on thesaurus integrity and the evolution from ISO 2788 to ISO 25964. Its effect on integrity issues is analysed. A methodological proposal for evaluating integrity support in thesaurus tools, arising from the results of this work, is presented. Its target audience is professionals in charge of thesaurus editing. Besides being adapted to the most recent thesaurus standard, ISO 25964, it also includes the comparison of ISO standards with SKOS. The article concludes with the presentation of the results obtained by applying the framework to three thesaurus tools.

Knowledge Transfer Conditioning by the Communication Processes in the IT/IS Area

This chapter addresses the communication between information technology/information systems (IT/IS) professionals and their users in the corporate environment of the city of Curitiba (Brazil). The main goal was to analyze the communication processes and their pitfalls to knowledge transfer in this area. The study is exploratory considering that the desired number of responses was not reached. Results show that professionals have a communication whose terms make difficult users to understand them. Although it is not intentional, respondent professionals do not facilitate their understanding, what creates a knowledge bias between them. Conclusions suggest that professionals be formally prepared for customer service and manage their approach as user-cantered. Professionals need to be clear to users, in order to guarantee them confidence. Respondent users recognize the importance of IT/IS for their lives and companies; thus they expect professionals to share and explain well their actions/choices.

Religious Ethics, General Ethics, and Engineering Ethics

The objective of this chapter is to examine the underpinning relation among religious ethics, general ethics, and engineering ethics. We, the human beings, belong to one religion or the other by birth and/or by practice. There is hardly any society that is non-religious, and every major religion has religion-based ethics. Every evolved religion promotes values such as honesty, truthfulness, nonviolence, helping the needy, etc. These values are developed by major religions, such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. All these values together constitute our understanding about general ethics. Fortunately, many religions prescribe similar values, and these values are considered as general ethics, which the chapter delineates in detail. The chapter also elucidates why we have not considered agnostics' and atheists' views on religious ethics even if general ethical principles are based on religious ethics. Further, what is the need to have professional ethics such as engineering ethics when we already have religious and general ethics? The chapter argues “engineering ethics” as a professional ethics would be an autonomous system and would be independent of religious ethics and general ethics. The reason for this claim is professionals need to perform their duties in accordance with their professional codes of conduct, and not based on their religious ethics or general ethics. The chapter submits that engineering ethics is an autonomous ethics even if it has values that resemble religious or general ethics.

Religious Ethics, General Ethics, and Engineering Ethics

The objective of this chapter is to examine the underpinning relation among religious ethics, general ethics, and engineering ethics. We, the human beings, belong to one religion or the other by birth and/or by practice. There is hardly any society that is non-religious, and every major religion has religion-based ethics. Every evolved religion promotes values such as honesty, truthfulness, nonviolence, helping the needy, etc. These values are developed by major religions, such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. All these values together constitute our understanding about general ethics. Fortunately, many religions prescribe similar values, and these values are considered as general ethics, which the chapter delineates in detail. The chapter also elucidates why we have not considered agnostics' and atheists' views on religious ethics even if general ethical principles are based on religious ethics. Further, what is the need to have professional ethics such as engineering ethics when we already have religious and general ethics? The chapter argues “engineering ethics” as a professional ethics would be an autonomous system and would be independent of religious ethics and general ethics. The reason for this claim is professionals need to perform their duties in accordance with their professional codes of conduct, and not based on their religious ethics or general ethics. The chapter submits that engineering ethics is an autonomous ethics even if it has values that resemble religious or general ethics.

Policing the Nation: Acculturation and Street-Level Bureaucrats in Professional Life

Assimilation of migrants is assumed to happen through acculturation, which is depicted as neutral, unintended and invisible. In most accounts the role of social actors is pushed into the background, and the conditions that shape and determine the direction of the acculturation are ignored. A further critique of the acculturation concept is that the content of the conveyed culture is not disclosed nor are the outcomes hinted at. We argue that the concept of norm images redresses these criticisms by eliciting the cultural content and specifying the role of actors, that is, professionals, in the conveyance of culture. Using the example of the Amsterdam police force, we demonstrate that police officers impose crucial elements of the Dutch nationalistic discourse, specifically language and loyalty, on migrant citizens and migrant colleagues alike. Thus these police officers operate as reproducers of the social order cemented by Dutch nationalism.