Ebla Thesaurus: A Prototype
This website provides easy access to the contents of a thesaurus written using SKOS, a lightweight framework for expressing the structure and relationships of concepts in a way that computers can understand.
SKOS is a standard for representing knowledge organization systems such as thesauri, taxonomies, classification schemes, and controlled vocabularies in a format that computers can understand and process easily. It provides a simple, flexible structure for linking concepts, labels, and relationships without requiring deep technical knowledge of complex ontology languages. It is a versatile tool that can be used to make research data FAIR — Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
The first attempt at building a thesaurus of the Eblaite language was abandoned after reaching the letter D: thesauri, and knowledge organization systems in general, are hard to build because they require a huge effort, take a long time to build, and even more effort to be maintained. Maintenance, in particular, is often considered a burden, and the XXX used in common academic practice (e.g., printed paper) offer little to no tools for updating existing resources.
Approaching this complex task with tools helps ensure that the data remains consistent, high-quality, and reusable over the long term. This, however, comes with a cost: SKOS and the broader field of semantic technologies are often unfamiliar to those without training in Digital Humanities or information science. For this reason, we should place our bet on collaboration and crowdsourcing — not just as an option, but as a necessity.
This prototype is built on the following assumptions:
- Preserve data semantics — that is, preserve the meaning of the relationships between terms and the properties they describe.
- Favor the beginning of a long-term effort — building the foundations for a resource that can evolve over time.
- Encourage crowdsourcing — volunteer contributions are welcomed and will be properly recognized.
If you are interested in contributing to this initiative, please read the contributing guidelines.
How it works
The ID is a unique number assigned to the word in the EbDA Database and identifies the lemma. If more than one is needed, they are joined with a + sign, e.g. 63+1601 (ugula-munsub₃).
skos:prefLabel) is main transliteration of the form, with proper notation. The Alternative Label(s) (skos:altLabel) are any rendering of a given transliteration of the same sequence of signs, e.g. NE-da-ʾa₃-tum for bi₂-da-ʾa₃-tum.
The Definition (skos:definition) is a formal explanation of the meaning of the word. The Related Concepts (skos:related) are any graphic variant of the word that has the same exact meaning, e.g. na-mur-ra-tum, na-mur-ra-tim. Contrary to the Alternative Label, the signs sequence must be different.
If possible a lemma is included in a Collection(s) (skos:memberOf), e.g., Stones, Textiles, Food, Functions.
The Note (skos:note) and the Historical note (skos:historyNote) field are used to provde additional information or to record historical information about a term, explaining how its interpretation has changed over time.
Other information incldue the persons who contributed to the record, it last edit date, and bibliographic information.