Topic
Related: subject matter - theme
Definition
In linguistics, the topic (or theme) is the part of the proposition that is being talked about (predicated). The topic is therefore "old news", i. e. the things already mentioned and understood. For example, the topic is emphasized like this in the following sentences:
- The dog bit the little girl.
- The little girl was bitten by the dog.
- It was the little girl that the dog bit.
- The little girl, the dog bit her.
Topic Map
This is an ISO standard for the representation and interchange of knowledge, with an emphasis on the findability of information. The standard is formally known as ISO/IEC 13250:2003.A topic map can represent information using topics (representing any concept, from people, countries, and organizations to software modules, individual files, and events), associations (which represent the relationships between them), and occurrences (which represent relationships between topics and information resources relevant to them).
Topics, associations, and occurrences can be typed, but the types must be defined by the creator of the topic maps, and is known as the ontology of the topic map. There are also additional features, such as merging and scope. The concept of merging and identity allows automated integration of topic maps from diverse sources into a coherent new topic map.
Topic maps have a standard XML-based interchange syntax, as well as a de facto standard API, and query and schema languages are being developed within ISO. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic_map [Jul 2004]
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