The comparison of thesaurus and ontology

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate indexers’ evaluation on the usability of ontology vs thesaurus in representation of concepts and semantic relations. To do so, “searching” category of ASIS&T thesaurus was selected and ASIS&TOnto was built based on it. Design/methodology/approach The usability examination method is used in order to compare the two semantic tools. Nine indexers were recruited as participants, who were proficient in English language, had experience in using the thesaurus and all had successfully passed the course of “information representation.” They were asked to think aloud while working with the tools and to answer a semi-structured interview. The data gathering was continued until it reached its saturation point. Findings The results of this study revealed that the definitions and scope notes represented in indexing tools such as thesauri and ontologies have an important role in improvement of indexers’ understanding. On comparing the hierarchical relations, results show that converting the structure of hierarchical relationships of ASIS&T thesaurus can enhance the indexers understanding of them, and also enriching the associative relations of ASIS&T thesaurus can cause indexers to have a better understanding and evaluation of the presented concepts and relations. Originality/value This study shares our findings on the usability of ASIS&T thesaurus as a core set of vocabulary for building a “searching” domain as a prototype ontology in the area of library and information science and provides the indexers viewpoints of the two semantic tools in this area.