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. Evaluations
. . Navigation
. . Editing
. . Terms
. . Relationships
. . Import/export
. . Collaboration
. Summary
INF440: Introduction to Information Architecture
Assignment 3
Timothy Godfrey
Student no 11348115
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Relationships management features evaluation
Relationships management features include the capacity of the software to:
- support an unlimited number of standard thesaurus relationships for one term: BT/NT, RT and UF
- automatically reject duplicate or inadmissable term relationships
- automatically enter reciprocal relationships when a new relationship is assigned to a term
- set up a user defined reciprocal relationship
- map terms to terms borrowed or adapted from another thesaurus and edit mapped relationships in bulk
Term Tree 2000
The Dog's star rating: 
Relationships are managed in Term Tree 2000 through the relationship pane of the standard interface. Allowed relationships are provided in the nine notes and relationships fields in the relationships pane: broader terms, narrower terms, related terms, use for, reference, class and code.
Relationships can be added by selecting the appropriate relationship field in the relationship pane and choosing from a list of options, either to add a completely new term to the term list, show a list of available terms to link to the term, or show a list of already related terms for disconnection. Relationships can also be edited by dragging and dropping a selected term from the term pane onto a relationship field in the relationships pane. By allowing the user to connect only valid terms in the relationship pane, inadmissable relationships are avoided. The software gives an error if the user attempts to enter a duplicate term.
It is not possible in TermTree to set up a user defined reciprocal relationship. The only option is to assign a custom label to one of the standard reciprocal relationship fields. Is it possible to make a reference to a term which has been borrowed or adapted from another thesaurus by setting up a table of references in the edit – reference lookup terms menu and entering a selected reference from the table in the standard reference field. It is not possible to enter the mapping relationships in bulk other than by editing the reference lookup table.
MultiTes Pro
The Dog says: "Congratulations - it's a dogonomy!" 
MultiTes Pro supports the following standard relationship codes and additional codes for subject categories:
- BT - Broader term
- NT - Narrower term
- RT - Related term
- USE - Use preferred term
- UF - Used for
- SN - Scope note
- SC - Subject category
There is no limit to the number of relationships which can be assigned to terms. MultiTes supports user defined relationships of four types: equivalence, hierarchical, associative, note terms (for text fields) and category relationships. Where applicable, related terms inherit reciprocal relationships when a new relationship is specified for a term.
Relationships for individual terms are edited through the add relationship or relationship wizard option on the record details screen. Relationships can be entered in bulk using the “quick data entry” option in the terms menu, provided the text meets simple formatting requirements .
The software rejects conflicting relationships, such as a “use” relationship for a term that is already related to other terms, and more than one relationship between the same terms, through error messages. Reciprocal relationships are updated for related terms automatically when a new term is entered.
There is no defined field to map terms to corresponding terms from another thesaurus, although a user defined field can be set up to manage mapping manually. Relationships mapped in this way cannot be edited in bulk.
For the simplicity and consistency of the MultiTes user interface, and its capacity to support an unlimited number of user defined reciprocal and other relationships MultiTes is the preferred software package to manage term relationships.
Webchoir TCS-10
The Dog's star rating:
All the standard relationships of BT/NT, RT and UF are supported in Webchoir TCS-10. There is no limit to the number of relationships that can be assigned to a given term and TCS10 automatically validates data including rejecting duplicate descriptors, and inadmissable combinations of relationships. If required, system options can be set to allow mutliple instances of the same term.
Term relationships, other than BT/NT relationships, are managed through the term edit screen. The software automatically enters reciprocal relationships on entry of a new term. It is possible to enter an unlimited number of user defined relationships using the maintenance – look up table menu. Although the data entry screen contains a standard “term source” field it is not possible to edit any mapped relationships in this field in bulk. TCS-10 does have the capacity to set up a user defined fields based on authority tables or lookup lists which can be edited seperately.
A curious feature of the software is that BT/NT relationships are not managed through the normal edit screen but through the tree display area on the left side of the screen. Narrower terms can be entered by highlighting the required broad term and choosing the insert descriptor option which then displays a new edit screen for the narrower term. BT/NT terms can only be modified by dragging and dropping terms in the tree display area. Managing all relationship types requires switching back and forth between the term tree and term edit screens. The term tree cannot be edited without first closing the edit screen, giving the impression of clumsiness in the software's capacity to manage term relationships.
Some external sites
Software sites:
Term Tree 2000
MultiTes Pro
Taxonomy sites:
QUT Controlled vocabularies page
Guidelines and standards: