ISO 25964
ISO 25964 is the ISO standard for thesauri and for interoperability with other vocabularies, in two parts: ISO 25964-1:2011 for thesauri for information retrieval, and ISO 25964-2:2013 for interoperability.
What it is
ISO 25964 is the international standard for thesauri and their interoperability with other vocabularies. ISO 25964-1:2011 covers thesauri for information retrieval — how concepts, terms and relationships are defined and presented. ISO 25964-2:2013 covers interoperability with other vocabularies and the rules for mapping between them. iso.org blocks automated clients, so scripted requests typically receive HTTP 403, and the standard is cited by number.
What it gives the knowledge layer
It gives vocabulary work a stable, vendor-neutral reference: term selection, synonyms, hierarchical and associative relationships. The interoperability part turns "these terms are roughly the same" into a stated relation with a defined strength.
Where the spec lives
The standard is published as ISO 25964-1:2011 and ISO 25964-2:2013. Because automated clients are blocked at iso.org, the accessible web counterpart is the SKOS Reference, which expresses thesaurus-style vocabularies in RDF for machine use.
What it does not solve
The standard governs the vocabulary, not the content: a well-formed thesaurus says which term is preferred and how concepts relate, and nothing about whether the records labelled with them are current. It also does not make the vocabulary machine-readable on its own.
FAQ
Because iso.org blocks automated clients: a request from a script or crawler typically receives HTTP 403, so this note cites it by parts and years.
They address overlapping ground: ISO 25964 governs how a thesaurus is built and how vocabularies are mapped; SKOS expresses the result in RDF for machine use.
ISO 25964-1:2011 covers thesauri for information retrieval: how concepts, terms and relationships are defined. ISO 25964-2:2013 covers interoperability with other vocabularies and the rules for mapping.
They need controlled vocabulary more than a printed thesaurus: query expansion, synonym resolution and category traversal are the operations a thesaurus defines the terms for.
Sources
- SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference — the accessible web counterpart to the thesaurus model, in RDF for machine use.
- ISO 25964 catalogue entry (may not load for automated clients) — iso.org returns HTTP 403 to scripted requests, so ISO 25964 is cited by number and year.