Linked Data and Schema.org: Crossing the language chasm with terminological assets

Since 2011, the Schema.org initiative has set a standard for structured information. The technical communication community can already benefit and deliver valuable input for further progress.

Text by Christian Lieske Felix Sasaki

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Linked Data and Schema.org: Crossing the language chasm with terminological assets

Image:@ www.google.com

The results pages returned by search engines often contain more than just links to websites presumably relevant to your search. They also reveal various types of information such as reviews, and sometimes even a visual preview of related content on websites (see Figure 1).


Figure 1: Search engine results page


The trick behind this is a concept called "Linked Data" as well as the so-called "Schema.org", an endeavor driven by Google and other major players on the Web [1].

This article explores the state of affairs of Linked Data with regard to technical documentation in general, and terminology in particular. The idea is to answer the question “Which role can terminological assets play in today’s Web – especially concerning the search context?”

Let’s start with the following scenario (see Figure 2): A Chinese technician familiar with Chinese terminology in his field of expertise is ...