Terminology Services

Terminology Services Glossary

Description:

Glossary of terms pertaining to the discipline of terminology management

Publishing Organization:

Office of Mission Support/Office of Information Management/Data Management Services Division

Last Update:

August 17, 2009

Program Site:

https://www.epa.gov/ts

Terms & Acronyms

Search Terms

Contains Begins Exact Match

	Term
	Abbreviation	Definition: Designation formed by omitting words or letters from a longer form and designating the same concept. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Acronym	Definition: Abbreviation made up of the initial letters of the components of the full form of the designation or from syllables of the full form and pronounced syllabically. NOTE: Examples of acronyms are: laser, DOS, GATT, UNESCO, UNICEF. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	American National Standards Institute	Definition: The organization that coordinates the development and use of voluntary consensus standards in the United States and represents the needs and views of U.S. stakeholders in standardization forums around the globe. [www.ansi.org] Acronym: ANSI
	Application Program Interface	Definition: A set of subprograms that application programs may use to request and carry out lower-level services performed by an operating system. [ANSDIT - ANSI Dictionary for Information Technology] Acronym: API
	Broader Term	Definition: Index term of a thesaurus denoting a concept wider than that of another index term with which it has a downward hierarchical relation. [ISO 5127:2001] Acronym: BT
	Category	Definition: A broad facet, primary division of a special classification system or of a main class of a general one. [ISO 5217]
	Classification	Definition: Arrangement of symbols indicating concepts into classes and their subdivisions to express generic relations or other types of relations between them. [ISO 5127:2001]
	Collaboration Software	Definition: Software that allows people to work together on the same documents and projects over local and remote networks. NOTE: Also called "social software," collaborative software embraces the communications systems as well, including e-mail, videoconferencing, instant messaging and chat. [http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=collaborativesoftware]
	Concept	Definition: Unit of knowledge created by a unique combination of characteristics. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Data	Definition: A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing. [ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993]
	Designation	Definition: Representation of a concept by a sign which denotes it. NOTE: In terminology work three types of designations are distinguished: symbols, appellations and terms. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Dictionary	Definition 1: 1) List of words or a category of words from a language, arranged alphabetically or systematically and explained in that language or translated into one or more other languages. [ISO 5127:2001] Definition 2: 2) A reference tool containing an alphabetical list of words, with information given for each word, usually including meaning, pronunciation, and etymology. [library.scsu.ctstateu.edu/glossary.html]
	Download	Definition: To transfer programs or data from a computer to a connected computer with fewer resources, typically from a mainframe to a personal computer. [ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993]
	Editor	Definition: Corporate body or individual intellectually responsible for a publication. [ISO 5127:2001]
	Equivalent Term	Definition: Term related to another by an equivalence relation. [ISO 5127:2001]
	Extensible Markup Language	Definition: Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a simple, very flexible text format derived from Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) (ISO 8879) as an application profile or restricted form of SGML. [adapted from W3C XML Specification] Acronym: XML
	Facet	Definition 1: 1) Classes or subclasses resulting from the application of one criterion of division. [ISO 5127:2001] Definition 2: 2) The subset of information objects that share an externally-applied property. [ISO/IEC 13250:2003]
	Glossary	Definition: Terminological dictionary which contains a list of designations from a subject field, together with equivalents in one or more languages. NOTE: In English common language usage, glossary can refer to a unilingual list of designations and definitions in a particular subject field. [ISO 1087:2000]
	Hierarchy	Definition: The structure of a system whose components are ranked into levels of subordination for communication purposes according to specific rules. [ISO/IEC 2382-34:1999]
	HyperText Markup Language	Definition: Standardized general markup language application permitting linking of documents through selected access points. NOTE: HTML is a subset of SGML. [ISO 5127:2001] Acronym: HTML
	Indexing Language	Definition: Artificial language established to characterize the content or form of a document. [ISO 5127:2001]
	Initialism	Definition: Abbreviation made up of the initial letters of the components of the full form of the designation or from syllables of the full form and pronounced letter by letter. NOTE: Examples of initialisms are: UN, ASTM, IEC, US, EU, DNA. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Interface	Definition: A shared boundary defined by the characteristics of that boundary. NOTE: The interface may be described at the physical level, at the software level, or as purely logic operations. For example, characteristics of the boundary may include the identification of any physical interconnections, description of signal exchanges across the boundary, or specification of functions performed on each side of the boundary. [ANSDIT - ANSI Dictionary for Information Technology]
	International Organization for Standardization	Definition: Worldwide organization consisting of a network of the national standards institutes of countries formed to promote development of standards to facilitate the international carriage and exchange of goods and service and to develop mutual cooperation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological, and economic activities. [www.crowley.com/glossary/default.asp & www.iso.org] Acronym: ISO
	Knowledge Organization System	Definition: The term knowledge organization systems is intended to encompass all types of schemes for organizing information and promoting knowledge management. Knowledge organization systems include classification and categorization schemes that organize materials at a general level, subject headings that provide more detailed access, and authority files that control variant versions of key information such as geographic names and personal names. Knowledge organization systems also include highly structured vocabularies, such as thesauri, and less traditional schemes, such as semantic networks and ontologies. [Council on Library and Information Resources www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub91/1knowledge.html] Acronym: KOS
	Language	Definition: System of signs for communication usually consisting of a vocabulary and rules. [ISO 5127:2001]
	Language For Special Purposes	Preferred Term: Special Language
	Metadata	Definition 1: 1) Data about data. [ISO 19115:2003] Definition 2: 2) Data that defines and describes other data. [ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003] Definition 3: 3) Data about data or data elements, possibly including their data descriptions, and data about data ownership, access paths, access rights and data volatility. [ISO/IEC 2382-17:1999] NOTE: any data used to aid the identification, definition, description, use, location, etc. of resources. (http://www.ifla.org/II/metadata.htm)
	Narrower Term	Definition: Index term of a thesaurus denoting a concept more specific than that of another index term with which it has an upward hierarchical relation. [ISO 5127:2001] Acronym: NT
	Ontology	Definition: A logical structure of the terms used to describe a domain of knowledge, including both the definitions of the applicable terms and their relationships. [IEEE 1175.1-2002]
	Performance Requirement	Definition: A requirement that imposes conditions on a functional requirement (e.g., a requirement that specifies the speed, accuracy, or memory usage with which a given function must be performed).
	Preferred Term	Definition 1: 1) Term rated according to the scale of the term acceptability rating as the primary term for a given concept. [ISO 1087-1:2000] Definition 2: 2) Index term of a thesaurus used in preference to an alternative and equivalent entry term to which it is related. [ISO 5127:2001] Acronym: PT
	Related Term	Definition: Index term with a coordinate relation and equal rank to another index term. NOTE: A related term is of associated meaning but not synonymous with the other term. [ISO 5127:2001] Acronym: RT
	Requirement	Definition: An essential condition that a system must satisfy. [ANSDIT - ANSI Dictionary for Information Technology]
	Resource Description Framework	Definition: A language for representing information about resources in the World Wide Web, particularly intended for representing metadata about Web resources, such as the title, author, and modification date of a Web page, copyright and licensing information about a Web document, or the availability schedule for some shared resource. However, by generalizing the concept of a "Web resource", RDF can also be used to represent information about things that can be identified on the Web, even when they cannot be directly retrieved on the Web. Examples include information about items available from on-line shopping facilities (e.g., information about specifications, prices, and availability), or the description of a Web user's preferences for information delivery. [W3C RDF Primer] Acronym: RDF
	Scope Note	Definition: Short explanation on how to use an index term. [ISO 5127:2001]
	Search And Retrieval	Definition: Operations accomplished to obtain information about documents through a retrieval system. [ISO5127:2001]
	Semantic Web	Definition: A Web of data providing a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF). [adapted from W3C Semantic Web www.w3.org/2001/sw/]
	Simple Knowledge Organization Systems	Definition: SKOS is an area of work developing specifications and standards to support the use of knowledge organization systems (KOS) such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading systems and taxonomies within the framework of the Semantic Web. [http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/] Acronym: SKOS
	Social Software	Preferred Term: Collaboration Software
	Source Note	Definition: A complete citation of the bibliographic information pertaining to a document or other resource. [adapted from ISO 12620]
	Special Language	Definition: Language used in a subject field and characterized by the use of specific linguistic means of expression. NOTE: The specific linguistic means of expression always include subject-specific terminology and phraseology and also may cover stylistic or syntactic features. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Synaptica	Definition: The proprietary terminology management application that forms the basis for ETSS. Synaptica is a product of Dow Jones/Factiva.
	Synonomy	Definition: Relation between or among terms in a given language representing the same concept. (EXAMPLE: Category-class; deuterium-heavy hydrogen.) [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Synonym	Definition: A word or term having exactly or very nearly the same meaning as another word or term. [ANSI/NISO Z39.19-2003]
	Synonym Ring	Definition: A type of controlled vocabulary, that cannot be used during the indexing process, but is used only during retrieval. Use of synonym rings ensures that a concept that can be described by multiple synonymous or quasi-synonymous terms will be retrieved if any one of the terms is used in a search. [adapted from ANSI/NISO Z39.19 2005]
	System Administrator	Definition: An individual with the responsibility to manage and maintain a system.
	System Development	Definition: A process that usually includes requirements analysis, system design, implementation, documentation, and quality assurance. [ISO/IEC 2382-20:1990]
	System Maintenance	Definition: The modification of a system to correct faults, to improve performance, or to adapt the system to a changed environment or changed requirements. [ISO/IEC 2382-20:1990]
	System Security	Definition: The protection of computer hardware and software from accidental or malicious access, use, modification, destruction, or disclosure. Security also pertains to personnel, data, communications, and the physical protection of computer installations.
	Taxonomy	Definition 1: 1) The construction of a concept classification scheme by means of disjunctive classes of clustered concepts. The goal of taxonomy formation is to achieve maximal simplicity and minimal overlap of distinctive characteristics. Contrast with conceptual clustering and concept formation. [ANSDIT - ANSI Dictionary for Information Technology] Definition 2: 2) A scheme that partitions a body of knowledge and defines the relationships among the pieces. [ISO/IEC 24765]
	Technical Dictionary	Preferred Term: Terminological Dictionary
	Term	Definition: Verbal designation (3.4.1) of a general concept in a specific subject field. NOTE: A term may contain symbols and can have variants, e.g. different forms of spelling. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Terminological Dictionary	Definition: Technical Dictionary [this is a synonym] Collection of terminological entries presenting information related to concepts or designations from one or more specific subject fields. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Terminological Entry	Definition: Part of a terminological data collection which contains the terminological data related to one concept. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Terminology	Definition: Set of designations belonging to one special language. [ISO 1087-1:2000] NOTE: A term may contain symbols and can have variants, (e.g. different forms of spelling).
	Terminology Science	Definition: Science studying the structure, formation, development, usage and management of terminologies in various subject fields. [ISO 1087-1:2000]
	Thesaurus	Definition: Controlled vocabulary including equivalent terms interrelations and rules of application. [ISO 5127:2001]
	Top Term	Definition: Index term of a thesaurus which denotes the broadest possible concept of any other index term with which it has a downward hierarchical relation and which has no broader term. [ISO 5127:2001]
	Topic Map	Definition 1: 1) A set of information resources regarded by a topic map application as a bounded object set whose hub document is a topic map document conforming to the SGML architecture defined by this International Standard. Definition 2: 2) Any topic map document conforming to the SGML architecture defined by this International Standard, or the document element (topicmap) of such a document. Definition 3: 3) The document element type (topicmap) of the topic map document architecture. [ISO/IEC 13250:2003]
	Used for Term	Definition: Relationship between preferred and non-preferred terms is an equivalence relationship in which each term is regarded as referring to the same concept. The descriptor in effect substitutes for other terms expressing equivalent or nearly equivalent concepts. UF records entry terms leading to the descriptor. Examples: Aves USE birds; birds UF Aves; outline USE shape; shape UF outline [adapted from ANSI/NISO Z39.19 - 2003] Acronym: UF
	User Guide	Definition: A document that describes how to use a functional unit, and that may include description of the rights and responsibilities of the user, the owner, and the supplier of that functional unit. [ISO/IEC 2382-20:1990] Preferred Term: User Manual
	User Manual	Definition: A document that describes how to use a functional unit, and that may include description of the rights and responsibilities of the user, the owner, and the supplier of that functional unit. [ISO/IEC 2382-20:1990]
	Vocabulary	Definition 1: 1) In the context of Terminology Services, the term vocabulary describes discrete collections of terms, each of which may or may not include definitions and/or hierarchical structure. Term lists, glossaries, taxonomies and thesauri are types of vocabularies found in Terminology Services. [US EPA Terminology Services administrator] Definition 2: 2) Terminological dictionary which contains designations and definitions from one or more specific subject fields. NOTE: The vocabulary may be monolingual, bilingual or multilingual. [ISO 1087:2000]
	Web Ontology Language	Definition: A web language designed for use by applications that need to process the content of information instead of just presenting information to humans by facilitating greater machine interpretability of Web content than that supported by XML, RDF, and RDF Schema (RDF-S) by providing additional vocabulary along with a formal semantics. [adapted from W3C OWL Web Ontology Language Overview] Acronym: OWL
	Web Services	Definition: Web Services refers to the technologies that allow for making connections. Services are what you connect together using Web Services. A service is the endpoint of a connection. Also, a service has some type of underlying computer system that supports the connection offered. The combination of services - internal and external to an organization - make up a service-oriented architecture.
	Wiki	Definition: A collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wiki]
	Word	Definition: Smallest linguistic unit conveying a specific meaning and capable of existing as a separate unit in a sentence. [ISO 5127:2001]

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