Summary

This chapter shows that topic maps provide us with two different and important views into an information space: (1) a resource-centric view, one in which we use metadata to describe the resources we reference with topics, and (2) a subject-centric view, in which topic maps provide the tools necessary to represent, to “talk about” subjects. These views, when coupled with the “topic map attitude” that topic maps, where possible, should be unified through merging, provide us with the opportunity for global knowledge interchange.

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