Summary

Topic maps provide us with two different and important views into an information space:

•   a resource-centric view, one in which we use metadata to describe the resources we reference with topics

• 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.

If you want to start creating your own topic maps it is recommended to download the Omnigator (Download) and write an XTM or LTM file. Then,  the topic map can be browsed in the Omnigator immediately, without any programming or stylesheets.