Foundations of reusable and interoperable facet models using category theory

Daniel R. Harris

doi:10.1007/s10796-016-9658-6

Foundations of reusable and interoperable facet models using category theory

Daniel R. Harris

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Faceted browsing has become ubiquitous with modern digital libraries and online search engines, yet the process is still difficult to abstractly model in a manner that supports the development of interoperable and reusable interfaces. We propose category theory as a theoretical foundation for faceted browsing and demonstrate how the interactive process can be mathematically abstracted. Existing efforts in facet modeling are based upon set theory, formal concept analysis, and light-weight ontologies, but in many regards, they are implementations of faceted browsing rather than a specification of the basic, underlying structures and interactions. We will demonstrate that category theory allows us to specify faceted objects and study the relationships and interactions within a faceted browsing system. Resulting implementations can then be constructed through a category-theoretic lens using these models, allowing abstract comparison and communication that naturally support interoperability and reuse.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	953-965
Number of pages	13
Journal	Information Systems Frontiers
Volume	18
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-016-9658-6
State	Published - Oct 1 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Funding

The project described was supported by the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through Grant UL1TR000117. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. This work would not be possible without support from Drs. Jerzy W. Jaromczyk, Todd R. Johnson, and Ramakanth Kavuluru.

Funders	Funder number
National Institutes of Health (NIH)	UL1TR000117
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
National Center for Research Resources

Keywords

Data models
Information architecture
Interactive systems
Reusability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Theoretical Computer Science
Software
Information Systems
Computer Networks and Communications

Access to Document

10.1007/s10796-016-9658-6

Cite this

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AB - Faceted browsing has become ubiquitous with modern digital libraries and online search engines, yet the process is still difficult to abstractly model in a manner that supports the development of interoperable and reusable interfaces. We propose category theory as a theoretical foundation for faceted browsing and demonstrate how the interactive process can be mathematically abstracted. Existing efforts in facet modeling are based upon set theory, formal concept analysis, and light-weight ontologies, but in many regards, they are implementations of faceted browsing rather than a specification of the basic, underlying structures and interactions. We will demonstrate that category theory allows us to specify faceted objects and study the relationships and interactions within a faceted browsing system. Resulting implementations can then be constructed through a category-theoretic lens using these models, allowing abstract comparison and communication that naturally support interoperability and reuse.

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KW - Information architecture

KW - Interactive systems

KW - Reusability

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Foundations of reusable and interoperable facet models using category theory

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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