Victoria Online Thesaurus - Version 2.6, July 2009

• Introduction
• Thesaurus and Report
• Version
• Updates
• Terms of use
• Structure
• Contact Information

Introduction

The Victoria Online Thesaurus is a subject thesaurus of descriptive terms that reflect the themes and resources within Victoria Online (VO), the Victorian Government’s online portal. Victoria Online is a metadata-driven gateway to Victorian State, Federal and Local government information. The VO Thesaurus has been developed to populate the Keyword (DC.Subject) field within the VO Metadata Application Profile (VOMAP).

It has been built according to the VO Thesaurus Guidelines, which are based on the ANSI/NISO Standard Z39.19-2003 Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Thesauri. A report outlining its development and release is available.

The first edition of the VO Thesaurus was developed by Victoria Online and was released in September 2005.

The eighth edition of the VO Thesaurus was released in July 2009. It contains 6,026 terms, with 2,502 preferred terms grouped across 31 subject categories. 36 new preferred terms have been added. An html version is also available.

In December 2005, Victoria Online won the Sir Rupert Hamer Records Management Award 2005 - Inner Budget Agency - for delivery of the Victoria Online Thesaurus.

Thesaurus and Report

The thesaurus is available in a number of formats including:

• Victoria Online Thesaurus - in html format.
• Victoria Online Thesaurus - Version 2.6 - July 2009 - in pdf format (763kb). (293 pages) (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• A tagged version in pdf format is also available (3229kb). (293 pages) (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader)

The development report is also available:

• Thesaurus Development Report – Version 1.2 – September 2005 – in pdf format (147kb). (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader)

You can also convert PDF documents into alternative formats.

Spelling

All spelling follows the form preferred by the Macquarie Dictionary. Australian English is the preferred spelling form but spelling variations will be recorded as synonyms.

Version

Version 2.6, July 2009.

Published by Victoria Online, Information Victoria, Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development.

Updates

The VO Thesaurus is managed by Victoria Online. It is managed and updated regularly in response to continuing site analysis of the Victoria Online website. Suggestions from other agencies may be considered and any feedback should be directed to victoria.online@diird.vic.gov.au.

Terms of use

The VO Thesaurus has been developed to match the specific information and discoverability requirements of Victoria Online. You may access and use the VO Thesaurus. You must not alter, vary or amend the contents of the VO Thesaurus.

Thesaurus and Report

The thesaurus is available in a number of formats including:

• Victoria Online Thesaurus - in html format.
• Victoria Online Thesaurus - Version 2.6 - July 2009 - in pdf format (763kb). (293 pages) (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• A tagged version in pdf format is also available (3229kb). (293 pages) (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader)

The development report is also available:

• Thesaurus Development Report – Version 1.2 – September 2005 – in pdf format (147kb). (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader)

You can also convert PDF documents into alternative formats.

Structure

The Victoria Online Thesaurus structure is outlined below:

• TERM - Preferred Term
• UF - Used For (Synonymous) Term
• SN - Scope Note
• BT - Broader Term
• NT - Narrower Term
• RT - Related Term
• SC - Subject Category

Term

This is the term which has been nominated as the preferred term for a given concept or subject.

Used For

Used For or non-preferred terms (synonyms) are used in conjunction with the preferred term when populating the Keyword (DC.Subject) metadata field. UF terms can include synonyms, near synonyms, narrower but not used concepts, singular forms of non-standard plurals, abbreviations and acronyms if commonly known, spelling variations such as American spelling or different spacings.

Examples include:

Bushwalking

UF Hiking

Animal registration

UF Pet registration

Animal registration

UF Cat registration

Libraries

UF Library

HIV/AIDS

UF AIDS

Licensing

UF Licencing

Scope Note

Scope notes are to be created for terms where the meaning or intended use is ambiguous or needing further clarification. Scope notes are not required to be full grammatical sentences.

Broader Term

A Broader Term represents a broader hierarchical concept than the concept represented by a term.

Examples include:

Air Pollution

BT Pollution

Ombudsmen

BT Officials

Buses

BT Public transport

BT Vehicles

Narrower Term

A Narrower Term represents a narrower hierarchical concept than the concept represented by a term.

Examples include:

Pollution

NT Air pollution

Officials

NT Ombudsmen

Public transport

NT Buses

Vehicles

NT Buses

Related Term

A Related Term is a term that is neither equivalent (synonymous) nor hierarchical (broader or narrower) but which is conceptually associated with another term. The relationship is symmetrical, in that the relationship is represented in both associated terms’ structures. Related Terms can be:

• overlapping terms – terms under the same broader term that share some meaning
• derivational – concepts linked by a familial relationship
• from different hierarchies – concepts that are separate from each other in the broader hierarchical structure but still conceptually linked

Examples include:

ABNs

BT Business identification
RT ACNs

ACNs

BT Business identification
RT ABNs
RT Business registration

Home owners

BT Groups
RT Home ownership

Injuries

BT Accidents
RT First aid

Ozone protection

BT Environmental protection
RT Ozone layer

Subject Category

All preferred terms are assigned to one or more subject category:

• BS Business
• CM Community
• CO Communication
• CU Culture
• DF Defence
• EC Economics
• ED Education
• EG eGovernment
• EM Emergencies
• EN Environment
• ET Employment
• FN Finance
• GE Geography
• GN General
• GV Government
• HL Health
• IN Industry
• IT Information & Communications Technologies
• LW Law
• MG Management
• MS Measurement
• PL Planning
• PO Politics
• PR Property
• RC Recreation
• SC Sciences
• SF Safety
• SO Society
• TC Technology
• TO Tourism
• TR Transport

Contact Information

If you require a Microsoft Word or CSV version of the VO Thesaurus, please contact Victoria Online at victoria.online@diird.vic.gov.au. Prior to being provided a Microsoft Word or CSV version, you will be required to enter into a licence agreement setting out the terms and conditions of use of these versions of the VO Thesaurus.

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