A Digital Thesaurus of the Traditional Common Culture of the Greater Mekong Subregion

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a digital thesaurus dedicated to cataloging the traditional common culture of the Greater Mekong Subregion. The process followed a meticulous seven-step methodology, including scoping, vocabulary collection, knowledge structure analysis, relationship delineation, related word adjustments, list validation, and evaluation. Leveraging principles from knowledge organization, thesaurus construction, and digital platform development, the TemaTres web application emerged as the primary tool for constructing this thesaurus. The study’s results showed that 2,042 principal words related to the traditional common culture of the Greater Mekong Subregion were compiled and classified into terms for each of the seven deep levels. Each term was accompanied by essential metadata, including broader and narrower terms, related terms, cross-references, and scope notes. This rich dataset empowered semantic search capabilities across diverse applications and web services, providing access to knowledge pertaining to the traditional common culture of the Greater Mekong Subregion and contributing to a deeper understanding of this cultural domain.

Keywords

• thesaurus
• digital thesaurus
• traditional common culture
• greater mekong subregion
• information retrieval
• knowledge organization