Page History

Figure 2: The glossary object provides the anchor point for the glossary content

The anchor for each glossary is the Glossary object. 

The classifications associated with the glossary object are used to document the type of vocabulary it contains and its purpose:

• Taxonomy - A Taxonomy is a glossary that has a formal structure.  Typically the terms have been organized into a category hierarchy that reflects their meaning or use.  There may also be term relationships that also form part of the hierarchy.  Taxonomies are often used to organize documents and other media in content repositories.
• Canonical Vocabulary - this glossary provides the standard vocabulary definitions for an organization.  Typically terms from other glossaries are linked to terms from the canonical glossary.

These classifications are independent of one another so a Glossary object may have none, one or all of these classifications attached.  In addition, there is a relationship to an external glossary.

• ExternallySourcedGlossary - The content from this glossary comes from an external source.  It may be, for example an industry-specific glossary, or from a standards body, or from an open data site, or from a commercial organization.

These classifications are independent of one another so a Glossary object may have none, one or all of these classifications attached.