A domain-agnostic toolkit for community-curated SKOS vocabularies

Linke, David; Moustakas, Nikolaos

doi:10.5281/zenodo.17653395

A domain-agnostic toolkit for community-curated SKOS vocabularies

Linke, David; Moustakas, Nikolaos

Publisher: Zenodo
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17653395
Repository: zenodo.org
Language: en

Abstract

Maintaining SKOS vocabularies collaboratively is hard. RDF/turtle syntax intimidates domain experts. Manual validation is error-prone. Tracking changes and discussions scattered across emails is chaotic. Result? Many communities avoid creating controlled vocabularies altogether. We built an open-source toolkit that simplified the process: contributors edit terms in Excel spreadsheets, submit via GitHub pull requests, and automated workflows handle everything else – SKOS conversion, SHACL validation, documentation generation, and publishing with persistent URIs and content negotiation. Why Excel? Familiar to everyone. Why GitHub? It provides version control with complete history tracking, structured discussions via issues/PRs, free hosting, automatic Zenodo publishing and increasingly, built-in AI assistance for contributors and maintainers. The toolkit (Python package + repository template) is domain-agnostic – originally developed for a catalysis vocabulary, but reusable by any community.

Full text

David Linke, Nikolaos Moustakas A domain-agnostic toolkit for community-curated SKOS vocabularies SWIB25 –Lightning Talks, 2025-11-19 community-curated SKOS vocabularies LIKAT Rostock 2025-11-19 Idea: Combine modern Open-Source Development Approach with Excel/xlsx as familiar tool for editing LIKAT Rostock 2025-11-19 Application of toolkit: NFDI4Cat‘s Domain Vocabulary https://nfdi4cat.github.io/voc4cat/ LIKAT Rostock 2025-11-19 Application of toolkit: NFDI4Cat‘s Domain Vocabulary https://nfdi4cat.github.io/voc4cat/ LIKAT Rostock GitHub-based Vocabulary Contribution Workflow Auto-commit •adds SKOS/turtle-files •removes xlsx iterative improvement Create a pull request with updated xlsx Review CI results Auto-started job: •Check xlsx •Convert to SKOS •Validate (SHACL) •Create html docs Approval by editors Merge CD: Build & publish vocabulary Commit more changes “main” branch Peer review & discussion CI/CD = continuous integration/delivery realized with GitHub actions 2025-11-19 LIKAT Rostock GitHub-based Vocabulary Contribution Workflow Auto-commit •adds SKOS/turtle-files •removes xlsx iterative improvement Create a pull request with updated xlsx Review CI results Auto-started job: •Check xlsx •Convert to SKOS •Validate (SHACL) •Create html docs Approval by editors Merge CD: Build & publish vocabulary Commit more changes “main” branch Peer review & discussion CI/CD = continuous integration/delivery realized with GitHub actions 2025-11-19 LIKAT Rostock ❖Python library & CLI: voc4cat-tool »Two-way conversion between spreadsheet (xlsx) and SKOS/turtle »Validation of spreadsheet (xlsx) and SKOS/turtle files ❖Template for community-managed vocabularies: voc4cat-template »Reusable CI pipelines (GitHub action workflows) using voc4cat-tool »HTML documentation in gh-pages ❖Example: NFDI4Cat´s vocabulary for catalysis voc4cat »Derived from and synced with voc4cat-template »Setup of redirects with content negotiation »Vocabulary guidelines documentation built with Sphinx/MyST »integration etc. Re-usable Components of Established Solution 2025-11-19 linkedin.com/company/nfdi4cat http://www.nfdi4cat.org/ github.com/NFDI4Cat Dr. David Linke [email protected] github.com/dalito https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5898-1820