Conceptual Modeling for the Unified Medical Language System
Charles E. Barr, Jan Komorowski, Edward Pattison-Gordon, Robert A. Greenes · PubMed Central · 1988
The Unified Medical Language System was proposed by the National Library of Medicine to facilitate the exchange and utilization of information from multiple sources. We are using semantic networks as the knowledge representation scheme in a prototype system to explore how to accomplish these goals. Conceptual modeling helps define a complete and consistent set of objects and relationships to include in the semantic net. Both top-down and bottom-up approaches were found useful in the seven step process of building the semantic network. Theoretical and practical issues are discussed as well as future extensions to the current prototype.