http://informatics.mayo.edu/LexGrid/index.php?page=aboutlg
The Lexical Grid Vision - a distributed network of terminological resources
Currently, there are many terminologies and ontology's in existence. But just about every terminology has its own format, its own set of tools, and its own update mechanisms. The only thing that most of these pieces have in common with each other is their incompatibility. This makes it very hard to use these resources to their full potential. We have designed the Lexical Grid as a way to bridge terminologies and ontology's with a common set of tools, formats and update mechanisms. The Lexical Grid is:
- accessible through a set of common API's
- joined through shared indices
- online accessible
- downloadable
- loosely coupled
- locally extendable
- globally revised
- available in web-space on web-time
- cross-linked
The realization of this vision requires three interlocking components
- Standards - access methods and formats need to be published and openly available
- Tools - standards based tools must be readily available
- Content - commonly used terminologies have to be available for access and download
