Visualizing the "big picture" of change in NCIt's biological processes

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Abstract

The National Cancer Institute thesaurus (NCIt) is a large and complex ontology. NCIt is frequently updated; a new release is made available approximately every month. Tracking structural changes in NCIt is important for the editors of its content. In this paper we describe a methodology and tool using diff partial-area taxonomies to visually summarize structural changes between two NCIt releases. Diff partial-area taxonomies provide a comprehensible view of the overall impact of the changes. This methodology is illustrated using the Biological Process hierarchy. Specifically, we illustrate how diff partial-area taxonomies reflect change that occurred due to major restructuring of this hierarchy between September 2004 and December 2004. During this time the hierarchy nearly doubled in size and a large portion of the classes were extensively modified. Several kinds of change patterns are identified and discussed.

Identifier

85018793258 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Ceur Workshop Proceedings

ISSN

16130073

Volume

1747

Grant

R01CA190779

Fund Ref

National Cancer Institute

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