การพัฒนาออนโทโลยีนิทานพื้นบ้านอีสานเพื่อการสืบค้นและเข้าถึง THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISAN FOLKTALE ONTOLOGY FOR INFORMATION ACCESS AND RETRIEVAL

Abstract

This research focusing on the development of Isan folktale ontology aimed to 1) analyze the knowledge of Isan folktale’s scopes and structures and 2) develop Isan folktale ontology for access and retrieval. The research and development (R&D) approach, including document analysis (analysis of contents, vocabulary and notions found in Isan folktales) was used in conducting the study. The library classification method was used for content synthesis to find the structure of knowledge about Isan folktales. The research instruments were folktale analysis forms. The population of the the study was 77 transformed Isan folktales.  The ontological development was based on the facet approach by Prieto-Diaz [1].

The study revealed that scopes and structures of Isan folktales can be categorized into 8 knowledge groups; knowledge about the contents of stories, beliefs, traditions, values, rituals, places, characters, and magical objects. The Isan folktale ontology developing process consists of 1) setting clear purposes for Isan folktale knowledge explanation to be used as a tool for Isan folktale knowledge access; 2) setting a concept model for ontology domain design and development; and 3) developing ontology for Isan folktales, which compiles of 8 main classes (contents of folktales, beliefs, traditions, values, rituals, places, characters, magical objects), 48 subclasses, and 58 object properties. The results of Isan folktale ontology evaluation by experts showed that the classification within the ontology are highly appropriate ( = 3.00). The classification within the ontology can adequately collect knowledge at a very high level ( = 3.00). The names of classes within the ontology are appropriate and can be understood at the highest level ( = 3.33). The classification of classes within the ontology is highly appropriate ( = 3.00). The class’s properties or the features can describe the class itself appropriately at the highest level ( = 3.67). Ontology has a very high level of relationship between classes at a high level ( = 3.00). The relationship names between classes within the ontology are appropriate and can be interpreted at the highest level ( = 3.33). The data type properties and data type details are consistent at a high level ( = 3.00). The ontology is well-designed and suitable for application at the highest level ( = 3.33).