Translating from schema.org to the Organization Ontology

schema.org is an important folksonomy and JSON model for representing common entities on the web. The organization model of schema.org has organization types and properties which can be represented using the Organization Ontology.

Full interoperability with schema.org is not currently a goal of the Organization Ontology work 1

Translating Types

The schema.org organization types are listed in Table 19 schema.org types are high-level and can be multi-valued, much as Organization Ontology dispositions are multi-valued.

Table 19 provides a guide for translating schema.org organizational types to assertions in the VIVO Organization Ontology.

Table 19 Translating schema.org types to VIVO Organizational assertions

schema.org Type	Organization Ontology Assertions
Airline	Unknown type. Typically company. Disposition is airline.
Consortium	Unknown type. Assert Organization only. Type is often nonprofit Disposition is often association
Corporation	Type is company. Disposition is often commerce.
EducationalOrganization	Type is unknown. Assert Organization only. Disposition is education.
FundingScheme	Type is unknown. Assert organization only. 2 Disposition is funding.
GovernmentOrganization	Type is government organization Disposition is unknown.
LibrarySystem	Type is unknown. Organization only. Disposition is library.
LocalBusiness	Type is company. Disposition is often commerce.
MedicalOrganization	Unknown type. Assert Organization only. Disposition is healthcare provider
NGO	Type is nonprofit Disposition is unknown.
NewsMediaOrganization	Type is unknown. Assert Organization only. Disposition is media.
PerformingGroup	Type is unknown. Assert Organization only. Disposition is performing
Project	Type is unknown. Perhaps informal. 3 Disposition is project.
SportsOrganization	Type is unknown. Assert organization only. Disposition is sports.
WorkersUnion	Type is unknown. Often nonprofit. Disposition is labor union.

Footnotes

1

Full interoperability between schema.org and the Organization Ontology could be future goal. It appears that all the ontological structure is in place to add additional properties and entities from schema.org to the Organization Ontology.

2

Unclear if a funding scheme is an organization. It might be an informal organization of those participating in the “scheme” or it may be an organizational part of an organization with funding disposition.

3

In Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) ontologies, the word “project” is used to describe a particular type of process, that is, an occurent. A project is not an organization. A project may “have” an organization, an organization may conduct a project. In english, when people refer to a “project,” they may be referring to an organization that was created for the purpose of executing a defined piece of work. Such an organization may be formal or informal, it may be an organizational part, or an organization of its own.