The Transportation Research Thesaurus: Capabilities and Enhancements (2018)

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1 Background The Transportation Research Thesaurus (TRT) is a tool to support the indexing and retrieval of transportation information. The TRT is used by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and a variety of other organizations to support indexing, search, and retrieval of research documents, technical reports, and other information about transportation. It assists information users by facilitating consistency in language and cataloging information across repositories. The TRT originated as a tool to support TRB’s Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) database. However, if the TRT is to maintain its value to a growing community of stakeholders, it must evolve to improve the user experience, make its services accessible to a broader range of users, accommodate changing transportation technology, adapt to changing international information management practices, and take advantage of advances in information technology. Research is needed to develop a strategic plan for the TRT’s future development and to identify initial tasks that will immediately enhance the TRT and initiate implementation of a strategic plan that will direct the TRT’s future development to ensure that the thesau- rus continues to serve well the needs of Transport Research International Documentation (TRID) users and the broader transportation community. The objective of this research was to enhance the TRT by determining a vision for the future of the TRT and the requirements for reaching it. The research includes an assessment of the ability of the current thesaurus content, procedures, and products to meet those requirements and the establishment of a strategic plan and short-term actions to achieve the requirements. Research Approach and Methodology The research team designed a framework for assessment consisting of five dimensions. The five framework dimensions are • Dimension A: Thesaurus Content, Management, and Maintenance • Dimension B: Thesaurus Access and Use • Dimension C: Thesaurus Governance Processes • Dimension D: Governance Tools—Guidelines, Standards, Principles, and Best Practices • Dimension E: Thesaurus Architecture, Functionality, and Protocols. 134 assessment criteria were identified for the dimensions based on established practices determined from peer-reviewed literature and the research team’s experience. In addition, as the data collection progressed, an additional 32 criteria were identified as pertinent to the S u m m a r y The Transportation Research Thesaurus: Capabilities and Enhancements

2 The Transportation research Thesaurus: Capabilities and Enhancements TRT’s current context. Data to support the 166 criteria were collected from five sources, including the following: • A transformed working copy of the TRT that enabled the research team to generate reports and statistics, • Stakeholder interviews and feedback, • Online data collection from transportation librarians (in lieu of interviews), • Targeted input on information sources and use practices from subject matter experts (SMEs), and • Focused searching of peer transportation information sources. The data for criteria were first described and presented in a neutral and non-critical man- ner. The data for each criterion were detailed and were also supported with examples to facilitate interpretation and understanding. The research team then undertook an assess- ment of each criterion. The assessment was conducted against the current context. Each criterion was assessed as (1) fully supported in the current context, (2) partially supported in the current context, or (3) not supported in the current context. Each criterion that was not fully supported was then evaluated in terms of whether it could be enhanced in the current context or in a different future context. Five use case scenarios were developed based on the peer-reviewed literature and gray literature reports of current thesaurus uses and applications. The scenarios take the reader from the improvements that can be made in the current context (Use Case 0) through a series of progressive improvements that end in a community-based designer thesaurus (Use Case 4). The five use case scenarios are the following: • Use Case 0: Maintain and Enhance TRT Status Quo in TRID, • Use Case 1: New ISO-Compliant Master Version of the TRT, • Use Case 2: Enhanced TRT Local and Global Discovery Tools, • Use Case 3: TRT Automated Classification and Indexing Tools and Services, and • Use Case 4: Community-Based Designer Applications from the TRT. With the exception of Use Case 0, the status quo, each step in the progression builds upon the previous scenario and lays out clear choices and decision points for TRB and the broader transportation community. The research team describes the use cases in terms of (1) the framework dimensions that are addressed; (2) the benefits and challenges they offer; (3) the resources and tasks required, including cost categories, human resources, training require- ments, and community impacts; and (4) timelines. As part of the research, the team also conducted a market analysis of thesaurus manage- ment software (TMS) options. The research team identified commercial and open source TMS products based on the expertise of team members and a search of the literature. Enhancement to the current TMS was also included as an option. Twelve TMS options were then evaluated against the requirements. In addition, preliminary information concerning the estimated cost, learning curve, staffing requirements, hardware/software environment, and licensing agreements was gathered by reviewing vendor websites and promotional lit- erature and by contacting vendors. This information would be enhanced by information gained from a procurement process. Findings In the final assessment, none of the framework dimensions produced an aggregate “fully supported” result. Dimension A, which focuses on thesaurus content, had the highest number of criteria that were “fully supported” (15.55%). Dimensions A (48.88%)

Summary 3 and B (Access and Use) (57.69%) had the largest number of criteria that were “partially supported” or represented variant practices. Dimension C, which focuses on governance processes, had no criteria that were “fully supported” and a high rate of “not supported” criteria (66.66%) due largely to the lack of governance support functionality available in the current application. Dimensions D (Governance Tools) (68.75%) and E (Archi- tecture) (75.00%) had high numbers of criteria that were “not supported” or had no current practices. In general, the content of the thesaurus and its current use in TRID are areas of strength. However, Governance Tools (Dimension D) includes the scope and coverage of the field of transportation, which is an area of potential enhancement. The architecture of the current TRT is another clear area of weakness because of the constraints it places on improvements and enhancements. However, it may not be possible to enhance the architecture in the cur- rent context. The assessment of Dimension E focuses on the architecture of the thesaurus application and not the larger TRID system. The application supporting the TRT is designed to function as a search component rather than as a thesaurus management tool. In this context, a key requirement for any TMS is International Organization for Stan- dardization (ISO) compliance, which provides term-level records with explicitly labeled standard relationships. All commercial products evaluated as part of this project are ISO compliant with respect to the relationships that are supported; only the current TMS for TRB’s TRT is not fully ISO compliant. ISO compliance is an overarching requirement for enhancing the TRT since it sets the stage for not only rectifying some of the current gaps in the TRT’s capabilities but also is a requirement for any enhancements and advanced use cases, including Use Case 2 and beyond. ISO compliance brings with it a number of func- tional requirements regarding the standard relationships that are met by most products. It should be noted that the current TRT system can perform some of these functions even though it is not fully ISO compliant. Beyond the compliance requirements, the differentiators among the commercial TMS products are non-functional requirements such as cost (including recurring costs), staffing, training, and licensing. There are relatively inexpensive single-user desktop products that are viable alternatives, particularly for Use Case 2 where there is limited integration with other systems or users. It would be feasible to start small and grow into higher-end products when needed. This decision requires an assessment of the degree to which the TMS will be integrated with external governance processes, such as reviews by the TRT Subcommittee or SMEs. The more distributed the involvement, the more likely the TRT is to need a network/ web-based TMS or at least some way to publish updates or extracts of the TRT to the web for review. High-end products have many features that can take a significant amount of time to learn and implement. However, these products can also be used in very low-level approaches to perform the majority of the tasks that are needed, with the option for future growth by exploiting the more advanced features. Cloud-based TMS as a service option is becoming available. While these options eliminate some hosting concerns, they must be reviewed carefully for budget impacts, for their ability to support future growth and development, and licensing constraints. Many of the decisions regarding the choice of a TMS product for the TRT will be subjec- tive. Therefore, the research team encourages those who will be using the products under consideration to participate in demonstrations, take advantage of trial versions, and partici- pate in webinars hosted by vendors. Finally, the decisions and actions moving forward on the TRT are dependent on the strategic futures that are addressed in TRB’s Strategic Plan. Key to enhancing the TRT and broadening its use is the importance of designing an innovative architecture that does not

4 The Transportation research Thesaurus: Capabilities and Enhancements adversely impact the TRT’s use in TRID, but also supports the full functionality of a 21st century thesaurus management application. Conclusions As a result of the detailed criterion descriptions and assessments and the comparison to current and future use case scenarios, the research team offers the four general conclusions: • Conclusion 1. The TRT’s future value as an information management tool with applica- tion beyond indexing of TRID depends fundamentally on achieving Use Case 1. Unless this transformation is accomplished, there is no future scenario for the TRT beyond its current state. It may not be able to compete with other knowledge organization systems that may become available on the open source or commercial markets. Transformation to an ISO-compliant thesaurus and thesaurus management application is achievable as part of a potential Phase 2 of this research project (NCHRP Project 20-109). • Conclusion 2. As a result of assessing TMSs against the requirements for the TRT identi- fied by the research team and a comparison of additional improvements detailed in the use cases, the research team offers these observations regarding the future of the TMS to support the TRT: – Final decisions about the appropriate TMS are closely linked to strategic decisions regarding the future of the TRT, as represented by the use cases. – If Use Case 1, the ISO-compliant TRT, is the desired approach, the next step is to review the optional requirements identified during the TMS market assessment to determine which requirements the TRT Subcommittee and the TRT staff consider to be mandatory. – The initial focus for TMS procurement can be made from the products on the working list. The majority of these products satisfy the requirements for Use Case 1. – Non-functional factors such as initial and recurring costs, technical platform, staffing, licensing, usability, and training will be major factors in the final decision process. – If the decision is to move more in the strategic direction represented by Use Cases 2 through 4, it will be important to identify additional requirements to support the more advanced functionality. Each forward-looking use case brings additional requirements or modifications to current requirements. • Conclusion 3. If an investment in Use Case 0 (the Status Quo) is the only possible option, the research team suggests that TRB and the transportation community limit the invest- ment to tasks that will contribute to interoperability and correction of non-standard practices. • Conclusion 4. Engage the transportation community, in particular, state departments of transportation, research institutes, university technology centers, and transportation libraries in drafting a long-term strategy based on a consensus across the field. This could be included as a Phase 2 task for this research project (NCHRP Project 20-109).