Overview

SCM 4.0

Orbital 2.1

TOTEM 3.0

TagMaster 2.0

LMS 2.5

TOTEM 3.0
Context Management for Targeted Information Delivery

Silverchair's TOTEM is a context management server based on an actively managed biomedical taxonomy tuned specifically for use by web-based information systems. It currently consists of 38,000 root concepts covering all major medical and surgical specialties, supported by 109,000 equivalents (synonyms, abbreviations, jargon, shorthand, codes, and multiple languages). The roots of TOTEM are in the taxonomy of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS—developed and maintained by the National Library of Medicine), but because it is a subset of the most commonly encountered medical terms, it is faster, easier, and more useful to query than the complete UMLS metathesaurus.

TOTEM was begun in 2000. Since its launch, it has been enriched by Silverchair's semantic indexers, who have added root terms and synonyms in the process of tagging thousands of pages of "real world" medical information published in the world's most respected medical resources. We have a unique view into new terminology being used by clinical practitioners both formally and as jargon or "common parlance" on hospital wards and in outpatient clinics.

Silverchair continuously enhances TOTEM's database of equivalents by analyzing search query logs and user behavior. We make sure that queries passed through TOTEM deliver 100% relevant results.

TOTEM provides context management services through web-based XML APIs. The following services are currently supported:

	Search Query TOTEM in real-time with a search string to retrieve matching concepts. This service uses TOTEM's concept names and synonyms to match up search queries to a particular concept (exact match) or return a list of related concepts (related matches) that share the qualities of the search query. Also use TOTEM for medical spell correction and search auto-completion.
	Hierarchy retrieval Query TOTEM in real-time with a search string or pass a TOTEM ID to return the parents, siblings, or children of a concept. This service is typically used in hierarchical navigation systems that allow users to expand or narrow their information retrieval focus.
	Concept retrieval for tagging/authoring systems TOTEM can be used to ensure that tagging of content conforms to a controlled vocabulary—and it can be customized to support multiple specialized vocabularies. Similar to concept retrieval by search, taggers query the system to find the best tag for the content they are working with. They then apply that tag to their content using an authoring system.

TOTEM Context Management Services

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