# Digital Transformation of the Elymological Dictionary of Geographical Names
## 3 Model Design  
In the software engineering domain, an information model design is a process in which a conceptual description of modeled objects, relationships, restrictions, rules, etc. is created at the level of abstraction that ensures implementation neutrality. Elements of the information model may be declared in a formal way, e.g., by using class diagrams of Unified Modeling Language (UML), Entity-Relationship (ER) models, or Resource Description Framework (RDF) graph models. The use of natural language is also acceptable. The conceptual description can be implemented in different ways; thus, different data models can be created based on the same information model. However, sometimes, it is difficult to draw a clear line between the information model and the data model [15]. This happens in cases of complex problems when the transition from the idea to the implementation goes through many phases. The design of the information model for a dictionary is a complex task, and depends on the dictionary's scope, structure, and offered features. For that reason, linguistic and encyclopedic dictionaries cannot be shaped in the same way. Moreover, the models might vary when it comes to ensuring proper presentation or to facilitating data processing (some issues related to the typography and information structures of different views were discussed in [16]). Usually, controlled vocabularies in the form of taxonomies, glossaries, thesauri, or subject headings are modeled by utilizing inheritance and associations [2]. Their information models have no expressivity to declare other linguistic properties. This can be spotted in the most commonly used data models derived from the ISO 25964-1 standard [17] or the SKOS W3C Recommendation [18]. The information models of lexical databases, like WordNet [19] or Slowosiec [20], are different. This allows grouping of words into synsets, hypernyms, hyponyms, etc., and provides, among other things, attributes for preserving short definitions and usage examples. Some parts of the collected data can be automatically inferred from the language corpora, and some need human attention. In general, this model incorporates paradigmatic relationships among lexemes (so-called lexical relations), and its implementation may follow custom approaches or standardized ones. Currently, proposals of models oriented at machine-readability and data linking exist. In general, ontologies (understood in the IT sense) give greater possibilities in this respect. Usually, they are designed with the use of RDF, RDF Schema (RDFS), and/or Web Ontology Language (OWL) constructs, are serialized in several forms (RDF/XML, OWL/XML, Turtle, N3), and are managed by a number of software tools (editors, repositories, inference engines). For example, WordNet 3.1 (accessible at [[http://wordnet-rdf.princeton.edu/](http://wordnet-rdf.princeton.edu/)]([http://wordnet-rdf.princeton.edu/](http://wordnet-rdf.princeton.edu/))) has an RDF export implemented based on, amongst others, _Lemon--The Lexicon Model for Ontologies_[21]. The information model of SENS has been designed to reflect the full content of the printed dictionary, with some extensions. The aim was to create a foundation for the implementation of basic e-dictionary functions, such as: browsing (using indexes), searching (using a full-text search engine), and delivering dereferenceable identifiers (for published materials). The work started with an analysis of the editorial rules, which were interpreted as a description of the information model expressed in a natural language. However, because of the many exceptions detected inside the printed dictionary entries, some parts of the proposed model became very specific. Further modifications would be needed before applying this model to the more general case of an e-dictionary. To get used to the dictionary, it is good to keep in mind that labels of entries of both mentioned types are not bound to any real objects. They are just headwords representing sets of homographs. In fact, they hold an abstract geographical name.