Towards Formalizing Concept Drift and Its Variants: A Case Study Using Past COSIT Proceedings

Author(s)
Meilin Shi, Krzysztof Janowicz, Zilong Liu, Kitty Currier
Abstract

In the classic Philosophical Investigations, Ludwig Wittgenstein suggests that the meaning of words is rooted in their use in ordinary language, challenging the idea of fixed rules determining the meaning of words. Likewise, we believe that the meaning of keywords and concepts in academic papers is shaped by their usage within the articles and evolves as research progresses. For example, the terms natural hazards and natural disasters were once used interchangeably, but this is rarely the case today. When searching for archived documents, such as those related to disaster relief, choosing the appropriate keyword is crucial and requires a deeper understanding of the historical context. To improve interoperability and promote reusability from a Research Data Management (RDM) perspective, we examine the dynamic nature of concepts, providing formal definitions of concept drift and its variants. By employing a case study of past COSIT (Conference on Spatial Information Theory) proceedings to support these definitions, we argue that a quantitative formalization can help systematically detect subsequent changes and enhance the overall interpretation of concepts.

Organisation(s)
Department of Geography and Regional Research
External organisation(s)
University of California, Santa Barbara
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2024.23
Publication date
09-2024
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
102030 Semantic technologies
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Software
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/8656c74b-b8fd-4e0b-9533-43270bbd12a0