Concept Decomposition

Last updated on 2025-11-11 | Edit this page

Overview

Questions

  • What are the components that make up a concept?
  • How do I tell when two terms are the same, related, or overlapping?
  • What patterns or relationships exist among my documented terms?
  • How can I show these relationships clearly?

Objectives

  • Decompose complex concepts into simpler, more explicit parts.
  • Identify relationships (e.g., broader, narrower, related) among terms.
  • Use visual mapping to show how concepts connect.
  • Prepare a set of refined concepts that can be formalized in a schema.

Introduction

Now that your terms are well-defined and documented, the next step is to look beneath the surface — to unpack how those terms relate to one another.

This process, called concept decomposition, helps you:

  • See what each concept really means.
  • Identify overlaps or hidden distinctions between terms.
  • Prepare for formal modeling (where meaning becomes machine-readable).

For example:
The term “juvenile salmon” might seem simple — until you realize it includes age, size, and life stage. By decomposing it into parts (“life stage: juvenile”, “species: salmon”, “habitat: freshwater”), you make the meaning explicit and ready for alignment with other datasets or vocabularies.

Callout

🧩 Core Ideas

  • Concept decomposition means breaking a term down into its essential pieces of meaning.

  • It helps you move from words → structure.

  • Relationships matter: knowing how one term connects to another is as important as defining it.

  • Visualizing your terms helps spot patterns and inconsistencies.

Example

Term Broader Concept Narrower Concept Related Concept
Juvenile salmon Salmon Parr Smolt
Smolt Juvenile salmon — Ocean migrant
Spawning habitat Habitat Redd site —

From this, we can see that Smolt is a narrower stage within Juvenile salmon, and that Spawning habitat relates to but is distinct from Redd site — these are building blocks for the next module, where we’ll start expressing these ideas formally.

Discussion

Challenge 1: Build a Mapping Table (40 min)

  1. Pick 3–5 documented terms from their Module 2 work.

  2. Break each term down into its essential pieces of meaning.

  3. Identify any broader/narrower/related concepts.

  4. Sketch a mini concept map (e.g., on whiteboard, MS Paint, or sticky notes).

Key Points
  • Relationships reveal meaning.
  • Decomposing terms uncovers hidden assumptions.
  • Mapping across datasets helps identify where vocabularies can be aligned.
  • Concept decomposition prepares you for formalization in SKOS and ontology modeling (coming next!).