Vocabulary Versioning. SSH Vocabulary Commons Discussion Paper

Versioning is an important aspect for the interoperability of Controlled Vocabularies (CVs) but there is currently a lack of detailed recommendations for versioning practice. This discussion paper is intended to stimulate debate and feedback on a practical approach to the versioning of Controlled Vocabularies. We propose an approach that enables two primary use cases: (1) referencing a SKOS concept as an object at a point in time - a "synchronic" approach which requires an explicitly versioned URI, and (2) referencing a SKOS concept as the most current version (albeit accompanied by provenance information represented in various SKOS predicates such as skos:changeNote) -  a "diachronic" approach that does not require an explicitly versioned URI.

This discussion paper is released to the community with a view to seeking feedback and consensus. We welcome comments at https://docs.google.com/document/d/13aVgHuLBL_IyFi858D8Z_3ncI3mZxDvx/edit.