Lessons learned from co-operative terminology work in the medical domain

High-quality terminologies are crucial for communication, documentation, and information retrieval. The creation, adoption, and maintenance of such terminologies is a complex task that requires human co-operation. We have developed a terminology server that supports remote, asynchronous co-operation and allows data inconsistencies that can later be resolved through human discussion. We have employed the terminology server in two projects and report on the lessons learned, which have led us to extend our approach.