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Quo Vadis indexing? Skills in building taxonomies and controlled vocabularies for a transformed South Africa

Gavin R Davis PhD

DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION

SCIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE

BELLVILLE

E- mail: [email protected]

Taxonomies and controlled vocabularies Introduction Concept clarification

Controlled vocabulary Metadata Thesaurus Ontology Taxonomy

Types of taxonomies Flat taxonomies Hierarchical taxonomies Faceted taxonomies Network taxonomies

Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

Are things still as we know them?

Which one is a mouse?

OR AN

Apple?

CONCEPT CLARIFICATION

Controlled vocabulary - refers to a list of terms or headings, each one having an assigned meaning (Foskett, 1996; Cumming, 2005)

Broughton (2006: 210) regards controlled vocabulary (also referred to as controlled indexing language) as “ a system used for classifying or indexing documents which uses a more limited set of terms than are found in natural language ( emphasis in the original).

CONCEPT CLARIFICATION CONTD.

Metadata - Broughton (2006: 216) refers to metadata as data about data i.e. “…information attached to a document or resource that describes various features of the document, such as its creator, title, date of origin, subject content…”

Cervone and Fichter (2004:180): metadata ascribe specific meaning to data elements

Critical component in a KM environment


Thesaurus - Cumming (2005): “…structured sets of the terms used to index information.”

Foskett (1996: 89): “…consists of a list of terms denoting single concepts, showing the semantic relationships between them.”

Thesauri also have pre-coordinated headings


Ontology - Can be misleading as its origin comes from Philosophy.

Cumming (2005): More specific in defining a concept or item and its relationships.

Aitchison and Clark (2004: 16): “is another term used quite loosely in different circles, but in the artificial intelligence (AI) community, it is often defined as a ‘formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization’.”


Taxonomy - Koenig & Srikantaiah (2004: 6): two dictionary meanings (Webster) Study of the general principles of classification

(Library and Information Science) Orderly classification of animals & plants

Cumming (2005): “a structured list, or ‘tree’, formed into a hierarchy with broader terms at the top.”

Each taxon (item) should be mutually exclusive and unambiguous.

E.G’S OF TAXONOMIES

Benjamin Bloom’s (1958) taxonomy - provide some conceptual base regarding knowledge counselling.

Therefore speaks of hierarchical taxonomy of cognitive functions which is “a structured framework for identifying information and knowledge needs of individuals” (Debons, et al., 2001: 461).

Is taxonomy always hierarchical?

E.G’S OF TAXONOMIESCONTD.

(Powell, 2004:225): Chemistry elements as found on the periodic table

developed by the Russian chemist, Mendeleyev in 1869

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher tried to classify organisms on the basis of either having red blood or not.

Genus / species relationships of the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus in the 1750’s

TYPES OF TAXONOMIES

Bedford (2004:209 - 210): Accuses KM literature of advising KM architects to only produce hierarchical categories for the production of knowledge.

Flat, faceted and network taxonomies are equally important in supporting KM processes.

FLAT TAXONOMIES

Categories in flat taxonomies are regarded as co – equal, basically referring to no inherent relationships among them (Bedford, 2004: 212)

Toys Books Video Games Software

HIERARCHICAL TAXONOMIES

These taxonomies group content into two or more levels.

PrimaryEducation

SecondaryEducation

TertiaryEducation

Graduate Postgraduate

Education

POLYHIERARCHICAL TAXONOMIES

Cumming (2005): A taxon can be reached by different routes.

Fruit

Tree fruit Vine fruit

Grapes Tomatoes

Vegetables

SaladVegetables

RootVegetables

Carrots Potatoes

FACETED TAXONOMIES

Although these taxonomies resemble flat taxonomies, their structure and purpose differ.

Author

Electronic Book

File size Title

FormatCountryKeywords

Place ofPublication

NETWORK TAXONOMIES

These taxonomies organize content into both hierarchical and associative categories (Bedford, 2004: 217)

NaturalResources

NaturalResourceMarkets

PreciousNatural

Resources

VillageMarkets

VillagesVillage Banks

VillageWomen

Transport

Low – ImpactTransport

CONCLUSION

Significance of all of these for transformation?

Well – structured taxonomies Adhere to metadata standards Construct meaningful thesauri Have controlled vocabularies which are user

friendly

THANKS! ENKOSI! DANKIE!

Preserve for the future?