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Gavin R Davis PhD DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE

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: gdavis@uwc.ac.za. Taxonomies and controlled vocabularies.

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Gavin R Davis PhD DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE

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  1. 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:gdavis@uwc.ac.za

  2. 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

  3. INTRODUCTION • Are things still as we know them? • Which one is a mouse? • OR AN • Apple?

  4. 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).

  5. CONCEPT CLARIFICATIONCONTD. • 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

  6. CONCEPT CLARIFICATIONCONTD. • 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

  7. CONCEPT CLARIFICATIONCONTD. • 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’.”

  8. CONCEPT CLARIFICATIONCONTD. • 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.

  9. 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?

  10. 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

  11. 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.

  12. Toys Books Video Games Software FLAT TAXONOMIES • Categories in flat taxonomies are regarded as co – equal, basically referring to no inherent relationships among them (Bedford, 2004: 212)

  13. Education Primary Education Secondary Education Tertiary Education Graduate Postgraduate HIERARCHICAL TAXONOMIES • These taxonomies group content into two or more levels.

  14. Fruit Vegetables Root Vegetables Tree fruit Vine fruit Salad Vegetables Grapes Tomatoes Carrots Potatoes POLYHIERARCHICAL TAXONOMIES • Cumming (2005): A taxon can be reached by different routes.

  15. Author File size Title Electronic Book Country Keywords Format Place of Publication FACETED TAXONOMIES • Although these taxonomies resemble flat taxonomies, their structure and purpose differ.

  16. Natural Resources Transport Low – Impact Transport Precious Natural Resources Natural Resource Markets Village Markets Village Banks Villages Village Women NETWORK TAXONOMIES • These taxonomies organize content into both hierarchical and associative categories (Bedford, 2004: 217)

  17. 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

  18. THANKS! ENKOSI! DANKIE! • Preserve for the future?

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