Organizing Information, Lecture 4

1
Organizing Information, Lecture 4

• Human indexing techniques, faceted classification

2
Approaches to representation of subject contents

• Top down start with broad categories and
  subdivide them into mutually exclusive
  subcategories
• Bottom up identify significant entities or
  concepts and group them into distinctive
  categories

3
Major approached to classification schemes
(Enumerative v.s. Synthetic)

• Enumerative
• An enumerative classification attempts to assign
• designations for (to enumerate) all the single
  and
• composite subject concepts required in the
• system.
• e.g. traditional library classification schemes
• Synthetic
• Faceted classification

4
Universal Classification Schemes

• Library of Congress Classification browsable
  structure
• Dewey Decimal Classification browsable structure

5

• The enumerated list under Religion in DDC
• 200 Religion 210 Natural theology 220 Bible
  230 Christian theology 240 Christian moral
  devotional theology 250 Christian orders local
  church 260 Christian social theology 270
  Christian church history 280 Christian
  denominations sects 290 Other comparative
  religions
• 221 Old Testament 222 Historical books of Old
  Testament 223 Poetic books of Old Testament
  224 Prophetic books of Old Testament 225 New
  Testament 226 Gospels Acts 227 Epistles
  228 Revelation (Apocalypse) 229 Apocrypha
  pseudepigrapha

6
The enumerated list under Medicine and health in
DDC

• 610 Medicine and health
• 611 Human anatomy, cytology, histology
• 612 Human Physiology
• 613 Personal health and safety
• 614 Forensic medicine incidence of injuries,
  wounds
• 615 Pharmacology and therapeutics
• 616 Diseases (.001-.009 standard subdivisions
  .02-.09 general topics of diseases)
• 617 Miscellaneous branches of medicine, Surgery
• 618 Other branches of medicine Gynecology and
  obstetrics
• 616.1 Diseases of cardiovascular system
• 616.2 Diseases of respiratory system
• 616.3 Diseases of digestive system
• .
• 616.9 other diseases
• 616.11 Diseases of
  endocardium and pericardium
• 616.12 Diseases of heart
• 612.122 Angina pectoris
• 612.123 Coronary diseases

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Hierarchical relationship

• An enumerative classification relies heavies on
  the hierarchical relationships.
• Types of hierarchical relationships
• Is a e.g. Diseases of heart is a disease
• Part of e.g. Old Testament is part of the Bible

8
Compound subjects

• The inadequacy of forming classes/concept using
  only
• on hierarchical relationships
• How to assign notation for
• Modern versions of Bible in
  French
• (form facet) (main subject) (language
  facet)
• Or
• Diagnosis of Heart Diseases
  in Infant
• (diagnostic techniques) (physical diseases)
  (persons)
• The enumerative classification is ill-equipped to
  deal with compound subject, that is, when the
  subject mater is complex and multi-faceted.

9
The rigidity of enumerative approach

• The physical limitations Materials on library
• shelves are arranged in a single linear order
• For example, a class represented by the string
  Bone-Cancer-Therapy-
• Radiography could legitimately go into any of the
  24 different places.
• But for shelving purpose, only one will be
  chosen.
• One-dimensional arrangement Most items can
• be requested by author, title, subject, or
  different
• facets (aspects of a subjects) , but they can be
  organized
• by only one of these at a time in physical space.
  
• Compare two sites Bollywood cinemas, and Recipes
  
• Online resource facetmap

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Subdivisions

• The lowest level of structure in a hierarchical
  classification, at which specific aspects of a
  concept can be represented.
• The remedy designed to afford more flexibility
• in representing complex subjects.

11
Standard Subdivisions in DDC

• Standard subdivisions usually represent
• 1. Recurring non-primary characteristics of a
  subject
• e.g. Statistical methods in biophysics 574.1
  072 574.1072
• Philosophy of the Arts 700 01 701
• 2. Non-topical characteristics that pertain to
  the document itself.
• e.g. Dictionary of the Koran 297.122 03
  297.12203
• Architectural record 720 05
  720.5

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Other types of subdivisions in DDC

• - Geographic Areas, Historical Periods, Persons
• - Individual Literatures (Poetry, Drama)
• - Individual languages
• - Racial, Ethnic, National Groups
• - Languages
• - Groups of Persons
• e.g.
• Modern versions of Bible in French
• (form facet) (main subject) (language facet)
• 220 The Bible
• 220.5 Modern Versions
• 220.54 In the Romance language
• 220.541 In modern French

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A notation is a shorthand code for the class,
division and subdivisions

• 641.5972 Mexican Cooking (See handout page
  1-2)
• 600Applied Sciences
• 640Home Economics and Family Living
• 641Food and Drink
• 641.5Cooking
• 641.5972Cooking specific to Mexico (geographic
  facet)
• 972 means Mexico in other areas also. E.g.,
  972 is the number for Mexico,
• 796.334077 Soccer (Association football)
  coaching (handout page 3-4)
• 700The arts
• 790Recreational and performing arts
• 796Athletic and outdoor sports and games
• 796.3Ball games
• 796.33Inflated ball driven by foot
• 796.334Soccer (Association football)
• 796.334077 soccer coaching (instruction/education
  facet)

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Synthetic approach faceted classification

• A faceted classification differs from a
  traditional one in that it does not assign fixed
  slots to subjects in sequence, but uses clearly
  defined, mutually exclusive, and collectively
  exhaustive aspects, properties, or
  characteristics are called faceted of a class or
  subject.

15
Analytico-synthetic indexing

• 1. To take literature to pieces,- that is, to
  analyze the subject domain into fundamental
  categories (facets).
• 2. To rearrange or synthesize these faceted into
  subject descriptions.

16
Vickerys soil classification

• Soil, according to constitution (e.g. peat soil)
• Soil, according to origin (granitic soil)
• Soil, according to physiography (desert soil)
• Soil, according to texture (sandy clay)
• Soil, according to climate (arctic soil)
• Physical part of soil (gravel)
• Chemical constituent of soil (nitrogen)
• Structure of soil (profile)
• Layer of soil (horizon)
• Organism in soil (bacteria)
• Parent material of soil (muck)
• Process in soil (mineralization)
• Property of soil (cohesion)
• Measure of property (sticky point)
• Operation on soil (amendment)
• Equipment for operations (Plough)
• Substances used in amendment (Lime)
• Operations on these substances (placement)

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A faceted classification scheme for detergents

• Agent dishwasher, person
• Form gel, gelpac, liquid, powder, tablet
• Brand name Cascade, Electrasol, Ivory, No Name,
  Palmolive,
• Presidents Choice, Sunlight
• Scent green apple, green tea, lavender, lemon,
  mandarin, ocean
• breeze, orange blossom, orchard fresh, passion
  flower, ruby red
• grapefruit, ylang ylang.
• Effect on Agent aroma therapy (subdivisions
  invigorating, relaxing)
• Special Property antibacterial
• (Denton 2004)

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Faceted searching using MeSH

• Go to MeSH and find
• Terms, in combination, represent
• Diagnosis of Heart Diseases in
  Infant
• (diagnostic techniques) (physical diseases)
  (persons)
• In DDC (See handout Page 5-7)
• 616.12 Diseases of Heart (diseases facet)
• 616.12075 Diagnosis of Diseases of Heart
  (diagnostic facet)
• 616.120750832 (subdivided by infant)

19
Advantages of partitioning of a vocabulary into
Facets

• Faceted classification affords access from
  multiple perspectives
• faceted as semantically-cohesive categories
  serves syntactical function
• Easy to update and maintain

20
Problems with facets

• Facets are difficult to define even in
  specialized domains
• Facets are relatively more abstract therefore
  more ambiguous than topics.
• e.g. Art Architecture Thesaurus

21

• Class exercise, reorganize the subject matters
  covered in
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service
• Corrections AIDS/HIV in correction facilities,
  alternatives to incarceration, boot camps,
  community based corrections, corrections
  technology, corrections-general, death row
  inmates, ex-offender programs, families of
  prisoners.
• Courts - Capital punishment, case
  processing, community justice, court technology,
  court-general, defense services, dispute
  settlement, drug, courts, et al.
• Drugs and crimes Drug abuse, drug abuse and
  crime, drug abuse prevention and education, drug
  case processing, drug interdiction, drug law
  enforcement, drug law offenses, drug offense
  sanctions and penalties, drug policy, drug tests,
  et al.
• International international cooperation,
  international money laundering, international
  technical assistance in criminal justice,
  international trafficking, transnational crime,
  transnational/international organized crime.
• Juvenile Justice Adolescent pregnancy,
  alternatives to incarceration juveniles,
  conflict resolution, crime in schools,
  emotionally disturbed delinquents, family
  strengthening, female juvenile delinquents,
  gangs, juvenile corrections.
• Law enforcement Community policing,
  computer-related crime, crime mapping, criminal
  investigation, evidence, police equipment, police
  manpower deployment
• Victims of crime child abuse and neglect, child
  sexual abuse, criminal victimization reports,
  crisis intervention, domestic violence, elderly
  victims, fraud, grief and grieving, homicide
  survivors, juvenile victims, missing children.

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Human Indexing Process

• 1. Identify users information need
• 2. Analyze work(s)
• 3. Identify important concepts
• 4. Represent concepts in index terms
  understandable to users
• 5. Organize index terms in ways that help users
  find information
• 6. Assess and revise.

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Indexing Exercises

• Use United Nation Bibliographic Information
  System Thesaurus to index the document in the
  handout
• Find for each document at least three major
  topics and include other more marginal topics you
  consider useful for representing it.

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Design Projects

• Describe, in one or two brief paragraphs, your
  proposed design project. The project should meet
  the following criteria 1. The documentary
  units must exist and you must have access either
  to ten units themselves or to adequate
  representations of ten documentary units. 2 .
  The collection itself may be real (e.g., it
  already exists in some institution), imaginary
  (it would be housed in some institution that you
  'create'), or virtual (it is a collection of
  representations of documentary units that either
  are storedin different physical locations or
  only exist in electronic format).

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• Courts (institution) subdivided - by
  facilities (Community justice, )
• 
  - by procedures (dispute
  settlement, defense services, case-
• 
  processing )
• Corrections/punishments
• (management)
  - by facilities and methods (e.g. death
  penalty, community-
• 
  based corrections, boot camps,
  )
• - by?
• Crime (actions)
  - by use of violence (e.g. homicide)
  /non-violence
• 
  - by location (e.g. school,
  domestic, inner city)
• 
  - by related activities (e.g. sex, drug traffic,
  gun, computer)
• 
  - by ?
• Geographic areas
  (e.g. international, federal, state, township,)
• Health
  (e.g. disability, drug/substance abuse,
  mental health,
• 
  smoking, STD, counseling)
• Law enforcement (counter action) (e.g.
  policing, police equipment, investigation,
  evidence,