ISKOD conference, Konstanz, 20-22 February 2008

Freely faceted classificationfor a Web-based

bibliographic archiveThe BioAcoustic Reference Database

Claudio Gnoli, Gabriele Merli, Gianni Pavan, Elisabetta Bernuzzi, Marco Priano (University of Pavia. Dep’t Mathematics & CIBRA)

• interdisciplinarity• requires some new KOS• based on phenomena• allowing to shift between perspectives• by analytico-synthetic techniques

• interdisciplinarity• requires some new KOS• based on phenomena• allowing to shift between

perspectives• by analytico-synthetic

techniques

The León Manifesto

The heresyDisciplines !

or phenomena...

sour

ces:

Haj

du B

arat

, Gno

li

Freely faceted classification

Developed within NATO-granted CRG research for a new general scheme

mainly byDouglas Foskett and Derek Austin

then partially evolved into the PRECIS verbal system

sour

ce: V

icke

ry

Existing freely facetedverbal indexing systems

• relational indexing [Farradane, 1950s]• Syntol [Gardin, 1960s]• PRECIS [Austin, 1970s]• POPSI [Bhattacharyya, 1980s]

Freely faceted classification

• Any concept has a constant notation, and• can be combined with any other• by expressing the kind of relationship.• Concepts are not bound to disciplinary

classes, but organized in classes of phenomena.

[Austin 1969, Prospects for a new general classification, J. librarianship, 1, n. 3, p. 149-169]

How phenomena can be ordered

...e atomsf moleculesl cellsm organismsn populationss communitiest institutionsv cultures...

increasingorganization

The ILC project

FFC: constant notation

mqvtn2a whales in Atlantic ocean

t8mqvtn institutions dealing with whales

wa4mqvtn food consisting of whales

wni60mqvtnvessels damaged by whales

xg8mqvtn painting of whales

FFC searchingIt suits computer applications, as each

concept can be retrieved separately by searching for the corresponding notation.

“whales” mqvtn

FFC browsing

mqvtn whalesmqvtn25e whales in estuariesu8mqvtn whale economyt8mqvtn institutions dealing with whalesxg8mqvtn paintings of whales

Results can be sorted systematically

FFC-like use of existing KOSs

Traditional classifications(DDC, UDC) can be used in this wayfor retrieval purposes, byassigning multiple classesto a document

Example: NEBIS opac [Pika]

FFC: free combinations

wni60mq vessels damaged by animals

mq60wni animals damaged by vessels

FFC: citation orderFacets of the same relevance are cited in a standard citation order (like in classic FC)

but focus facets can be promoted to the leading positions (like in Nuovo Soggettario)

wa4mq29q food consisting of animals in Japan

wa29q4mq Japanese food, consisting of animals

FFC problemsMore freedom requires more skills...

Users want simple notation (a virtue of DDC and BC2)

Austin concluded that FFC was good for IR, while mark-and-park systems were good for shelving two separate systems?!

Possible solutions• Indexers can be helped by

semi-automatical classification, and

• assisted by visual interfaces

Possible solutions• Notation can be shortened

by extra-defined foci

nyc oceanic environment25 [ny] in environment25c in oceanic environment

Possible solutions• only using letters, digits, and

brackets

abcd9e(5fg)8h

main class facets subfacets

A property of FFCitems with more facets are more

retrievable (by one facet or another) paradoxically, specialized documents

tend to be retrieved more often a balanced cataloguing policy is

needed

Application

Research needsThe database is fed with papers

actually used by the CIBRA staff in bioacoustic research, in both field recording and signal processing

Indexing interfaceThe indexercan edit theclassmark and dynamically see the

caption she is

producing

Suggested classesShe can be helped by automatic suggestions

generated by matching title with DB thesaurus

article title

edited notation

suggested classes

automatic caption

Suggested classesFor each title word, classes are suggested which

match caption, or synonyms, or description, or discipline

To improve precision• stopwords ignored: words < 4 letters,

“with”, ...

To improve recall• -s truncated

Verbal captions

They are synthesized from notation by a PHP script

Indexing interfaceInterface usability is still to be

improved

e.g. click-and-select, drag-and-drop, automatic default citation order:

gxxx kyy bzzz kyy gxx bzz

Classification by methodsThe León Manifesto advocates for

classificationby phenomena, theories, and methods:

birds, according to Darwinism, studied by observation

mqvo04d03b

Classification by methodsIn bioacoustics, methods are

relevant more often than theories

while in human sciences, the opposite seems to be true

[Szostak & Gnoli 2008, proc ISKO11 Montréal]

Classification by methods

Complexity issues“Guidelines on the applications of the

environment protection and biodiversity conservation act to interactions between offshore operations and larger cetaceans”

tn8ve(4qvtn(902o68v(3)25c))4d

Much facet nesting becomes problematiceven for the PHP script...

Taming complexitytn8V4d ve4V mqvtn902o68v(3)25c

Deictic V refers to the whole subsequent phase,thus avoiding most brackets

Possible solutionsThe system can be used

at various degrees of complexity,from purely free to fully faceted, according to the needs.

Websites: free classificationSpecialized literature: freely faceted

cl.

User searchOne or more facets can be

selected...

(also in combination with author/title/date)

Results display

The zero match problem[Tudhope & Binding 2008, Faceted thesauri, Axiomathes,

18, special issue on facet analysis, in prep.]

birds x threat x Europe = 0

Possible solution: enable “fuzzy” search by• ignoring one facet at a time

(in which order?...)• go one step up in hierarchy

Search refinementUsers should be allowed to refine search

by navigating through facets and hierarchyaccording to the number of results(average futility point 30)

This has been partially done already in a related archive...

Search refinement

Future developments• Complete fully faceted classmarks for all articles

• Derive consistent indexing policies from practice

• Fix automatic caption generation for complex cases

• Improve the facet selection menu

• Allow subject search by typing words

• Make the indexing interface evolving into a real assistant tool

Conclusion

Freely faceted classificationby phenomena, theories, and methodsis feasible

[Szostak 2007, Proc ISKOE León]

ILC people: Claudio Gnoli, Mela Bosch, Enzo Cesanelli, Viviana Doldi, Hong Mei, Gabriele Merli, Marcella Patania, Roberto Poli, Rick Szostak, Lorena Zuccolo

CIBRA people: Gianni Pavan, Elisabetta Bernuzzi, Claudio Fossati, Amanda May Koltz, Michele Manghi, Marco Priano

Published reports:Gnoli & Poli 2004, Levels of reality and levels of representation, Knowl org 31, 3,

151-160Gnoli & Merli 2005, Notazione e interfaccia di ricerca per una classificazione a

livelli, AIDA informazioni, 23, 1-2, 57-72Hong 2005, A phenomenon approach to faceted classification, 53th conf Japan Soc

LISGnoli 2006, The meaning of facets in nondisciplinary classifications, proc 9th ISKO

conf, Vienna, 11-18Gnoli & Hong 2006, Freely faceted classification for Web-based information

retrieval, New rev hypermedia & multimedia, 12, 1, 63-81Gnoli, Bosch & Mazzocchi 2007, A new relationship for multidisciplinary knowledge

organization systems: dependence, proc 8th ISKO Spain conf, León, 399-409Gnoli 2007, “Classic” vs. “freely” faceted classification, ISKO UK meeting

Ranganathan revisited, LondonGnoli, Pavan, Bernuzzi, Merli & Priano 2007, Freely faceted classification for the

BioAcoustic Reference Database, poster 21th IBAC conf, PaviaSzostak & Gnoli 2008, Classifying by phenomena, theories, and methods, proc

10th ISKO conf, MontréalWebsite: www.iskoi.org/ilc

...vielen Dank!

ISKOD conference, Konstanz, 20-22 February 2008