LBSC 670

Information Organization

Today

• Representation wrap-up– Touching base on XSL

• Guest Speaker –Roy Tennant• Classification

– Overview & History– Related concepts– Examples

Representation wrap-upMetadata is a core element of digital information

Representations are essential elements of information use

Representations serve different purposes and as such need different structures (schemas) and forms (encodings)

Metadata services bring scale to Information organization practice

Classification

The determination and encoding of “aboutness” for a document

“Words have power,” “classification systems exist within a socio-political context”

Manual/automatic, Pre/Post coordinate, Hierarchical/faceted, formal/social

Classification is power“The idea of a category is central... Most

symbols (i.e., words & representations) do not designate particular things or individuals in the world... Most of our words & concepts designate categories. There is nothing more basic than categorization to our though, perception, action & speech. Every time we see something as a kind of thing, for example, a tree, we are categorizing.”

– George Lakoff, Women,Fire, and Dangerous Things: What categories reveal about the mind

“Any time we either produce or understand an utterance of any reasonable length, we are employing dozens if not hundreds of categories: categories of speech sounds, of words, of phrases and clauses, as well as conceptual categories.” (Lakoff, 6).

“Taxonomies are reflections of human thought; they express our most fundamental concepts about the objects of our universe” (Wright, 23).

Classification Definitions– “The arrangement of knowledge into specific

groups or systems” wur.nl

– “A classification is the separation or ordering of objects (or specimens) into classes. Classifications that are created non-empirically are called a priori classifications. Classifications that are created empirically by looking at the data are called a posteriori classifications” – ee.oulu.fi

– Lumping & splitting based on a root or principle – Weinberger

Classification

• Roots– Foundation of knowledge– Embedded in nature / human nature

• Related disciplines– Psychology, cognitive science– Education– Library/information science

• Knowledge Management

Grounding

• Memes (Richard Dawkins)• Transfer of concept between members of a

group (bees dancing)• Collective intelligence

• Knowledge of networks is greater than sum of individuals

• Stigmergy (Grasse)• Coding of information in environment

Cross-cultural similarities

• Wilson & Epigenetic rules• Changes in how we behave based on

environmental impact• Primary (perception) & secondary (grouping)

• Cecil Brown, Berlin & Folk classifications

• Hierarchies, Groupings of 5-6 nested categories• Concept of “real names” - Rose versus plant• Binary discrimination (differentiation)• Lateralization (grouping objects together)

Berlin’s levels of classificationName Description ExampleUnique Beginner Broad/abstract Computer

Life form First order, multiple members

Apple computer

Generic “Primary” category – usually with a unique name

Macbook

Specific Secondary name, uses a qualifier

Macbook Air

Varietal Final level of granularity 1.8Ghz, 64GBSSD Macbook Air

Affiliate Meta-category, horizontal relationship

Laptop

Adapted from Wright, 2007

History - Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

–Pure form–Physical/behavioral traits–Clear boundaries,

hierarchies, relationships–Commonly held until 19th

century

Aristotle’s Categories• 10 Categories

– Substance– Quality– Quantity– Relation– Where– When– Position– Having– Action– Passion

• 5 Predicables– Genus

• that part of the essence shared by distinct species

– Species• a group of things similar in

essence– Differentia

• that part of the essence peculiar to a given species

– Property• an attribute shared by all

members of a species but not part of its essence

– Accident • An attribute shared by

some but not all

Callimachus (305-240 BC)

• Epic, and other non dramatic poetry

• Drama• Law• Philosophy• History

• Oratory• Medicine• Mathematical

science• Natural Science• Miscellanea

Poet, critic, and scholar of the Library of Alexandria, created a bibliography (pinakes) of works in the library

Linnaeus (1707-1778)• Linnaean Taxonomy

– An example• Basis

– Structural similarities of organisms– Plants, Animals ,Minerals

• Contrasting models– Cladistics (evolution / Darwin)– Molecular phylogeny – tree– An overview of approaches

Linnaean taxonomy

Barcode of Life Initiative (BOLI)

• In the news as:• WASHINGTON (AP) - To help shoppers avoid mislabeled toxic

pufferfish and pilots steer clear of birds, federal agencies are starting to tap into an ambitious project that is gathering DNA ``barcodes'' for the Earth's 1.8 million known species.

• Interesting comments:• In more than 95% of cases, species recognized through past

taxonomic work have been found to possess distinct barcodes. A few very similar species share barcodes, reflecting cases where barcoding does not provide full taxonomic resolution.

• Links– http://www.barcodeoflife.org/– http://barcoding.si.edu/– http://www.fishbol.org/

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

• “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” – from Internet dictionary of philosophy

• Meaning is contextual (personal, social) and conveyed through language

• Game Theory– Players, rules, strategies,

outcomes, benefits

Eleanore Rosch (1938- )• Prototype Theory

– The idea of best ‘form’ without absolute restriction

– E.g. a robin is a prototype of a bird– Family resemblance model

– Categorization is about saving cognitive effort

– ‘on the fly’ relationship judgments– Contextualized meaning, information use– A basic category/prototype allows us to

make relationship judgments at an appropriate level

S.R. Ranganathan (1897-1972)

• Ranganathan– Like Linnaeus, didn’t want to be

a librarian – took the job for the pay.

– 5 Laws of Library science– Books are for use. – Every reader his or her book. – Every book its reader. – Save the time of the reader. – The library is a growing organism.

– Colon Classification • first faceted classification system

Colon classification system (1)

PMEST Examples– Personality Furniture(?)– Matter Wood(?)– Energy Design(?)– Space America(?)– Time 18th Century(?)

Colon Classification system (2)• Analytico-Synthetic

– Analysis: Discover basic concepts– Synthesis: Combine discrete parts into a

classification system• An example from

– UBC L,45;421:6;253:f.44‘N5– An outline from ISKO

L, 45; 421:Medicine, Lungs; Tuberculosis:

6; 253: f.44‘ N5 Treatment; X-ray: Research.India‘ 1950

•

Models of classification• Based on descriptive metadata

• Alphabetical, chronological, geographic, element (title, author, etc)

• Topical / Subject based• LCSH, ACM, etc

• Task/action• Ebay – buyers/sellers

• Audience / user centric• The Imaginon, Library Loft

• Metaphor • The desktop metaphor for example, Second Life

• Hybrid models

Work Time!

• Tonight we will explore the application of classification systems.

INLS 520 – Fall 2007Erik Mitchell

Types of systems• Enumerative systems

– Lists of objects grouped under headings• DDC, UDC, LCC

• Hierarchical systems– Entries based on a tree structure, inheritance,

child/descendant/ancestor– Top-down, bottom-up

• Taxonomies (tree structures, XML)• Faceted systems

– Multiple relationships• Ontologies (typed relationships) think RDF

• Miscellaneous systems– Folksonomies

• Del.icio.us, furl, flickr

Classification Scheme Components

• Schedule, the system…– the classification schema

• ACM: http://www.acm.org/class/1998/ccs98.html• Genes:

http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~genomes/mthermo/mthermo_files/classes_table.html

– tables, generally help you to synthesize build number• IISD: http://www.iisd.org/ic/classification.asp• Fruit fly:

http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/diptera/tephriti/Clastabl.htm• Notation – the symbols used to codify your classification

• Subject coverage / domain– general (e.g. DDC) or subject specific (e.g. ACM)– Bugnet: http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

Hunter’s classification process (1)

• Eight steps to creating a classification system (steps 1-4)

Analysis Look at relevant concepts, identify topics, refinements, attributes

Grouping Group concepts into larger categories, extract facets or primary topics

Order in array Define any required order (hierarchies)

Citation order Define hierarchy of concepts to create a citation

INLS 520 – Fall 2007Erik Mitchell

Hunter’s classification process (1)

Schedule order Using array and citation order decide how to lay out main classification

Notation Define separation between concepts, order of elements, syntax

Index Create views, Pre/Post coordinate, allows multiple use of system

Document Documentation

• Eight steps to creating a classification system (steps 5-8)

Enumerative Examples• Dewey Decimal (really a hybrid)

– BULB LINK (DDC)• Universal Decimal Classification

(also a hybrid)– http://www.udcc.org/outline/outline.htm

• Mathematical Subject Classification

– http://www.ams.org/mathweb/mi-mathbyclass.html

• Super-ordinate and sub-ordinate• Genus/species• Class/member

More flexible application in classification systems than in terminological tools (thesauri, ontologies, etc.)

• Yahoo! example: Directory > Science > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence > Fuzzy Logic

Hierarchical Systems

Hierarchical/Enumerative examples• LC Headings

– History• History of the Americas

– British America» Canada

• Scientific history– ......

• ACM– E. Data

• E.2 Data Storage Representations– Object Representations

• Definitions:– “One side of a many sided body” (OED)

• Basis– Analytico-synthetic

• System: Fundamental concepts are analyzed and grouped together into facets

• Concepts are combined or “synthesized” as necessary to form more complex subjects

Faceted Classification Systems

• Flamenco Project– http://flamenco.berkeley.edu/index.html

• AAT (Art and Architecture Thesaurus)

» “The conceptual framework of facets and hierarchies in the AAT is designed to allow a general classification scheme for art and architecture. The framework is not subject-specific; for example, there is no defined portion of the AAT that is specific only for Renaissance painting.” from AAT site

– Associated Concepts, Physical Attributes, Styles and Periods, Agents, Activities, Materials, Objects

Faceted Classification Examples

Miscellaneous Systems

• User assigned tags – not really ‘classification’.

• Is structured classification is really as good as we think? Is this as good / better?– Del.icio.us

– Flickr

Next Week• Guest speaker • Talk more about

Classification/Categorization• Look at other systems & uses

• Barbara H. Kwasnik. 1999. The role of classification in knowledge representation and discovery.

• Olson. 2001. Sameness and difference: A cultural foundation of classification.45, -

• Shirkey. 2006. Ontology is overrated: Categories, links, and tags