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Languages for aboutness Indexing languages:

– Terminological tools• Thesauri (CV – controlled vocabulary)• Subject headings lists (CV)• Authority files for named entities (people,

places, structures, organizations)

– Classification– Keyword lists– Natural language systems (broad

interpretation)

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Subject Analysis What something is about?

– What the content of an object is “about”? Different methods (Wilson, 1968)

– Counting (objective method)– Purposive method– Method appealing to unity– What stands out

Challenges– Non-text

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Aboutness: How to do it! Read the document [Intellectual

reading]– look for key features– many indexers mark up the items– rarely have time to read the whole document

Determine aboutness [Conceptual analysis]

Translate aboutness into the vocabulary or scheme you are using– In general: Subject headings: 1-3 headings– Descriptors, 5-8 descriptors – Classification: 1 notation (should it only be

one!?).

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Features of indexing languages:

Involve rules and require maintenance Can be generated via automatic, human,

or auto-human processes Different processes generally display

different strengths and weaknesses.

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Features of indexing languages:

With the exception of a few general domain tools, they are generally domain specific.– MeSH– NASA Thesaurus– Astronomy Thesaurus– ERIC thesaurushttp://www.darmstadt.gmd.de/~lutes/thesoecd.html

Concepts (or concept representations) are arranged in a discernable order

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Language schema designs Classified--grouping

– Hierarchies and facets

MeSH Browserhttp://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html

Art and Architecture (Getty AAT) http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/

Alphabetical -- horizontal – Verbal/Alphabetical (ordering/filing challenges)

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Controlled Vocabulary A list or a database of subject terms in

which each concept has a preferred terms or phrase that will be used to represent it in the retrieval tool; the terms not used have references (syndetic structure), and often scope notes.

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Thesaurus (structured thesaurus)

Lexical semantic relationships Composed of indexing

terms/descriptors Descriptors = representations of

concepts Concepts = Units of meaning

(Svenonius)

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Thesaurus

Preferred terms Non-preferred terms Semantic relations between terms How to apply terms (guidelines, rules) Scope notes Adding terms (How to produce terms

that are not listed explicitly in the thesaurus)

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Preferred Terms

Control form of the term• Spelling, grammatical form• Theatre / Theater• MLA / Modern language association

Choose preferred term between synonyms

• Brain cancer or Brain Neoplasms?

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Common thesaural identifiers

SN Scope Note – Instruction, e.g. don’t invert phrases

USE Use (another term in preference to this one)

UF Used For BT Broader Term NT Narrower Term RT Related Term

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Semantic Relationships

Hierarchy Equivalence Association

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Hierarchies of Meaning

‘Glass’

‘Beer Glass’

‘Wine Glass’

‘Red wine glass’

‘White wine glass’

From: Controlled Vocabularies/ Paul Miller Interoperability Focus UKOLN

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Hierarchy

Level of generality – both preferred terms

BT (broader term)– Robins BT Birds

NT (narrower term)– Birds NT Robins

– Inheritance, very specific rules

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Equivalence

When two or more terms represent the same concept

One is the preferred term (descriptor), where all the information is collected

The other is the non-preferred and helps the user to find the appropriate term

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Equivalence

Non-preferred term USE Preferred term– Nuclear Power USE Nuclear Energy– Periodicals USE Serials

Preferred term UF (used for) Non-preferred term– Nuclear Energy UF Nuclear Power– Serials UF Periodicals

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Association

One preferred term is related to another preferred term

Non-hierarchical “See also” function In any large thesaurus, a significant umber

of terms will mean similar things or cover related areas, without necessarily being synonyms or fitting into a defined hierarchy

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Association

Related Terms (RT) can be used to show these links within the thesaurus– Bed RT Bedding– Paint Brushes RT Painting– Vandalism RT Hostility– Programming RT Software

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Thesauri Guides National Information Standards Organization.

(1993). Guidelines for the construction, format, and management of monolingual thesauri. ANSI/NISO Z39.19-1993. Bethesda, MD: NISO Press.[SILS reference Z695.N36 1994 or http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/z39-19.pdf]

Aitchison, Jean & Gilchirist, Alan. Thesaurus Construction: A Practical Guide. 3rd ed. London: Aslib, 1997.

Willpower Information Management Consultants http://www.willpower.demon.co.uk/thesprin.htm

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Thesauri Directory

Indexing Resources on the WWW– http://www.slais.ubc.ca/resources/indexing/

database1.htm – -- explore ASIST Thesaurus

Controlled vocabularies– http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~middletm//cont_voc.html

Web Compendium– http://www.darmstadt.gmd.de/~lutes/thesauri.html

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Thesauri/KeywordsCreated according to standardsZ39.19 (Ansi)Single term concepts/postcoordination

“Wireless network” & “home computer”

“Terrorism” “Attacks” & “United States”

More popular in the online environmentLend to recallLend to multilingual environment

Subject Heading Lists

Rules and guidelines “Thesaurification” multi-word concepts/pre-

coordination

“Wireless home computer network”

$y Terrorism attacks $z United States

STRINGS

Lend to precision