MAPPING OF KNOWLEDGE IN

COLON CLASSIFICATION

INTRODUCTION

Knowledge has been defined as the sum total of recorded ideas, facts, myths, experiences and expressed emotions conserved by the society

In simple words, what is known to the society and is held in its collective memory is knowledge

Knowledge classification is a cognitive map of knowledge but classification is absolute or value free

MAPPING OF UNIVERSE OF KNOWLEDGE

The essential function of classification is to so organize Universe of subjects as to make the retrieval of any desired subject or any filiatory sequence of subjects pinpointed, exhaustive, and expeditious

The essence classification is equivalent to the mapping of a multidimensional space along one dimension

MAPPING OF UNIVERSE OF KNOWLEDGE

Such a classification of subjects essentially involves the arrangement of the components of Compound subjects in a linear sequence and representing each subject uniquely using a language of ordinal numbers.

The problem in the mapping, which classification is amounts to determine which immediate neighborhoods relation should be kept invariant; because when represented in one dimension, all but one of them cannot preserve that quality

PRINCIPLES OF MAPPING OF THE UNIVERSE OF KNOWLEDGE

D.W. Langridge, a well known English librarian, identifies four principles for mapping of the universe of knowledge. These, however, are not mutually exclusive.

Ideological principle Principle of social purpose Scientific order Principle arrangement by disciplines

COLON CLASSIFICATION

• Freely Faceted scheme of classification,i.e. an Analytico Synthetic Scheme of Classification (1st ed. 1933) by S R Ranganathan

• It is now in its 7th edition published in 1987, though the 6th edition (1960) continues to be popular

• It includes some postulates and principles for ordering classes in arrays and chains, and facets in the facet formula

• Contrary to expectation the order of main classes in the CC is not Vedic, though a weak influence of this system can be seen

DIVISION OF KNOWLEDGE IN CC

• Ranganathan identified three types of subjects in the universe of knowledge: Basic, Compound and Complex

• Basic Subjects are unitary subjects like Physics, Economics, Library Science

• Compound Subjects are basic subjects with subdivisions or additional facets. E.g.: velocity of light, Libraries in India

• Complex Subjects are mostly interdisciplinary in nature. E.g.: Mathematics for engineers, psychology for nurses

DIVISION OF KNOWLEDGE IN CC

• Ranganathan further divided Basic Subjects into: Main Basic Subjects and Non-main Basic Subjects

• On the basic of their modes of formation the following ten types of basic subjects have been identified

1.Main Basic Subjects

Traditional (Law, Physics)

Newly Emerging (Nano Technology, Robotics)

Fused (Geopolitics)

Distilled ( Research Methodology)

Subject Bundles( Apollo mission)

Agglomerates ( Social Sciences)

DIVISION OF KNOWLEDGE IN CC

• 2. Non-main Basic Subjects

Canonical classes (Algebra, Geometry)

System constituents ( Marxian Economy)

Environment constituents ( War Economy)

Special constituents (Gerontology, Cooperative Economics)

An overview of main classes in the CC as follows

A/B - Science/Mathematics

C/D - Physics/Engineering

E/F - Chemistry/Technology

G/H - Biology/Geology

I/J /K - Botany/Agriculture/Zoology

L - Medicine

M/N - Useful Arts/Fine Arts

O/P - Literature/Language

Q/R - Religion/Philosophy

S/T - Psychology/Education

U/V - Geography/History

W/X - Political Science/Economics

Y/Z - Sociology/Law

Preceded by Generalia and Form classes denoted by a/z and newly emerging classes 1/9

a - Bibliography 1- Universe of Knowledge

k - Encyclopedias 2- Library Science

m - Periodicals 3- Book Science

p - Conference Proceedings 4- Mass Communication

w - Biographies 5- Management Science

z - Generalia Classes

Main Class and their order

• Sciences (including technologies), in classes A to M, have been arranged in order of their increasing concreteness

• Humanities, which are spread over main classes N to S are arranged in the order of increasing richness of subject contents

• The order of Social Sciences, in main classes T to Z, is of increasing artificiality of their laws

• These can be represented by a triangle

POSTULATE OF FUNDAMENTAL CATEGORIES

• The aim and end of classification is to arrange ideas scattered in many dimensions, along a line- in a linear sequence

• The FIVE Fundamental Categories represented as Personality, Matter, Energy, Space and Time

• This set of (FC) is represented collectively by the abbreviation PMEST

• It is connected with the symbols: [P];[M]:[E].[S]’[T]

NOTATION

• The notation of CC is mixed

• CC- 7 uses Roman Small letters

• Indo Arabic numerals are also used (0-9)

• Roman Capital: from A to Z and Greek Letter “∆” (Delta) is also used

• Ordinary indicator digits like Comma (,), Hyphen(-), Equal to(=), Forward arrow(→), Plus(+) etc are used in CC

COMMON ISOLATES

• Isolate idea by the same isolate term in the Verbal Plane and represented by the same isolate number in the Notational Plane

• Ranganathan identifies two types of Common Isolates : Anteriorising Common Isolates and Posteriorising Common Isolates

• ACI are attached to the host class with a connecting digit

• By applying PCI to any class, we decrease that extension of the class

PHASE RELATION

• The Universe of Knowledge is ever dynamic, ever growing, infinite, multidimensional and continuum at the bottom

• With advancement of knowledge major subjects tend to juxtaposed

• The different kinds of Phase Relation are

i. General Phase Relation

ii. Bias Phase Relation

iii. Comparison Phase Relation

iv. Different Phase Relation

v. Influencing Phase Relation

AGRICULTURE

ASIA EUROPE AFRICA PROPOGATION DISEASE DEVELOPMENT FEED FOOD DYE

BY AREA

BY

PR

OB

LE

M

BY UTILITY

AGRICULTURE

MEDICINE ECONOMICS SOCIOLOGY EDUCATION GEOGRAPHY LAW CHEMISTRY ENGINEERING

FOR SPECIALIST IN

AS INFLUENCED BY

FACETED BY

AGRICULTURE

BY UTILITY BY PROBLEM

FOOD CROP DISEASE

ASIA EURPOE

BY

AR

EA

DISEASE DEVELOPMENT

BY PROBLEM

ASIA EURPOE

BY

AR

EA

CONCLUSION

• Information professionals must acknowledge that there is no ideal classification system

• Every scheme will have some inherent biases and difficulties

• Kashyap (2001) believes that “critical analysis of (Colon Classification) reveals that this code, with some modification, can be used as a code or guide for creating a comprehensive library databases covering all types of entries associated with a library system”

REFERENCE

• Langridge D W,Classification and Indexing in the Humanities,(Butterworth: London), 1976, p. 1-7.

• Ranganathan S R, Prolegomena to Library Classification , 3 rd edn (Asia: Bombay) 1967

• Satija M P. “Mapping of social sciences in the Colon Classification.” Annals of Library and Information Studies Sep.2008 :204-211.Print