L505: Organization and Representation of Knowledge and Information
School of Library and Information Science
Indiana University
Fall 1996
Instructor: Uta Priss
Email: upriss@indiana.edu
Office: 022 SLIS
Office phone: 812-855-2793
Office hours: will be determined during the first class meeting
The representation and organization of information resources is a
primary focus of the information profession. Organizational structures
such as classification schemes, indexes, bibliographies and catalogs have
been devised to provide access not only to the document, but to its
intellectual content - the knowledge or information recorded in the
document. The recent explosive growth in both the number and the variety
of information resources serves to underscore the continuing need for
application of effective methods of representation and organization.
Practical and effective systems of information representation and
organization must depend upon a comprehensive understanding not only of
the theoretical foundations of bibliographic organization but also of the
basic principles of human cognition. Accordingly, this course will
investigate the basic principles and theoretical foundations of
traditional organizational schemes. This investigation will include
materials from traditional librarianship, information science, cognitive
science, semiotics, and artificial intelligence and expert systems that
have contributed to an understanding of how people obtain, store,
retrieve and use information. It will also examine how research in these
areas can inform current practices of representation and organization in
the design of more effective and more efficient information retrieval
systems.
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To introduce the student to a broad range of knowledge
representation models drawn from the fields of information science,
communication, semiotics, philosophy, cognitive psychology, and
artificial intelligence.
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To develop in the student the ability to understand and
effectively apply principles of representation and organization currently
used to provide access to information resources.
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To provide practical experience in applying the basic
principles of knowledge organization and representation to the indexing,
abstracting and classification of information in several media.
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To enable the student to analyze information resources
for hypertext indexing.
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To provide the student with a practical understanding of
the function of subject analysis in indexing and classification.
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To provide the student with an understanding of the
development and application of controlled vocabularies and syndetic
structures.
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To introduce the student to the major classification
systems currently in use and to provide the student with the ability to
effectively employ such classification schemes in the representation of
information.
The structure of each class session will center around lectures by the
instructor, group presentations, and class discussions. Lecture, presentations,
and discussions will cover the topic for the session as
indicated on the syllabus. Students are strongly encouraged to
participate actively in all lectures and discussions since each student's
participation in class activities will constitute 15 % of his/her final grade.
During the first session students will form teams. Each team will get
a certain topic related to one session for which they will
prepare a presentation (see below).
There is no required text for this class. However, the text listed below
will be available in the IMU bookstore by the second week of classes, in
case you would like to purchase it.
Iyer, Hemalata. (1995). Classificatory structures: Concepts,
relations and representation. Frankfurt am Main: Indeks Verlag.
A copy of this book is on Reserve in the SLIS library, as are copies of
other assigned readings. The Class Schedule Part I (contained in this
handout) lists the readings assigned for class sections 1-6. It is required
that every student completes every week's readings before the Monday session
in that week.
The following definitions of letter grades have been defined by
student and faculty members of the Committee on Improvement of
Instruction and have been approved by the faculty as an aid in
evaluation of the student performance and to assist students by
giving them an understanding of the grading standards of the
School of Library and Information Science.
The final course grade will be computed for each student on the basis
of grades assigned for the following:
Each student is expected to complete all coursework by the end of the term.
A grade of incomplete (I) will be assigned only if exceptional
circumstances warrant.
Class contribution does not mean attendance, but the quality and quantity
of contributions to the work of the class. Comments and questions are
equally valuable if they help to clarify the topics
and progress the discussion. The assignments and readings
of each week must be completed by the Monday session so that
substantive and meaningful contributions from the students are possible.
It is required that every student demonstrates respect for the ideas,
opinions, and feelings of all other members of the class.
In the first session the students will form teams. Each team will get
a topic assigned that is related to one session for which they prepare a
presentation. The topics consist of a subject or subject area, such as
a certain classification system or a certain aspect of thesaurus research.
The team will prepare a list of references for the topic, study
the structures of information or knowledge contained in the topic, and
apply the terms and concepts learned from this course to the topic.
The class presentation will highlight the important features of the
topic and
present the results of the team's analysis, including a critical
evaluation of the subject. The presentation will last for 20 minutes.
Handouts of 1 or 2 pages containing the main statements and the references
will be prepared.
Each group consults the instructor at least twice before the presentation.
A list of possible references and ideas will be gathered before the first
consultation. During the meeting with the instructor it should be obvious
whether all team members equally participate in the preparation of the
presentation.
Journals are to be organized chronologically and should be kept in a
spiral notebook or bound composition book. It is also acceptable to
use a computer text editor and keep printouts in a folder. Each entry
should be dated and should carry a short heading that indicates the
type of entry (summary of assigned or outside reading, abstract,
class commentary, class notes, essay, etc.). Because journals are
personal, the content will vary and will reflect the intellectual
effort put forth by that student. The completeness rather than the
content will be the basis
for grading. The following materials are required
of all journals:
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An informative abstract, discussion, or summary of each assigned
reading. Each entry for an assigned reading must include full citation
information.
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Short essays, lists, etc. according to the assignments of each week.
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Review and assessment of ideas presented in class lectures and discussions.
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Review and assessment of group presentations.
Optional materials may include:
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Informative abstracts, discussions, or summaries of outside readings.
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Questions raised by readings, class lectures or discussions.
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Class notes
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Other related material.
Journals will be turned in for review and evaluation at three separate
points during the fall semester (Sept. 23, Oct. 28, Dec. 2).
At each review, a letter grade will be assigned based on
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completeness,
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continuous additional effort (for grades better than B),
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evidence
of active intellectual involvement with the subject content of the course.
The final journal grade will be computed as an average of the three
review grades.
The final exam will be a take-home exam consisting of not more than 6
essay questions and will be distributed at the conclusion of the class
on December 4. It will be due at the beginning of the class on December 9.
Any assignment that contains plagiarized material or indicates any other
form of dishonesty will receive, at a minimum, an automatic grade of F.
A second instance will result in an automatic grade of F for the course.
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Introduction to the course
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What is organization?
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Print-based vs. electronic forms of organization
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Write in your journal about how your personal library is organized. Which other
methods of organizations are possible.
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Which methods of organization are used in a phone-book? Which possibilities
of information retrieval offers a phone-book on CD-ROM compared to a
printed phone-book?
- Macrorie, Ken (1976).
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Chapter 16: Keeping a journal. In: Writing to be read.
2nd ed., Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden, pp 147-158.
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What is information? Knowledge? Representation?
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Organization of and access to information
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Interdisciplinarity of information
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Write in your journal a short essay on `what is information?'
- Buckland, Michael. (1991).
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Information as thing. JASIS, 42, pp 351-360.
- Machlup,F., and Mansfield, U. (1983).
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Cultural diversity in studies of information. In:
F. Machlup and U. Mansfield (Eds.), The study of information:
Interdisciplinary messages. New York: John Wiley, pp 3-59.
- Wilson, P. (1978).
-
Some fundamental concepts of information retrieval. Drexel Library
Quarterly 14 (2), pp 10-24.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Interdisciplinarity. In: Classificatory structures: Concepts,
relations and representation. Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp 12-28.
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Types of abstracts
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Principles of abstracting
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Prepare a list of subjects for the three articles.
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Write an indicative and an informative abstract for the Bush article.
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Write an indicative or an informative abstract for the other two articles.
- Borko, Harold, and Bernier, Charles L. (1975).
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Characteristics and types of abstracts. In:
Abstracting concepts and methods. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
pp 3-24.
- Fidel, Raya. (1986).
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Writing abstracts for free-text searching. Journal of Documentation,
42 (1), pp 11-21.
- Lancaster, F. Wilfrid. (1991).
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Introduction; Indexing principles. In:
Indexing and abstracting in theory and practice. Champaign, Il.: University
of Illinois Press, pp 1-18.
- Bush, Vannevar. (1996/1945).
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As we may think. Interactions, 3(2), pp 35-46. Originally published in
Atlantic Monthly, 176 (1), pp 101-108.
- Gross, Linden. (1996).
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Steven Spielberg's close encounter with the past. Reader's Digest
(April 1996), pp 71-76.
- Randi, James. (1996).
- Investigating miracles, Italian-style.
Scientific American (February 1996), p 136.
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What is categorization?
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What is classification?
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The cultural nature of categorization
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The cognitive nature of categorization
Visit a grocery store and write an analysis of the store's organization in your
journal. In your analysis, focus on
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how the merchandise is organized/categorized;
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why you think this particular organizational structure was adopted; and
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whether
this organizational/categorization scheme actually helps or hinders the customer
in finding specific items.
- Jacob, Elin K. (1991).
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Classification and categorization: drawing the line. In:
Barbara H. Kwasnik and Raya Fidel (Eds.). Advances in classification
research. Vol. 2, Washington D.C.: American Society for Information Science,
pp 67-83.
- Zerubavel, Eviatar. (1991).
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Chapters 1, 2, and 4 of The fine line: making distinctions in everyday
life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp 5-32 and 61-80.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Cognition and Categories. In: Classificatory structures: Concepts,
relations and representation. Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp 40-56.
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The mental lexicon and information organization/access
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Cognition and information retrieval and use
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Scripts and schemas
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Conceptual graphs and formal concepts
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List elements of the script "Shopping in a grocery store".
Try to develop a graphical representation of the script.
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Choose two different persons who shop in the same grocery store,
but have different expectations (eg. an American that moved recently to a new
town, a person from a foreign culture). In what way is their shopping
supported - or not - by the grocery store you analyzed last week?
Try to explain the problems in terms of scripts.
- Lakoff, George, and Johnson, Mark. (1980).
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Metaphorical systematicity: highlighting and hiding. In: Metaphors
we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp 10-13.
- Rumelhart, David E. (1984).
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Schemata and the cognitive system. In: Wyer and Srull (Eds.).
Handbook of social cognition. Vol. 1, Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum, pp 161-188.
- Miller, George A. (1956).
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The magical number seven plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity
for processing information. Psychological Review 63, 81-87.
- Schank, Roger, and Kass, Alex. (1988).
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Knowledge representation in people and machines. In: Umberto Eco,
Marco Santambrogio and Patrizia Violi (Eds.), Meaning and mental
representation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp 181-200.
- Wright, Robert. (1996).
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Can machines think? Time (March 25 1996), 50-58.
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History of classification systems
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Types of classification systems
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Applications of classification systems
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Choose 3 items that are sold in a grocery store and define classes for them
according to different aspects (eg. according to physical shape, purpose
of use, how long storable, etc.). Why are different classifications needed?
Is there a multi-purpose classification? How do classes for these items differ
from categories?
- Bliss, Henry Evelyn. (1934).
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The problem of classification for libraries. In:
The Organization of knowledge in libraries and the subject approach to
books. New York: H. W. Wilson, pp 1-20.
- Bliss, Henry Evelyn. (1934).
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The principles of classification for libraries. In:
The Organization of knowledge in libraries and the subject approach to
books. New York: H. W. Wilson, pp 21-46.
- Shera, Jesse H. (1965/1950).
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Classification as the basis of bibliographic organization. In: J. H.
Shera. Libraries and the organization of knowledge. Hamden, CT: Archon
Books, pp 77-96.
- Shera, Jesse H. (1965/1957).
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Pattern, structure, and conceptualization in classification for information
retrieval. In: J. H. Shera. Libraries and the organization of knowledge
Hamden, CT: Archon Books, pp 112-128.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Normative principles. In: Classificatory structures: Concepts,
relations and representation. Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp 30-39.
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Contemporary enumerative classification systems
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Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress Classification
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Strengths and weakness of enumerative systems
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Choose one book in the area of library and information science and describe
how it is classified in the library in which it was located.
How would it be classified if the Dewey Decimal or the Library of Congress
Classification were used?
- Shera, Jesse H. (1965/1961).
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The dignity and advancement of Bacon. In: J. H. Shera. Libraries
and the organization of knowledge. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, pp 143-150.
- Buchanan, Brian. (1979).
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Introduction; Classification: definition and uses; The relationships
between classes; Enumerative and faceted schemes; Decisions. In: Theory
of library classification. London: Clive Bingley, pp 7-44.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Structural models of classification. In: Classificatory
structures: Concepts, relations and representation. Frankfurt/Main: Indeks
Verlag, pp 88-96.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Non-faceted classification. In: Classificatory structures:
Concepts, relations and representation. Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp
97-104.
- Dewey, Melvil. (1972/1927).
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Decimal classification and relative index. In: A. F. Painter (ed.).
Reader in classification and descriptive cataloging. NCR Microcard
Editions, pp 81-86.
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Contemporary faceted classification systems
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Universal Decimal, Bliss and Colon Classification
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Strengths and weakness of faceted classification systems
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Comparison of enumerative and faceted classification systems
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Create a chart table comparing the characteristics of
enumerative and faceted classification systems
- Vickery, Brian C. (1972/1966).
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Faceted classification schemes. In: A.F. Painter (Ed.).
Reader in classification and descriptive cataloguing. NCR Microcard
Editions pp 107-114.
- Iyer, Hemalata (1995).
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Faceted Structures. In: Classificatory structures: Concepts,
relations, and representation. Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp 105-125.
- Williamson, N. and McIlwaine, I.C. (1994).
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A feasibility study on the restructuring of the Universal Decimal
Classification into a fully faceted classification system. In: H. Albrectsen
and S. Oernager (Eds.). Advances in Knowledge Organization, Vol
4, Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp 406-413.
- Ranganathan, S. R. (1962).
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Canons of Classification. In: Elements of library classification.
Bombay: Asia Publishing House, pp 45-70.
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Controlled vocabulary
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Derived-term systems vs. free indexing languages
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Natural language vs. controlled vocabulary
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Choose one category term from the LC Subject Headings that also exists in the
ERIC Thesaurus. How is the term represented? Compare the strength and weakness
of LCSH and ERIC (chart table).
- Taylor, Arlene G. (1995).
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On the subject of subjects. Journal of Academic Librarianship 21(6),
484-491.
- Lancaster, F. Wilfrid (1991).
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Indexing Practice. In: Indexing and abstracting in
theory and practice. Champaign, Il., University of Illinois Press, pp 19-40.
- Lancaster, F. Wilfrid. (1991).
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Natural language in information retrieval. In: Indexing and
abstracting in theory and practice. Champaign, IL, University of Illinois
Press, pp 193-218.
- Green, Rebecca. (1992).
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Insights into classification from the cognitive sciences: Ramifications
for index languages. In: N. J. Williamson and M. Hudson (Eds.).
Classification research for knowledge representation and organization.
Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp 215-222.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Vocabularies. In: Classificatory structures: Concepts, relations
and representation. Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp 60-85.
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Problems and opportunities with automatic indexing and classification
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Write a chart table: advantages and problems of automatic systems of
indexing and classification.
- Chan, Lois Mai. (1990).
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Subject analysis tools online: The challenge ahead. Information
Technology and Libraries 9(3), 258-262.
- Humphrey, Susanne M. (1992).
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Use and management of classification systems for knowledge-based
indexing. In: J. Williamson and M. Hudon (Eds.). Classification
research for knowledge representation and organization. Amsterdam: Elsevier,
pp 89-100.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Artificial intelligence and classification. In: Classificatory
structures: Concepts, relations and representation
Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp 163-175.
- Lancaster, F. Wilfred (1991)
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Automatic indexing, automatic abstracting and related procedures.
In: Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice.
Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, pp 219-246.
- Svenonius, E., et al. (1992).
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Automation of chain indexing. In: N. J. Williamson
and M. Hudson (Eds.). Classification research for knowledge
representation and organization. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp 351-364.
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Semantic relations
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Syndetic structure
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Thesaurus construction
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Automated systems of thesaurus construction and consistency checking
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Design a thesaurus entry for `thesaurus' using the syndetic
structure `UF/BT/RT/NT'. Try to locate `thesaurus' in LCSH and
ERIC. Compare the syndetic structures in LCSH and ERIC with your thesaurus
entry.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Faceted approach to indexing systems. In: Classificatory
structures: Concepts, relations and representation. Frankfurt/Main:
Indeks Verlag, pp 127-142.
- Aitchison, J., and Gilchrist, A. (1987).
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Planning and design of thesauri. In: Thesaurus construction: A
practical manual. 2nd ed., London: Aslib, pp 3-10.
- Aitchison, J., and Gilchrist, A. (1987).
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Structure: basic relationships and classification. In: Thesaurus
construction: A practical manual. 2nd ed., London: Aslib, pp 34-60.
- Soergel, Dagobert. (1985).
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Terminological control. In: Organizing information. San Diego,
CA: Academic Press, pp 213-222.
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Applications of thesauri in Information Retrieval
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Natural language thesauri
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WordNet and Roget's Thesaurus
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Locate the word `thesaurus' in WordNet and Roget's International Thesaurus.
How is `thesaurus' classified in both thesauri? How do natural language
thesauri differ from library thesauri, such as LCSH and ERIC?
- Wilks, Yorick et al. (1996)
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The Construction of Modern Lexicons. In: Electric Words.
MIT Press, pp 121-136.
- Calzolari, Nicoletta (1988)
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The Dictionary and the Thesaurus can be Combined. In: Evens,
M. W. (ed.). Relational Models of the Lexicon. Cambridge University Press.
- Johnson, Eric H. (1995)
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A Hypertext interface for a Searcher's Thesaurus.
http://csdl.tamu.edu/DL95/
- Yarowski, David (1992)
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Word-Sense Disambiguation Using Statistical Models of
Roget's Categories Trained on Large Corpora. Proc. of COLING-92, Nantes,
Aug. 23-28, 1992.
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Features of hypermedia
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Representation and navigation
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Compare two Internet image index systems:
www.sils.umich.edu/Art_History/demoarea/htdocs/index.html
wwwqbic.almaden.ibm.com/~qbic/qbic.html
- Balasubramanian, V. (1994).
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Hypertext - An introduction. In:
State of the art review on hypermedia issues and applications, pp 2-12.
Converted to HTML by Denys Duchier, March 1994.
http://www.isg.sfu.ca/ 
duchier/misc/hypertext_review/index.html
- Liebscher, Peter. (1994).
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Hypertext and indexing. In: R. Fidel et al. (Eds.). Challenges
in indexing electronic text and images. Medford, NJ: Learned Information for
American Society for Information Science, pp 103-109.
- Nelson, Theodor H. (1994).
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Xanadu: document interconnection enabling re-use with automatic author
credit and royalty accounting. Information Services & Use, 14, pp 255-265.
- Simpson, R., et al. (1996).
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50 years after "As we may think": The Brown/MIT Vannevar Bush Symposium.
Interactions, 3(2), pp 47-67.
- Baumbach, D. (1992).
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Hypertext. In: Macmillan encyclopedia of computers. New York:
Macmillan, pp 508-511.
No class: Thanksgiving
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Verbal vs. nonverbal subject analysis
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Automated indexing of nonverbal materials
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In your journal discuss the pros and cons
of indexing the intellectual content of images based on meaningfulness or
usefulness to patrons, as proposed by Krause.
- Austin, David L. (1994).
-
An image is not an object: but it can help. In: A. H. Helal and J. W.
Weiss (Eds.). Resource sharing: new technologies as a must for universal
availability of information. Essen: Universitaetsbibliothek Essen, pp 277-294.
- Feder, Judy. (1995?).
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New directions for image recognition: toward image content-based
retrieval for the World Wide Web. Advanced Imaging, X, 26, 28.
- Grund, A. (1993).
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ICONCLASS: On subject analysis of iconographic representations of works
of art. Knowledge organization, 20, pp 20-29.
- Krause, Michael G. (1988).
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Intellectual problems of indexing picture collections.
Audiovisual Librarian, 14, pp 73-81.
- Lunin, Lois F. (1994).
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Analyzing art objects for an image database. In: R. Fidel
et al. (Eds.). Challenges in indexing electronic text and images.
Medford, NJ: Learned Information for American Society for Information Science,
pp 57-72.
- Shatford Layne, Sara. (1994).
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Some issues in the indexing of images. JASIS, 45(8), pp 583-588.
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Organization of knowledge and information: chaos or control
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Human vs. artificial organizers
- Davis, Watson. (1967/1965).
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The universal brain: Is centralized storage and retrieval of all
knowledge possible, feasible, or desirable? In: M. Kochen (Ed.).
The growth of knowledge. New York: John Wiley, pp 60-65.
- Fallows, James. (1996).
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Navigating the galaxies. Atlantic Monthly (April 1996), pp 104-107.
- Iyer, Hemalata. (1995).
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Universals. In: Classificatory structures: Concepts, relations and
representation. Frankfurt/Main: Indeks Verlag, pp 177-191.
- Pool, Robert. (1994).
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Turning an info-glut into a library. Science 266, pp 20-22.
- Steinberg, Steve G. (1996).
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Seek and ye shall find (maybe). Wired (May 1996), pp 108-114.
- Svenonius, Elaine. (1992).
-
Classification: Prospects, problems and possibilities. In: N. J.
Williamson and M. Hudon (eds.). Classification Research for Knowledge
Representation and Organization, pp 5-25.
No class
Uta Priss
Wed Oct 2 15:12:07 EST 1996