Recent applications of Knowledge Organization Systems: introduction to a special issue

This special issue of the International Journal of Digital Libraries evolved from the 13th Networked Knowledge Organization Systems (NKOSs) workshop held at the joint Digital Libraries conference 2014 in London. The focus of the workshop was 'Mapping between Linked Data vocabularies of KOS' and ‘Meaningful Concept Display and Meaningful Visualization of KOS’. The issue presents six papers on the general theme on both conceptual aspects and technical implementation of NKOS. We dedicate this special issue to our long-term colleague and friend Johan De Smedt who died in June 2015 while we were editing the special issue. (author's abstract

A Historical Gazetteer of American Summer Camps

Gazetteers (dictionaries of place names, their classifications, and locations) are fundamental to GIS systems. Historical gazetteers especially are an important resource for aggregating knowledge about places across time, and allow for types of data analysis possible only at scale. With the renewed interest in gazetteers as tools for the digital humanities, there has been a rise in domain-specific gazetteers. One sphere that has yet to develop a historical gazetteer is the organized camping industry. Organized camping, termed thus to distinguish it from the less structured and formalized forms of family camping or backpacking, originated in the late 19th century in the United States and has since spread across the globe. The available primary source material (annual directories and guidebooks dating back to the 1920s) particularly lends itself to the creation of a gazetteer of summer camps in the US. To make the creation of such a gazetteer possible, this project developed a text mining program to turn early editions of the Porter Sargent Handbook of Summer Camps (the most comprehensive camp directories) into the foundations of a gazetteer. Once expanded and enriched, this geodatabase will serve as a resource for the American Camp Association (ACA), the industry’s primary professional organization.Master of Science in Information Scienc

Poder, transformação e permanência: a dinâmica de ocupação Guarani na bacia do Taquari-Antas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Esta tese é uma contribuição à história Guarani que se desenvolveu entre ~A.D. 1400-1800 no centro-sul da Bacia do Taquari-Antas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Os Guarani ocuparam as terras baixas dessa Bacia contemporaneamente aos Jê estabelecidos mais densamente nas terras altas do Planalto das Araucárias. Em ~A.D. 1630, a chegada de missionários jesuítas e bandeirantes ao território Guarani das terras baixas estimulou nova dinâmica histórica. Discutimos esse contexto mantendo como guia de investigação o impacto Guarani sobre os mais antigos habitantes da Bacia, os Jê, bem como os efeitos sociopolíticos desencadeados entre os Guarani a partir da pressão estrangeira. Analisamos essas questões sob uma perspectiva regional e outra local, nesse último caso avaliando dois sítios do Médio Forqueta, o RS-T-114 e o RS-T-132. Os resultados demonstraram que os Guarani ocuparam rapidamente os vales dessa Bacia estabelecendo aldeias em pontos estratégicos e ocasionando, como efeito, a desocupação de aldeias Jê da borda sul do Planalto. Essa primeira fase não foi densa entre os Guarani, mas aldeias bem localizadas, como o RS-T-114, ascendiam socialmente com a inauguração de áreas de festins e rituais. A intensificação da ocupação Guarani passou a ocorrer a partir do ~A.D. 1500, durando mais ou menos até ~A.D. 1630, quando a chegada efetiva dos europeus deu início ao declínio Guarani na região. Durante o processo de desestruturação regional o RS-T-114, manteve-se ocupado permanentemente até ~A.D. 1800, bem como aldeias periféricas que orbitavam esse sítio, como o RS-T-132, foram reocupadas após a saída dos estrangeiros das adjacências. Sugerimos que a intensificação de ocupação em ~A.D. 1500 resultou do crescimento do poder de lideranças já em ascensão frente aos efeitos indiretos do processo colonial. Durante a chegada efetiva dos estrangeiros, enquanto o colapso de muitas aldeias ocorria, o RS-T-114, uma aldeia densa, permanente, com produção de cultivos domesticados consolidada, áreas de festins e rituais, manteve-se politicamente fortalecida, recebendo em seu entorno remanescentes Guarani do processo colonial após ~A.D. 1650. De uma forma geral, sugerimos que o contexto Guarani do Médio Forqueta apresentou uma dinâmica sui generis na Bacia do Taquari-Antas, relacionada a fatores políticos e de prestígio entre as aldeias, mantendo uma permanência de ocupação mais longa do que o esperado, ultrapassando décadas ou até um século o processo colonial.This thesis is a contribution to the Guarani history that developed between ~A.D. 1400-1800 in the south-central part of the Taquari-Antas Basin, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The Guarani occupied the lowlands of this Basin contemporaneously to the Jê established more densely in the highlands of the Araucarias Plateau. In ~A.D. 1630, the arrival of Jesuit missionaries and bandeirantes to the Guarani territory of the lowlands brought new historical dynamics. We discuss this context by keeping the Guarani impact on the earliest inhabitants of the Basin, the Jê, as well as the sociopolitical effects triggered by the Guarani from foreign pressure. We analyzed these issues from a regional and a local perspective, in the latter case evaluating two sites of the Middle Forqueta, RS-T-114 and RS-T-132. The results showed that the Guarani quickly occupied the valleys of this Basin, establishing villages at strategic points and causing, as an effect, the vacating of Jê villages from the southern border of the Plateau. This first phase was not dense among the Guarani, but well-located villages, such as the RS-T-114, rose socially with the opening of areas of feastings and rituals. The intensification of the Guarani occupation began to occur from ~A.D. 1500, lasting more or less to ~A.D. 1630, when the actual arrival of the foreigners began the Guarani decline in the region. During the regional de-structuring process, RS-T-114 remained permanently occupied until ~A.D. 1800, as well as peripheral villages orbiting this site, such as the RS-T-132, were reoccupied after the outsiders left the area. We suggest that the intensification of occupation in ~A.D. 1500 resulted from the growth of leadership power already on the rise in the face of the indirect effects of the colonial process. During the actual arrival of foreigners, in turn, while the collapse of many villages occurred, the RS-T-114, a dense, permanent village with consolidated domesticated crop production, feastings and rituals areas remained politically strengthened, receiving in its surroundings remnants of the colonial process after ~A.D. 1650. In general, we suggest that the Guarani context of the Middle Forqueta presented a sui generis dynamic in the Taquari-Antas Basin, related to political and prestige factors among the villages, maintaining a longer occupation than expected, exceeding decades or up to a century the colonial process