Basic Taxonomic Structures and Levels of Abstraction

Taxonomic knowledge structures are often used to organize information. We compare basic taxonomic structures in four areas: thesaurus construction in information retrieval, semantic data models in database management systems, semantic networks in artificial intelligence, and mental structures in cognitive psychology. We then discuss levels of abstraction, in panicular the importance of intermediate levels. In mental structures these turn out to be basic levels that are more important cognitively than higher or lower levels. We explore the role of abstraction levels in other taxonomic structures and suggest possible future research in this area

Thesaurus for subject searching and indexing as part of an integrated library system

International Conference on Library Automation in Central & Eastern Europe April 11-13, 1996, Budapest, Hungar

Construction of a medical informatics thesaurus

pre-printMedical Informatics needs a specific terminology that reflects the multi-disciplinary nature of the field and can rapidly change as the discipline evolves. Using the four primary methods of thesaurus construction, a group at the University of Missouri- Columbia is developing a thesaurus that meets these criteria and includes both user and literary warrant. The steps in construction include using existing thesauri, medical informatics literature, and the terminology of experts to produce a thesaurus arranged within a hierarchical structure

Tensions Between Language and Discourse in North American Knowledge Organization

This paper uses Paul Ricoeur's distinction between language and discourse to help define a North American research agenda in knowledge organization. Ricoeur's concept of discourse as a set of utterances, defined within multiple disciplines and domains, and reducible, not to the word but to the sentence, provides three useful tools for defining our research. First, it enables us to recognize the important contribution of numerous studies that focus on acts of organization, rather than on standards or tools of organization. Second, it gives us a harmonious paradigm that helps us reconcile the competing demands of interoperability, based on widely-used tools and techniques of library science, and domain integrity, based on user warrant and an understanding of local context. Finally, it resonates with the current economic, political and social climate in which our information systems work, particularly the competing calls for protectionism and globalization

Terminology in Building Subject Gateway

With large amounts of information available on the Internet, users are finding it more and more difficult to access that information. Several tools are being designed to help users overcome the problem of ‘finding a needle in a haystack’. Subject gateways are one such tool designed for a specific user group with interests in a specific subject area. Subject gateways are gaining popularity, as their design arises from the combined effort a subject specialist who gives his expert advice on subject details and an Information specialist who is best equipped with the knowledge of organizing of information for convenient retrieval. This paper attempts at describing the methodology used during initial stages of building a subject gateway – determining the scope of the subject at hand by identifying terms to be included and analyzing these terms.The various possible methods of organizing the terms to represent the entire subject as a cognitive map are also discussed. The paper describes the various possibilities of applying the traditional techniques to the Web environment

Computer-Aided Knowledge Engineering for Corporate Information Retrieval

In 1987, Digital Equipment Corporation's internal Madret Information Services Group I Information Access Services (lAS) decided to build a single thesaurus system to support production and retrieval of multiple applications. This system TIMS (Thesaurus I Indexing Management System) bad to be dynamic and allow for easy modification and merging of volatile business terminology. A faceted approach was used for knowledge-base building and semantic representation. 1be system allowed the knowledge engineer to determine a classification structure and to develop relation types suited to a specific application's requirements

Everything old is new again: Finding a place for knowledge structures in a satisficing world

The authors use an exploratory project involving Web resources related to Alzheimer’s Disease to explore ways in RDF metadata can more effectively translate the virtues of the traditional vertical file to a Web environment form using Semantic Web descriptive standards. In so doing, they argue against the separation of “bibliographic control” from the socially-embedded institutional practices of reference work, collection development, and the management of information ephemera. Libraries of the future will use specific Web technologies that lend themselves to sophisticated and rigorous knowledge structures, and link them with librarians’ skills in information harvesting and evaluatio

NASA automatic subject analysis technique for extracting retrievable multi-terms (NASA TERM) system

Current methods for information processing and retrieval used at the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility are reviewed. A more cost effective computer aided indexing system is proposed which automatically generates print terms (phrases) from the natural text. Satisfactory print terms can be generated in a primarily automatic manner to produce a thesaurus (NASA TERMS) which extends all the mappings presently applied by indexers, specifies the worth of each posting term in the thesaurus, and indicates the areas of use of the thesaurus entry phrase. These print terms enable the computer to determine which of several terms in a hierarchy is desirable and to differentiate ambiguous terms. Steps in the NASA TERMS algorithm are discussed and the processing of surrogate entry phrases is demonstrated using four previously manually indexed STAR abstracts for comparison. The simulation shows phrase isolation, text phrase reduction, NASA terms selection, and RECON display

El lenguaje en la comunicación y recuperación de información

El lenguaje mantiene una relación estrecha con la construcción de conocimiento. Éste juega un papel crítico en los contextos comunicacionales en los que se transmite información y en las operaciones de recuperación de información. En este artículo se describe, por un lado, el papel y las propiedades gramaticales que permiten que el lenguaje natural intervenga en los contextos de transmisión de información. Y, por otro, se ofrece una descripción paralela del papel y las propiedades gramaticales que permiten que el lenguaje de interrogación intervenga en los contextos de recuperación de información.El llenguatge té una relació estreta amb la construcció de coneixement. El coneixement juga un paper crític en els contextos comunicacionals en què es transmet informació i en les operacions de recuperació d'informació. Aquest article descriu, per una banda, el paper i les propietats gramaticals que permeten que el llenguatge natural intervingui en els contextos de transmissió d'informació. I, per l'altra, ofereix una descripció paral·lela del paper i les propietats gramaticals que permeten que el llenguatge d'interrogació intervingui en els contextos de recuperació d'informació.Language has a very close relationship with the construction of knowledge. It is an essential variable in communication of information and information retrieval. This article offers a description of the role of language in those processes. On the one hand, it describes the grammatical properties that explain the role of natural language in the context of information transmission. And, on the other, it shows the grammatical properties that explain the role of query language in the context of information retrieval