Examine and compare the entries for “Atoms”, “Minerals”, “Angles” and “Cars” on SCOT and SCIS Subject Headings Online to see examples of the differences between these two controlled vocabulary approaches.
Atoms: SCISSHL has 'Used for' and 'related terms', as well as broader terms and narrower terms, whereas ScOT only has the latter two.
Minerals: SCISSHL says 'USE mineralogy', ScOT has the term Minerals (Mineralogy). Both have BT, NT and RTs, though SCISSHL has more of each.
Angles: The SCISSHL search puts 'angles' right at the top of the results, whereas the SCOT search appears to show everything with the word angles in it. SCISSHL only has the one broader term for this one, whereas ScOT has HEAPS of narrower terms and some related terms as well.
Cars: ScOT uses the word 'cars' as an allowed term, whereas SCISSHL says to use 'motor cars'. SCISSHL has an indexing note (IN) and a specific example note (SEN) for motor cars, and a number of broader and narrower terms. SCOT has a few of these terms, but no other descriptions. The term TNR has come up for each search result term in ScOT, I wonder what it means... Can't seem to find the answer to that question anywhere...
Very sleepy now - need to decide whether to have a nap or go shopping for tea... Or both....
Showing posts with label thesauri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thesauri. Show all posts
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Thesauri
Activity
Investigate a thesaurus. You can find many online. An excellent starting point is ANZSI - Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers' (ANZSI) Indexing Resources.
Perhaps my favourite online thesaurus, and one you might like to investigate, is The Cook’s Thesaurus complete with illustrations.
I looked at this cooking thesaurus. It's quite good actually, I recommend it if you ever have a question about ingredients. I looked up eggplants for example (though I called it an aubergine just to test whether the thesaurus would refer me to the preferred term), and learned some useful information about male and female eggplants!
* Does the thesaurus you have investigated have a clear hierarchical structure? Or are the terms grouped in non-hierarchical categories?
This thesaurus has a hierarchical structure, with categories within categories.
* Does the thesaurus have scope notes, or definitions, of terms?
It has definitions of terms, or advice on the use of them, and has pictures of many terms as well.
* If you search for a term that is not a preferred term, are you referred to the correct term?
Yes, you are. I searched for 'aubergine' and was referred to 'eggplant', searched for 'capsicum' and was referred to 'bell pepper' (so guessing it's an American site?).
Investigate a thesaurus. You can find many online. An excellent starting point is ANZSI - Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers' (ANZSI) Indexing Resources.
Perhaps my favourite online thesaurus, and one you might like to investigate, is The Cook’s Thesaurus complete with illustrations.
I looked at this cooking thesaurus. It's quite good actually, I recommend it if you ever have a question about ingredients. I looked up eggplants for example (though I called it an aubergine just to test whether the thesaurus would refer me to the preferred term), and learned some useful information about male and female eggplants!
* Does the thesaurus you have investigated have a clear hierarchical structure? Or are the terms grouped in non-hierarchical categories?
This thesaurus has a hierarchical structure, with categories within categories.
* Does the thesaurus have scope notes, or definitions, of terms?
It has definitions of terms, or advice on the use of them, and has pictures of many terms as well.
* If you search for a term that is not a preferred term, are you referred to the correct term?
Yes, you are. I searched for 'aubergine' and was referred to 'eggplant', searched for 'capsicum' and was referred to 'bell pepper' (so guessing it's an American site?).
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Controlled vocabularies
I've joined a study group! :) Well, two of us have decided to get together to study once a week so we can tackle this next assignment head on, and to help each other understand the concepts. Should be good. We had a sesh on Wednesday and talked through the answers to some of these questions which was helpful. I wasn't up to this module yet, which made it a little tricky, but we got there, and it made it easy to finish the module when I did get up to it today! :)
5.6 Exercise 2
1. Explain what is meant by specificity in indexing.
How precise the terms are – they need to be specific to that item. Not talking about the genre, but the example of the genre that is being indexed. A book about possums should be indexed under the heading possums rather than marsupials (Hider, p. 135).
2. Explain what is meant by co-extensive entry.
If there is more than one subject in the document, there needs to be headings for all of them, not one heading to summarise. So a book called ‘frogs and toads’ would have both frogs and toads as headings. A book about marsupials and mammals will require terms for both (Hider, p. 135).
3. They do it that way because the system was originally devised for card catalogues and hasn’t been changed. It is not appropriate for an online environment – it is unnecessary, and does not feel natural.
4. Free floating subdivisions – subdivisions that fit under many different headings, e.g. research would fit under library as well as business (and probably many others too). A subdivision is a qualifier under a heading to make it more specific (p. 138).
5. The main differences between thesauri and lists of subject headings:
Thesauri are used in defined subject fields (such as psychology or geology), whereas subject heading lists cover a wide range of subjects. Thesauri use specific terms, whereas subject heading lists usually use more general terms. Subject heading lists can have subdivided headings, unlike thesauri. Thesauri use single terms, so cannot use pre-coordinate searching, unlike subject heading lists. And Thesauri closely define the relationships among terms, whereas the subject heading lists do not always do so. (Hider & Harvey, p. 146.)
6. A scope note (SN) “indicates when to use the descriptor, defines scope” – it gives a definition of the descriptor so it is obvious when it is appropriate.
5.6 Exercise 2
1. Explain what is meant by specificity in indexing.
How precise the terms are – they need to be specific to that item. Not talking about the genre, but the example of the genre that is being indexed. A book about possums should be indexed under the heading possums rather than marsupials (Hider, p. 135).
2. Explain what is meant by co-extensive entry.
If there is more than one subject in the document, there needs to be headings for all of them, not one heading to summarise. So a book called ‘frogs and toads’ would have both frogs and toads as headings. A book about marsupials and mammals will require terms for both (Hider, p. 135).
3. They do it that way because the system was originally devised for card catalogues and hasn’t been changed. It is not appropriate for an online environment – it is unnecessary, and does not feel natural.
4. Free floating subdivisions – subdivisions that fit under many different headings, e.g. research would fit under library as well as business (and probably many others too). A subdivision is a qualifier under a heading to make it more specific (p. 138).
5. The main differences between thesauri and lists of subject headings:
Thesauri are used in defined subject fields (such as psychology or geology), whereas subject heading lists cover a wide range of subjects. Thesauri use specific terms, whereas subject heading lists usually use more general terms. Subject heading lists can have subdivided headings, unlike thesauri. Thesauri use single terms, so cannot use pre-coordinate searching, unlike subject heading lists. And Thesauri closely define the relationships among terms, whereas the subject heading lists do not always do so. (Hider & Harvey, p. 146.)
6. A scope note (SN) “indicates when to use the descriptor, defines scope” – it gives a definition of the descriptor so it is obvious when it is appropriate.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Controlled vocabularies
Still wrapping my mind around the idea of controlled vocabularies (I am possibly trying to make it more complicated than it needs to be), and when/how they are used, but I am pretty confident I can complete the activity below...
Activity
Locate the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) online. (Hint: either use a web search engine, or locate it from Michael Middleton’s Controlled vocabularies website.)
Assign terms from this thesaurus to:
1. a book about the architecture of castles
2. a journal article about sculptures of indigenous Australian animals
Using this Thesaurus, it was interesting to note the heirarchy display (by clicking on the symbol to the left of each result). From suggestions made in the forum, I am gathering that we need to be as specific as possible rather than including overarching terms. Because of this, there may only be one term... I think this is ok!
1.
- castles (fortifications)
2.
- constructions (sculpture)
- assemblages (sculpture)
- sculpture (visual work)
- statues
Ok that will do. This could be quite time consuming if you let it be. Also I have stared at the word sculpture for too long, and now it looks strange...
Activity
Locate the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) online. (Hint: either use a web search engine, or locate it from Michael Middleton’s Controlled vocabularies website.)
Assign terms from this thesaurus to:
1. a book about the architecture of castles
2. a journal article about sculptures of indigenous Australian animals
Using this Thesaurus, it was interesting to note the heirarchy display (by clicking on the symbol to the left of each result). From suggestions made in the forum, I am gathering that we need to be as specific as possible rather than including overarching terms. Because of this, there may only be one term... I think this is ok!
1.
- castles (fortifications)
2.
- constructions (sculpture)
- assemblages (sculpture)
- sculpture (visual work)
- statues
Ok that will do. This could be quite time consuming if you let it be. Also I have stared at the word sculpture for too long, and now it looks strange...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)