ISKOD conference, Konstanz, 20-22 February 2008

1. ISKOD conference, Konstanz, 20-22 February 2008 Freely faceted classification for a Web-based bibliographic archive The BioAcoustic Reference Database Claudio Gnoli, Gabriele Merli, Gianni Pavan, Elisabetta Bernuzzi, Marco Priano (University of Pavia. Dep’t Mathematics & CIBRA)

2. The León Manifesto • interdisciplinarity • requires some new KOS • based on phenomena • allowing to shift between perspectives • by analytico-synthetic techniques • interdisciplinarity • requires some new KOS • based on phenomena • allowing to shift between perspectives • by analytico-synthetic techniques

3. The heresy Disciplines ! or phenomena... sources: Hajdu Barat, Gnoli

4. Freely faceted classification Developed within NATO-granted CRG research for a new general scheme mainly by Douglas Foskett and Derek Austin then partially evolved into the PRECIS verbal system source: Vickery

5. Existing freely facetedverbal indexing systems • relational indexing [Farradane, 1950s] • Syntol [Gardin, 1960s] • PRECIS [Austin, 1970s] • POPSI [Bhattacharyya, 1980s]

6. Freely faceted classification • Any concept has a constant notation, and • can be combined with any other • by expressing the kind of relationship. • Concepts are not bound to disciplinary classes, but organized in classes of phenomena. [Austin 1969, Prospects for a new general classification, J. librarianship, 1, n. 3, p. 149-169]

7. How phenomena can be ordered ... e atoms f molecules l cells m organisms n populations s communities t institutions v cultures ... increasing organization

8. The ILC project

9. FFC: constant notation mqvtn2a whales in Atlantic ocean t8mqvtn institutions dealing with whales wa4mqvtnfood consisting of whales wni60mqvtn vessels damaged by whales xg8mqvtn painting of whales

10. FFC searching It suits computer applications, as each concept can be retrieved separately by searching for the corresponding notation. “whales”mqvtn

11. FFC browsing  mqvtn whales mqvtn25e whales in estuaries u8mqvtn whale economy t8mqvtn institutions dealing with whales xg8mqvtn paintings of whales Results can be sorted systematically

12. FFC-like use of existing KOSs Traditional classifications (DDC, UDC) can be used in this way for retrieval purposes, by assigning multiple classes to a document Example: NEBIS opac [Pika]

13. FFC: free combinations wni60mq vessels damaged by animals mq60wni animals damaged by vessels

14. FFC: citation order Facets of the same relevance are cited in a standard citation order (like in classic FC) but focus facets can be promoted to the leading positions (like in Nuovo Soggettario) wa4mq29qfood consisting of animals in Japan wa29q4mq Japanese food, consisting of animals

15. FFC problems More freedom requires more skills... Users want simple notation (a virtue of DDC and BC2) Austin concluded that FFC was good for IR, while mark-and-park systems were good for shelving two separate systems?!

16. Possible solutions • Indexers can be helped bysemi-automatical classification, and • assisted by visual interfaces

17. Possible solutions • Notation can be shortened by extra-defined foci nycoceanic environment 25[ny]in environment 25cin oceanic environment

18. Possible solutions • only using letters, digits, and brackets abcd9e(5fg)8h main class facets subfacets

19. A property of FFC items with more facets are more retrievable (by one facet or another)  paradoxically, specialized documents tend to be retrieved more often  a balanced cataloguing policy is needed

20. Application

21. Research needs The database is fed with papers actually used by the CIBRA staff in bioacoustic research,in both field recording and signal processing

22. Indexing interface The indexer can edit the classmark and dynamically see the caption she is producing

23. Suggested classes She can be helped by automatic suggestionsgenerated by matching title with DB thesaurus article title edited notation automatic caption suggested classes

24. Suggested classes For each title word, classes are suggested which match caption, or synonyms, or description, or discipline To improve precision • stopwords ignored: words < 4 letters, “with”, ... To improve recall • -s truncated

25. Verbal captions They are synthesized from notation by a PHP script

26. Indexing interface Interface usability is still to be improved e.g. click-and-select, drag-and-drop, automatic default citation order: gxxx kyy bzzzkyy gxx bzz

27. Classification by methods The León Manifesto advocates for classificationby phenomena, theories, and methods: birds, according to Darwinism, studied by observation mqvo04d03b

28. Classification by methods In bioacoustics, methods are relevant more often than theories while in human sciences, the opposite seems to be true [Szostak & Gnoli 2008, proc ISKO11 Montréal]

29. Classification by methods

30. Complexity issues “Guidelines on the applications of the environment protection and biodiversity conservationact to interactions between offshore operations and largercetaceans” tn8ve(4qvtn(902o68v(3)25c))4d Much facet nesting becomes problematic even for the PHP script...

31. Taming complexity tn8V4d ve4V mqvtn902o68v(3)25c Deictic V refers to the whole subsequent phase,thus avoiding most brackets

32. Possible solutions The system can be used at various degrees of complexity,from purely free to fully faceted, according to the needs. Websites: free classification Specialized literature: freely faceted cl.

33. User search One or more facets can be selected... (also in combination with author/title/date)

34. Results display

35. The zero match problem [Tudhope & Binding 2008, Faceted thesauri, Axiomathes, 18, special issue on facet analysis, in prep.] birds x threat x Europe = 0 Possible solution: enable “fuzzy” search by • ignoring one facet at a time (in which order?...) • go one step up in hierarchy

36. Search refinement Users should be allowed to refine searchby navigating through facets and hierarchyaccording to the number of results(average futility point  30) This has been partially done already in a related archive...

37. Search refinement

38. Future developments • Complete fully faceted classmarks for all articles • Derive consistent indexing policies from practice • Fix automatic caption generation for complex cases • Improve the facet selection menu • Allow subject search by typing words • Make the indexing interface evolving into a real assistant tool

39. Conclusion Freely faceted classificationby phenomena, theories, and methodsis feasible [Szostak 2007, Proc ISKOE León]

40. ILC people:Claudio Gnoli, Mela Bosch, Enzo Cesanelli, Viviana Doldi, Hong Mei, Gabriele Merli, Marcella Patania, Roberto Poli, Rick Szostak, Lorena Zuccolo CIBRA people:Gianni Pavan, Elisabetta Bernuzzi, Claudio Fossati, Amanda May Koltz, Michele Manghi, Marco Priano Published reports: Gnoli & Poli 2004, Levels of reality and levels of representation, Knowl org 31, 3, 151-160 Gnoli & Merli 2005, Notazione e interfaccia di ricerca per una classificazione a livelli, AIDA informazioni, 23, 1-2, 57-72 Hong 2005, A phenomenon approach to faceted classification, 53th conf Japan Soc LIS Gnoli 2006, The meaning of facets in nondisciplinary classifications, proc 9th ISKO conf, Vienna, 11-18 Gnoli & Hong 2006, Freely faceted classification for Web-based information retrieval, New rev hypermedia & multimedia, 12, 1, 63-81 Gnoli, Bosch & Mazzocchi 2007, A new relationship for multidisciplinary knowledge organization systems: dependence, proc 8th ISKO Spain conf, León, 399-409 Gnoli 2007, “Classic” vs. “freely” faceted classification, ISKO UK meeting Ranganathan revisited, London Gnoli, Pavan, Bernuzzi, Merli & Priano 2007, Freely faceted classification for the BioAcoustic Reference Database, poster 21th IBAC conf, Pavia Szostak & Gnoli 2008, Classifying by phenomena, theories, and methods, proc 10th ISKO conf, Montréal Website: www.iskoi.org/ilc

41. ...vielen Dank! ISKOD conference, Konstanz, 20-22 February 2008