I agree with Will that Keyword AAA is not a thesaurus in the more
traditional sense of the term. I also agree that it is primarily used to
title records.
It is centered around a 'Business Classification Scheme', which is based on
an analysis of business functions as mandated by the Australian Standard on
Records Management AS 4390. Usually thesaurii are based on subjects.
It does, however, have broader and narrower terms, preferred terms, etc,
just like a traditional thesaurus.
Because subject based and function based thesaurii are aimed at a different
level, then there will be problems directly integrating them. However, it
should be able to be done by using the subject based thesaurus at the
'subject descriptor' level of the Functional thesaurus.
As an example of the differences, consider a (hypothetical) medical
thesaurus. "cardiac infarction" is a preferred term for "Heart attack". It
is also a narrower term for "circulatory system disorders". The
(hypothetical) Department of Health has a business function of "Health risk
minimisation", which has as narrower terms (activities) "research" and
"public awareness". A record title of 'cardiac infarction' would probably
be fairly meaningless in that setting, but if you were to title your files
"Health risk minimisation - research - cardiac infarction" or "Health risk
minimisation - public awareness - cardiac infarction" then it would place
that subject into the appropriate business context.
The National Archives of Australia has endorsed the use of Keyword AAA for
all Commonwealth Agencies (and has negotiated a licence enabling all such
agencies to use it). We are currently undertaking work to amend it to make
it more relevant to the Commonwealth. We are also collaborating with State
Records Authority of New South Wales (the producers of Keyword AAA) on a
methodology called 'Designing and Implementing Record Keeping Systems'
(available on our website at
http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/dirks/summary.html) which outlines the
whole functional approach mandated by AS 4390. We have also produced an
"Administrative Functions Disposal Authority" based on Keyword AAA which
provides advice on the disposal of records, as well as on their creation
(http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/disposal/authorities/GDA/AFDA/summary.h
tml)
John Lovejoy
[log in to unmask]
National Archives of Australia
-----Original Message-----
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However, I would like to raise a note of caution about "Keyword AAA",
because although it calls itself a "thesaurus" it is not one which
complies with national and international standards for thesaurus
construction such as BS5723:1987; ISO2788-1986 and ANSI/NISO
Z39.19-1993. It uses some of the terminology of these standards, but
with meanings very different from those which they define, so that there
is great potential for confusion.
Keyword AAA would be more properly described as a tool for constructing
pre-coordinated alphabetical subject headings, for use in file titles or
for browsing a sequence of items in an "alphabetico-classed"
arrangement. It prescribes certain terms that should be used first in a
subject heading string, and then says what subheadings you can use under
these, to several levels. In this respect it is more akin to a system
like Library of Congress Subject Headings than to a thesaurus as defined
in the standards.
<snip>
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