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Neil, The choice of how to organize resources (by content,inner form, outer form) is entirely arbitrary, and is rather the issue of an implementation and indexing policy. UDC is designed to support any such approach. Classification allows aggregation and combination of aggregations by different principles and all depends what you want to group together. In UDC you can combine the following 'aggregations principles' so to speak - document form (book), format (digital) or carrier (CDROM) - content: subject (Archeology), form of presentation (map) In UDC you can use different categories of numbers to state these elements above: as standalone or in combination and this is not imposed or limited by the system itself. In this respect UDC is entirely different from Dewey, Library of Congress, or any other well known general classification system that are built for library shelf organization and impose strict linear ordering by discipline. In UDC all elements are repeatable/optional. There are some 'warmly recommended' rules for citation order of combined index terms (i.e. which type of number goes first, which second in any combined sequences) and also you have rules forfiling order if you want to achieve ordering of resources from general to specific - irrespective the number of elements combined. (simple numbers don't need rules as they are sorted by decimal notation form general to specific) All of the following examples are perfectly legitimate in UDC: - to form class of Cartographic maps (084.3) (and organize them withing that group alpahbetically, size, colour etc. -to form class of cartographic maps organized by place (084.3-14.032)(410.111.11)Digital image of topographic survey maps of City of Westminster. -to form class of discipline and time, place, inner form, outer form 94"182"(411.111.11)(093)(084.3-37) History of City of Westminster-- (time)1820s -- historical sources -- survey map but you can make it less specific by shortening the numbers : 94"18"(410)(093)(084) History of Britain - 19th century -historical source -map NB! Classification is not meant to be used in an automated environment without proper tools (authority files) which would allow re-use of already precombined indexing terms and help you avoid retyping of numbers and cumbersome notation At the user-end this should also be completely hidden and replaced by visual hierarchical display of subject/form descriptions end easy transition from term search to browsing... hope this helps and is not entirely out of place for the others, some points here are not relevant only for UDC but for the functions that one may expect from any knowledge organization system. aida -----Original Message----- From: The Forum for Information Standards in Heritage (FISH) [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Neil Campling Sent: 14 May 2003 15:03 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [FISH] Course invitation: UDC Dear Ms Slavic, Just a quick query: how does one choose whether or not the classification number should be created by document form or document content? Is this arbitrary or are there standard rules for choosing how best to classify text documents? Cheers, Neil Campling >>> [log in to unmask] 14/05/2003 14:15:19 >>> Neil, The answer is yes. It can be used and is used in many document centres for grey literature. UDC has quite extensive vocabulary for both document forms and document carriers descriptions, that may be applied together with subject descriptions or without it e.g. (047) Reports. Notices. Bulletins (047.1) Progress reports (047.32) Management and administrative reports or (088.4) Contracts. Written agreements etc. This can be used together with the format of document (0.03) Handwritten documents (0.034.2) Digital documents (0.034.2DOC) Word documents etc. so you can say (047.1.034.2DOC) Progress reports as a word document (047.1.03) Handwritten progress report but if you want to state a SUBJECT then you can use e.g. Management schedules combined with any form 005.3 Management activities 005.3(047.1.03) Management activites -- progress reports -- handwritten Aida -----Original Message----- From: The Forum for Information Standards in Heritage (FISH) [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Neil Campling Sent: 14 May 2003 13:29 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [FISH] Course invitation: UDC Dear Ed, Thanks for your reply; I actually got a reply from one of my own staff too! Can I ask if any heritage person or organisation in UK has started to file their grey literature reports using the system ? And just another point to make: About 12-15 months ago, I put round an enquiry on SMRForum and FISH asking for a numerical system for the organisation of our library and parish files. I got about as many responses as for my UDC query (3), but none mentioned the UDC. So if UDC has been going for so long, how come nobody thought to mention it a year ago ? Cheers, Neil >>> [log in to unmask] 13/05/2003 16:20:48 >>> Hi Neil, The UDC website that Aida mentioned in her invitation gives a good introduction to the system at http://www.udcc.org/about.htm. "Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) is the world's foremost multilingual classification scheme for all fields of knowledge, a sophisticated indexing and retrieval tool". Number based indexing schemes have the advantage of being language independent, which does facilitate international co-operation, but at some point the concept behind a general classification such as '56: Palaeontology' needs to be defined - and at that point you're back to language, with all the translation problems etc. Decimal systems are also (as far as I'm aware - and I hasten to add I'm no expert!) organised with a single hierarchy, rather than the greater flexibility of a polyhierarchical thesaurus structure. Ed > -----Original Message----- > From: Neil Campling [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: 13 May 2003 08:27 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [FISH] Course invitation: UDC > > > Dear Ms Slavic, > > Please tell me what the UDC is, or what it is supposed to do. > > Cheers, > N Campling > > > WARNING This E-mail and any attachments may contain information that is confidential or privileged, and is intended solely for the use of the named recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken is prohibited and may be unlawful. Any opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the view of the Council. North Yorkshire County Council. WARNING This E-mail and any attachments may contain information that is confidential or privileged, and is intended solely for the use of the named recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken is prohibited and may be unlawful. Any opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the view of the Council. North Yorkshire County Council.