Thanks. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is all this based on DDC? (We're alright - we use DDC - but I'm thinking of the others!)

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From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: 27 September 2011 14:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CIG-E-FORUM] Some useful DDC-related information

Heather and others

 

Linked data and SW have the potential to interoperate professionally-generated bibliographic metadata with that coming from machine-processing (full text indexing, natural language processing, and a wee bit (soft) Artificial Intelligence) and end-users (social network tagging, retired cataloguers, crowd-sourcing). Do not panic! The law of large numbers will smooth out the crazy stuff (like discarding the top and bottom scores in Olympic event judging). OCLC's Classify service is an intimation of things to come ...

 

And classification and subject heading system audit trails (versions, change logs, phoenix-type schedules) should also be available as linked data. Put all this together, and you reproduce the processes that are carried out manually by the DDC Editorial Policy Committee and its constituencies like the CILIP Committee.

 

And that's as far as my brainstorm goes ...

 

So it's current (re-)classification process that may become redundant; there will always be a need for human intelligence to categorise the world of knowledge as it changes. I have no expectation of a hard Artifical intelligence breakthrough; I've been waiting since the mid 1960s ...

 

Cheers

 

Gordon

 

On 27 September 2011 at 14:07 "Jardine, Heather" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Many thanks, Gordon - we hope to make these links, and others from this morning's session, available on the CIG website after the e-forum.

   

Can you explain a bit more about how you think that linked data and the semantic web might make classification redundant (I just felt the foundations of my world shake).

   

Heather

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From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: 27 September 2011 13:52
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CIG-E-FORUM] Some useful DDC-related information

All

 

Here is some information that you might find useful in the context of DDC. Some of it also pertains to other classification systems.

 

The European DDC Users Group website is at:

 

http://www.slainte.org.uk/edug/index.htm

 

The Meetings section contains links to presentations given at seminars associated with EDUG annual meetings:

 

http://www.slainte.org.uk/edug/meetings.htm

 

There are four working groups, for reviewing the classification of Archaeology, Education, and Law, and for IT applications of DDC. The subject working groups are bringing a European focus on areas that have been biased towards North American and English points of view. You do not have to be "members" of EDUG to participate; please contact the chair (if their email is given) or the EDUG Secretary, Caroline Kent, if you are interested. The groups' sections of the EDUG website give access to background documentation and reports of meetings and discussions.

 

The IT group website sections give access to projects, demonstrators, and services which use the DDC for resource discovery. (Apologies for broken links ...)

 

DDC has enormous potential for subject retrieval in resource discovery systems, because it is hierarchical and easily manipulated by machine to create structured browsing interfaces. German-speakers already have access to German captions for the DDC notation; see some of the projects and services in the EDUG IT section.

 

So here is an important tip: Do not truncate or otherwise amend the DDC23 numbers supplied on records by BDS and others. By all means shorten them when applied as shelfmarks, but keep them intact on your MARC records (or whatever). It is already technically possible to automatically match the numbers to the English captions of the DDC Summaries and Abridged Edition 14 via dewey.info, and there have been many suggestions made to OCLC to extend this to whole classification (as with the German translation). Your DDC numbers are valuable!

 

As library linked data becomes more and more available, all standard subject retrieval devices such as classifications and subject headings will become very important for taking advantage of the power of the Semantic Web. LCSH and its equivalents in German, French, and other languages are already available in linked data formats.

 

It is useful to separate out thinking of DDC and other classifications as subject retrieval devices from their role as shelfmarking devices. Thus classification can be applied to electronic resources which aren't "shelved".

 

I think it is highly likely that revisions of major classification schemes, and therefore re-classification of library resources, will become a continuous process rather than a big convulsion every few years. Indeed, linked data and the Semantic Web may render reclassification a redundant skill (at least in its present form), much like the wheeltappers and shunters of ye olde railway systems. That is an unfolding story that might be tellable (and the subject of a future e-Forum) a few years from now ...

 

Cheers

 

Gordon

 

 

 

 

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THIS E-MAIL AND ANY ATTACHED FILES ARE CONFIDENTIAL AND MAY BE LEGALLY PRIVILEGED. If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, reproduction, copying, distribution or other dissemination or use of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error please notify the sender immediately and then delete this e-mail. Opinions, advice or facts included in this message are given without any warranties or intention to enter into a contractual relationship with the City of London unless specifically indicated otherwise by agreement, letter or facsimile signed by a City of London authorised signatory. Any part of this e-mail which is purely personal in nature is not authorised by the City of London. All e-mail through the City of London's gateway is potentially the subject of monitoring. All liability for errors and viruses is excluded. Please note that in so far as the City of London falls within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, it may need to disclose this e-mail. Website: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk