In article <[log in to unmask]>, Neil
Campling <[log in to unmask]> writes
>Unless you know the precise word or address to look for on Government web sites,
>you can get thousands of possible entries without finding what you want. A great
>way to hide information. On the other hand, one needs to think around the
>"controlled" word always giving a positive spin to information even if its bad:
>so to make a complaint, or find info about depleted uranium, you've got to look
>up "customer services" ! This latter actually defeats the purpose of controlled
>vocabularies, because one has to think up in one's mind what other words might
>find what you want ! There's no doubt that words control the way we view the
>world. Controlled vocabularies may be useful, but we should have a healthy
>respect for them.
This is not an argument against having controlled vocabularies, though,
it is just an argument against having poor, or poorly applied,
controlled vocabularies.
A good controlled vocabulary should be specific enough that a reasonable
query does not retrieve an unmanageable number of items. (This may
require you to frame the question as a combination of terms, though, not
just a single term). A good controlled vocabulary should also have lots
of "entry terms", so that whatever term you think of you will be pointed
to the preferred term used for indexing.
In fact a really good retrieval system should make the substitution
automatically (telling you that it is doing so) thus making the
retrieval on a non-preferred term as simple as if you had entered a
preferred term in the first place.
It might be acceptable to have the entry
"Complaints" USE "Customer services",
but I think most people would look twice at
"Depleted uranium" USE "Customer services"
:-)
Leonard Will
--
Willpower Information (Partners: Dr Leonard D Will, Sheena E Will)
Information Management Consultants Tel: +44 (0)20 8372 0092
27 Calshot Way, Enfield, Middlesex EN2 7BQ, UK. Fax: +44 (0)20 8372 0094
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