Information Retrieval Design, a book by James D. Anderson and Jose Perez-Carballo
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Chapter 17. Arrangement of Displayed Indexes

Contents of Chapter 17

17.1. Alphanumeric Displays.
17.2. Alphanumeric Arrangement in Hypertext Displays.
17.3. Relational Classified Displays.
17.3.1 Display of Dewey Decimal Classification in Hypertext.
17.3.2. Constructing and Displaying a Faceted Classification.
17.3.2.1. Display of Faceted Classification in Print Media.
17.4. Our Examples.
17.4.1. A Book Index.
17.4.2. An Indexing and Abstracting Service.
17.4.3. A Full-Text Encyclopedia/Digital Library.


1 purpose of displayed indexes

2 psychological advantages of displayed indexes

3 options for arrangement of displayed indexes

4 relational classified displays; definition of classification

5

6 advantages of alphanumeric displays

7 advantages of relational classified displays

8 alphanumeric displays versus relational classified displays

17.1. Alphanumeric Displays.

9 problematic nature of alphanumeric displays

10

11

12 controversies in alphanumeric arrangement; roman numerals in alphanumeric arrangement

13

14 standards for alphanumeric arrangement

● ALA: American Library Association (1980), Filing Committee. ALA filing rules . Chicago: American Library Association; 1980. ix, 50 p.

● LC: Library of Congress (1980). Library of Congress filing rules . Prepared by John C. Rather and Susan C. Biebel. Library of Congress. Processing Services. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service; 1980. 111 p.

● NISO-1: "Alphanumeric arrangement," in Anderson, James D. (1997a). Guidelines for indexes and related information retrieval devices . Bethesda, MD: NISO Press; 1997: 32-35. vii, 53 p. (NISO technical report; 2).

● NISO-2: Wellisch, Hans H. (1999). Guidelines for the alphabetical arrangement of letters and sorting of numerals and other symbols . Bethesda, MD: NISO Press; c1999. vi, 20 p. (NISO technical report; 3).

15 spaces in alphanumeric arrangement

16 punctuation in alphanumeric arrangement

17

18 numbers in alphanumeric arrangement

19 abbreviations; acronyms in alphanumeric arrangement

20 initialisms in alphanumeric arrangement

21 non-alphanumeric criteria in alphanumeric arrangement

22 subject headings in alphanumeric arrangement

23

24

25 ampersand in alphanumeric arrangement

26 examples of alphanumeric arrangement

17.2. Alphanumeric Arrangement in Hypertext Displays.

27

28

29 staged display of alphanumeric indexes in hypertext

30 visual limitations of hypertext displays

31 advantages of hypertext displays

32 goals of alphanumeric displays in hypertext; scrolling in hypertext displays

33

34 fish-eye menu displays

36

37

38 staged display of alphanumeric indexes in hypertext

39 display of subject headings in hypertext

40 display of string indexing in hypertext

41 visual resolution of print displays

42 display of index headings in hypertext media

43 staged display of index headings in hypertext

44 staged display of faceted index headings in hypertext

45

46

47

17.3. Relational Classified Displays.

48 alphanumeric displays versus relational classified displays

49 definition of classification

50 classification versus indexing

51

52 syntax in classification

53 display of classification

54 literature on classification

● Anderson, James D. (1988). Indexing and classification: file organization and display for information retrieval. In: Weinberg, Bella Hass, ed. Indexing: the state of our knowledge and the state of our ignorance: proceedings of the 20th annual meeting of the American Society of Indexers; 1988 May 13; New York, NY. Medford, NJ: Learned Information; 1989: 69-83. x, 134 p. ISBN 0-938734-32-6.

● Bean, Carol A.; Green, Rebecca (2001). Relationships in the organization of knowledge. Dordrecht, Netherlands; Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers; c2001. ix, 232 p. (Information science and knowledge management; v. 2). ISBN 0-7923-6813-4.

● Beghtol, Clare (1986). Bibliographic classification theory and text linguistics: aboutness analysis, intertextuality and the cognitive act of classifying documents. Journal of documentation . 42: 84-113; 1986 June.

● Bliss, Henry Evelyn (1997). Bliss bibliographic classification . 2d ed. Edited by J. Mills and Vanda Broughton, with the assistance of Valerie Lang and Colin Neilson. London; Boston: Butterworths; London; New York: Bowker-Saur; 1977-[continuing].

● Bose, H. (1990). Universal Decimal Classification: theory and practice . 2nd rev. and enl. ed. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers; New York: distributed by Apt Books; viii, 192 p. ISBN 8120707168.

● Bowker, Geoffrey C.; Star, Susan Leigh (1999). Sorting things out: classification and its consequences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, c1999. xii, 377 p. (Inside technology).

● Bowker, Geoffrey C.; Star, Susan Leigh (1998). How classifications work: problems and challenges in an electronic age [special issue]. Library trends. 47(2): 185-337; 1998 Fall.

● Bowker, Geoffrey C. (1998). The kindness of strangers: kinds and politics in classification systems [example of International classification of diseases]. Library trends. 47(2): 255-292; 1998 Fall.

● British Standards Institution (1961). Universal Decimal Classification . Prepared by the B.S.I. under the auspices of the International Federation for Documentation (F.I.D.) and with the concurrence of the Lake Placid Club Education Foundation, New York. B.S. 1000A (F.I.D. No. 289) Abridged English ed. 025.45, 3rd ed., rev. London: British Standards Institution; 1961. 254 p.

● British Standards Institution (1963). Guide to the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC). B.S. 1000 C: 1963, (F.I.D. No. 345). London: British Standards Institution; c1963. 128 p.

● Chan, Lois Mai (1996). Dewey Decimal Classification: a practical guide . 2d ed. Albany, NY: Forest Press; 1996.

● Chan, Lois Mai (1999). A guide to the Library of Congress Classification . 5th ed. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited; 1999.

● Coates, Eric (1988). The role of classification in information retrieval: action and thought in the contribution of Brian Vickery. Journal of documentation. 44: 216-225; 1988 Sept.

● Dahlberg, Ingetraut (1978). A referent-oriented, analytical concept theory for INTERCONCEPT. International classification . 5(3): 143-151; 1978.

● Dahlberg, Ingetraut (1981). Conceptual definitions for INTERCONCEPT. International classification . 8(1): 16-22; 1981.

● Foskett, A. C. (1984). Better dead than read: further studies in critical classification [Augmented title: presented at a colloquium held by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, UCLA, June 1982]. Library resources and technical services . 28: 346-359; 1984 Oct.

● Gilchrist, Alan; Strachan, David, ed. (1990). The UDC: essays for a new decade. London: Aslib, the Association for Information Management, c1990. vi, 97 p. ISBN 0-85142-265-9.

Knowledge organization: official quarterly journal of the International Society for Knowledge Organization. Formerly International Classification. Includes frequent bibliographies of recent literature.

● Kwasnik, Barbara H. (1989). The influence of context on classificatory behavior. 1989. xiv, 250 leaves. Thesis (Ph. D.)—Rutgers University; 1989.

● Kwasnik, Barbara H. (1999). The role of classification in knowledge representation and discovery. Library trends. 48(1): 22-47; 1999 Summer.

● Langridge, D. W. (Derek Wilton) (1992). Classification: its kinds, elements, systems and applications. London; New York: Bowker-Saur; in association with Wagga Wagga, New South Wales: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University; c1992. 84 p. (Topics in library and information studies). ISBN 0-86291-622-4.

● Lincoln, Bruce (1989). Discourse and the construction of society: comparative studies of myth, ritual, and classification. New York: Oxford University Press; 1989. ix, 238 p.

● McIlwaine, Ia (1997). The Universal decimal classification: some factors concerning its origins, development, and influence. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 48: 331-339; 1997 Apr.

● Miksa, Francis L. (1984). The development of classification at the Library of Congress. University of Ill. at Urbana-Champaign. Graduate School of Lib. & Information Science; 1984. 78 p.

● Miksa, Francis L. (1989). The DDC, the universe of knowledge, and the post-modern library. Albany, NY: Forest Press, a Division of OCLC Online Computer Library Center; 1998. vii, 99 p. ISBN 0-910608-64-4.

● Olson, Hope Alene (1998). Mapping beyond Dewey's boundaries: constructing classificatory space for marginalized knowledge domains [examining Dewey decimal classification for bias]. Library trends. 47(2): 233-254; 1998 Fall.

● Ranganathan, S. R. (Shiyali Ramamrita, rao sahib) (1965). The Colon classification. New Brunswick, NJ: Graduate School of Library Service, Rutgers, the State University; 1965. 289 p. (Artandi, Susan, ed. Rutgers series on systems for the intellectual organization of information; v. 4).

● Richmond, Phyllis A. (1988). Precedent-setting contributions to modern classification [American view of Vickery's accomplishments]. Journal of documentation. 44: 242-249; 1988 Sept.

● Satija, Mohinder Partap (1988). Classification: some fundamentals, some myths, some realities. Knowledge organization. 25(1/2): 32-35.

● Satija, Mohinder Partap (1992). Ranganathan and classification: a chronology 1924-1992. International classification. 19(1): 3-6; 1992.

● Svenonius, Elaine (1992). Ranganathan and classification science. Libri. 42: 176-183; 1992 July/Sept.

● Thomas, Alan R. (1995). Blissful beliefs: Henry Evelyn Bliss counsels on classification. Cataloging and classification quarterly. 19(3/4): 17-22; 1995.

● Vickery, Brian Campbell (1966). Faceted classification schemes. New Brunswick, NJ: Graduate School of Library Service, Rutgers the State University; 1966. 108 p. (Artandi, Susan, ed. Rutgers series on systems for the intellectual organization of information; v. 5).

● Vickery, Brian Campbell (1991). Eric de Grolier's "big book" on classification [published in 1956, its opinions are still valid]. International classification. 18(3): 170; 1991.

● Wiegand, Wayne A. (1988). The "Amherst method": the origins of the Dewey decimal classification scheme. Libraries and culture. 33(2): 175-194; 1998 Spring.

55 research on classification

56 research on relational classified displays in hypertext

57 role of relational classified displays in information retrieval

58

59 display of classification in hypertext

60 relational classified displays on world-wide web

61 traditional classification versus faceted classification for hypertext displays

62 advantages of traditional classification

17.3.1. Display of Dewey Decimal Classification in Hypertext.

63 notation and captions for classification

64 role of classification captions; notation for classification

65

66

67 display of Dewey decimal classification in hypertext

68 role of notation in display of classification

69 postings in display of classification

70 display of Dewey decimal classification in hypertext

17.3.2. Constructing and Displaying a Faceted Classification.

71 faceted classification

73 flexibility of facet order in faceted classification

75 determination of facets for classification

76 facets for classification of literature

● Arts and Humanities

● Automated Language Processing

● Bioinformatics

● Classification Research

● Computerized Retrieval Services

● Digital Libraries

● Education for Information Science

● History and Foundations of Information Science

● Human-Computer Interaction

● Information Analysis and Evaluation

● Information Architecture

● Information Generation and Publishing

● Information Needs, Seeking and Use

● Information Policy

● International Information Issues

● Knowledge Management

● Library Automation and Networks

● Management

● Medical Informatics

● Metrics

● Scientific and Technical Information Systems

● Technology, Information, and Society

● Visualization, Images, and Sound

78 Classification Research SIG of American Society for Information Science and Technology

79 special interest groups of American Library Association

80 facets for library and information science

● Participants & Agencies — including persons, groups, organizations, institutions, companies, libraries, and archives.

● Reference & Retrieval Resources — including (1) access resources such as IR databases, indexes, catalogs; and (2) message/text/document collections and resources in all media and formats.

● Tools & Equipment — including computers, buildings, furniture.

● Operations, Processes & Events — including human information behavior, searching, collection development, acquisition, cataloging, indexing, reference & information services, conservation & preservation, building & collection maintenance, administration & management, and design, evaluation & research.

● Disciplines & Related Theories: the sciences, applied sciences/technology, social sciences, history, humanities, arts, law, etc.

● Places

● Times

● [Attributes] Our attributes will be dispersed into the facets or subfacets where they apply, so that, for example, personal attributes or characteristics (such as ethnicity, gender, etc.) will be found with our persons subfacet and attributes of our reference and retrieval resources (such as format, medium, language) will be found in that subfacet.

81 arrangement of topics within facets

82 arrangement of facets for persons; for groups; for institutions

● Individual persons:

          <by name> — in alphanumeric order!

● Individuals and groups of persons

                <by characteristics>

                      <by role or occupation>: users, professionals, paraprofessionals, vendors, librarians, information scientists, archivists, catalogers, indexers, bibliographers, etc.

                    <by age>

                    <by gender and gender identity>

                    <by ethnicity>

                    <by sexual orientation>

                    <by health and abilities status>

                    <by religion>

                    <by educational level>,

                    etc., etc.

● Individual institutions

          <by name> — in alphanumeric order

● Institutions

          <by type>, e.g.,

             libraries <also by type: public, academic, special, etc.>

                    archives <also by type>

                    governments and government agencies <by level: central/federal, state/provincial, county, municipal, etc.>

                    non-profit, non-governmental organizations

                    businesses <by industry>

                    etc.

83 arrangement of facets for ethnicities

Some of our subfacet categories could be quite large, depending on the collection of messages to be indexed and classified. If there is a special emphasis on ethnic (or cultural) characteristics of library users, we might need a very complete classification of ethnicities. The Dewey Decimal Classification has a separate table for ethnicities (its Table 5), with thousands of categories. We might usefully borrow its descriptors and arrangement (with appropriate permission, of course!). DDC's table 5 is organized in the following ethnocentric manner, giving prominence to North Americans and Europeans:

—1  North Americans

—2  British, English, Anglo-Saxons

—3  Germanic peoples

—4  Modern Latin peoples (French, Walloons, Catalans)

—5  Italians, Romanians, related groups

—6  Spanish and Portuguese (including Latin Americans)

—7  Other Italic peoples (Ancient Romans)

—8  Greeks and related groups

—9  Other racial, ethnic, national groups

—91  Other Indo-European peoples (South Asians,

          Iranians, Celts, Slaves, Balts)

—92  Semites (Hebrews, Israelis, Jews; Arabs,Ethiopians)

—93  Non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic peoples

—94  Peoples of North and West Asian origin; Dravidians

        (Turkic peoples; Finno-Ugrians, Hungarians, etc.)

—95  East and Southeast Asian peoples (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans,

        Burmese, etc.)

—96  Africans and people of African descent

—97  North American native peoples

—98  South American native peoples

—99  Australian & Southeast Asian native peoples

—999 Miscellaneous peoples [!]: Basques, Chechens, etc.

84 arrangement of facets for databases

● IR databases

           <by type>

                    A&I services

                    back-of-the-book indexes

                    bibliographies

                    digital libraries

                    library catalogs

                    card catalogs

                    OPACs

          <by data models>

          <by parts/aspects>

                    <by subject scope>

                    <by subject domain>

                    <by documentary scope>

                    <by documentary units>

● indexes

          <by type>

                    displayed indexes

                               alphanumeric indexes

                               relational classified indexes

                    non-displayed indexes

                    <indexes for types of messages>

                              book indexes

                              film indexes

                              periodical indexes

                              slide indexes

                              video indexes

                              webpage/website indexes

                    <by parts/aspects>

                               <by syntax>

                              <by media>

                              <by codes/symbols>

                              <by language>

                              <by specificity of indexing vocabulary>

                              <by exhaustivity of indexing>

                              etc., etc.

85 arrangement of facets for document collections

Also within our "reference and retrieval resources" facet we have a subfacet for message/text/document collections and resources. These can be arranged by media (print, video, film, digital, etc.), by format and genre (books, pamphlets, broadsheets and broadsides; photographs, slides, filmstrips, films; poetry, drama, fiction, novels, short stories; etc.), and of course by discipline and topic. They can also be arranged by text type (language text, musical text, visual text, performance text). And language texts can be arranged by language.

86 arrangement of facets for languages

The classified relational arrangement of languages was briefly discussed in section 12.2.4. Here we add more detail. There are thousands of human languages, as well as artificial or created languages (such as indexing languages, programming languages, etc.) The traditional classification of natural human languages illustrates the principle of ethnocentricity: When there is no obvious best order for categories, arrange them in the order of potential interest to your clientele. The arrangement of ethnicities by the DDC illustrated above is an example of ethnocentric arrangement. The DDC provides ways for other cultures to move their topics of primary interest to "the head of the line!"

87 arrangement of facets for language families

● Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic) — which includes Arabic and Hebrew.

● Indo-European — including languages long spoken from India to Europe.

● Sino-Tibetan languages — including Chinese.

● Ural-Altaic — including Korean, Turkish, Hungarian, Estonian, and Finnish.

88

89 arrangement of facets for Indo-European languages

Similarly, we must decide on the arrangement of the Indo-European languages. Again, they could be arranged in alphabetical order. But even in a hypertext display, there are 17 subfamilies listed by the Library of Congress Subject Headings under Indo-European languages. If we listed them alphabetically, we would begin with Albanian, Anatolian languages, Armenian, Baltic languages, Celtic languages before we reach Germanic languages, which includes English.

90

● Germanic languages — which includes English(!), as well as German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages.

● Italic languages (Romance languages) — French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian.

● Greek

● Slavic languages — Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Czech, Polish.

91 arrangement of facets for Germanic languages

To finish our classification of language, how should the Germanic languages be arranged? Library of Congress subject headings simply lists them in alphabetical order: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, Frisian, German, Gothic, Low German, Norwegian, Scots, and Swedish. The Dewey decimal classification groups them into East Germanic, North Germanic, and West Germanic, and it lists West Germanic first, because that includes not only Dutch and Frisian, but English. Then comes East Germanic (German), followed by North Germanic (the Scandinavian languages).

92 arrangement of facets for places

Our place facet might include both places by general characteristics (such as mountains, oceans, or areas of low economic development) and named geographic places and entities (such as the Rocky Mountains). Focusing on geographic places, how might they best be arranged? We could, of course, put all places in one large alphabetical sequence, so that the following places would fall together:

Aachen, Germany

Aba, Zaire

Abakan, Russia

Abashiri, Japan

93

94 arrangement of facets by other facets

95

     ● libraries

               <by place>

                         Africa

                         Asia

                         Australia

                         Europe

                         North America

                         South America

96

     ● persons

               <by ethnicities>

                         Africans

                         African Americans

                         Europeans

                                   French

               <by occupation>

                         barbers

                         computer scientists

                         librarians

97 display of faceted classification

98 postings for categories versus postings for descriptors

99 dynamic postings in faceted relational classified displayed indexes

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

17.3.2.1. Display of Faceted Classification in Print Media.

109 citation order of facets

110 citation order of facets in Bliss bibliographic classification

111 role facets versus type facets in citation order of facets

112

113

114

115 notation for classification

116 types of notation for classification

117 retroactive notation for classification of library and information science

118

119

17.4. Our Examples.

17.4.1. A Book Index.

120 alphanumeric arrangement of book indexes

121

122 display of alphanumeric indexes in printed books

123 relational classified displays for printed books

124 arrangement of displayed indexes for electronic books

125 hypertext indexes for electronic books

126

127 postings in displayed indexes for electronic books

17.4.2. An Indexing and Abstracting Service.

128 displayed indexes for indexing and abstracting services in print media

129 displayed indexes for indexing and abstracting services in electronic media

130 display of results for electronic searches

131

132

17.4.3. A Full-Text Encyclopedia/Digital Library.

133

134


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