[Sigia-l] Semantically linked library catalogues

[Jonathan Baker-Bates]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org] 
> On Behalf Of Yogesh Tadwalkar
> Sent: 09 September 2004 22:04
> To: Sigia-l at asis.org
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Semantically linked library catalogues
> 
> Hi,
> 
> For a library project here in Singapore, I am proposing 
> semantically linked catalogue of books. I am writing this 
> post to solicit ideas about how this can be best 
> accomplished. Sorry for a long post.
<snip> 
> What do you think is the best way to create such semantic linking?
> Interviews, questionnaires, surveys, with readers? Or some 
> modified form of collaborative filtering? How do we capture 
> the qualitative human recommendations best and convert that 
> into a semantically linked electronic catalogue?

Wow, that's an interesting project! How many books are you going to be
dealing with? Obvioulsy, a semantic index is going to need to present
some clear advantages over traditional indexes (and things like
searching of abstracts) before people will want to use it, and it seems
to me that as the number of "nodes" in the index increases so will the
time it takes to create a useful amount of linking. By "useful" I mean
links that you would not be able to derive from the traditional sources,
so it's quality as well as quantity that counts.

Assuming we're talking about thousands of books, my first guess would be
to create some form of collaborative interface that readers of the books
can use to knit the index up with. Maybe kick-start it with some
interviews or questionnaires, but then let it build and maintain itself
over time. The work will never be "finished" though. 

I wish you all the best with the project. It feels like a task of
Wikipedia-esque proportions. Fascinating. 

Jonathan




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Internet communications are not secure and therefore Oyster Partners Ltd does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this message. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Oyster Partners Ltd.