[Sigia-l] cross-reference/thesaraus -type question

[Jens-Erik Mai]

So, yes, this is difficult, the main problem can be summed up to that
fact that there very seldom exist a term Q in a controlled vocabulary A
that have the exact same meaning as a term Q' in controlled vocabulary B
even for controlled vocabularies that cover the same subject field.  In
other words, mapping will always be an approximation.  There are three
main reasons for this:
1. Pre-coordination.  The levels and kinds of pre-coordination vary from
controlled vocabulary to controlled vocabulary, so a concept might not
be expressed using the exact same coordination of terms in two different
controlled vocabularies.
2. Hierarchical structure.  The meaning of any term in a controlled
vocabulary is determined by the term's place in the hierarchical
structure, so even if the same term exists in two indexing languages the
meaning of the terms might not be same.  
3. Absence of concepts.  The level of specificity might vary from
controlled vocabulary to controlled vocabulary, so concepts that are
expressed in one controlled vocabulary might not be expressed in the
other controlled vocabulary.  

Good luck :-)

Jens-Erik

-----Original Message-----
From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On
Behalf Of Gary Carlson
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 8:53 AM
To: Lyle Kantrovich; SIGIA-L
Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] cross-reference/thesaraus -type question

I think that there are a number of issues which play into a successful
taxonomy project.  Getting the bits into a database, is just one of
them.  Other aspects that often come in larger taxonomy projects
include:

1- the change control process.  Who gets to make changes, who (and what
systems) are impacted by the change, etc.  This should definitely be
considered during the analysis phase.

2- integration.  How many systems are going to use this taxonomy?  If
just one system is going to use the taxonomy then the problem is a bit
easier, however, if the taxonomy is worth creating, it is probably going
to used by more than one system, thus there will need to be a level of
integration between the taxonomy and the various systems.

3- the modeling environment.  The people with taxonomy development
experience are not necessarily going to be DBAs.  They will need a
flexible and usable environment to work with at least some abstraction
from the database.  Also, it may be that business owners (with no dba or
taxonomy experience) will need to make changes or suggestions from time
to time so you may need a UI for them as well.

As for other people or organizations with expertise in this area you may
want to consider:

Joseph Busch at Taxonomy Strategies:  www.taxonomystrategies.com
Wendi Pohs at InfoClearOnline:  http://www.infoclearonline.com/

Good Luck

-----Original Message-----
From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On
Behalf Of Lyle Kantrovich
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 11:53 PM
To: SIGIA-L
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] cross-reference/thesaraus -type question

On 12/15/05, Listera <listera at rcn.com> wrote:
> This may or may not be complicated to *you* but that's what a DBA
learns in
> DB architecture 101. I challenge you to demonstrate what's NOT trivial
(at
> the worst) about a many-to-many mapping.
>
> This says nothing about what the difficulty may be in establishing the
> *semantic* nature of the relationship between various
lists/taxonomies/etc.
> But once that's done by an IA, as I indicated, the *implementation* of
it DB
> terms is trivial. Let me repeat that, it would be trivial, *for a DBA
or a
> data architect*. If your DBA experience has shown you otherwise, in
the
> narrow sense of record matching, do share.

When someone says they'd like help to "understand how best to
implement the cross-referencing of headings", I don't assume they are
looking for statements about how easy it'll be for a DBA to do their
job.  It seems to me that what Frank was looking for from an IA list
was advice on the IA activities related to his project.  Maybe I
assume too much.

So I'm sorry, please continue telling us more about how easy it'll be
for the DBA.  Any thoughts on how simple the project will be to
manage?  How about requirements gathering...should they hire an intern
or outsource it?

...BACK TO Frank's IA/taxonomy/thesaurus question:
I checked my bookmarks and found something that might help you out. 
You might read Amy Warner's Taxonomy Primer found here:
http://www.lexonomy.com/publications/aTaxonomyPrimer.html

She's exactly the kind of person I'd call to chat with about the kind
of project you're looking at.  (Note, I've never met or talked to Amy,
and don't know much about her other that what her site tells us...but
she's obviously skilled in this area.)

Anyone else know of any taxonomists or IAs with deep expertise in such
things?


PLUG: Buy my book, Cost-Justifying Sarcasm

Lyle

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