[Sigia-l] precoordinate indexing

[Peter Van Dijck]

Question: I'm trying to figure out what "precoordinate indexing" really 
means, in a web context.

http://www.archivists.org/glossary/term_details.asp?DefinitionKey=993

Let's say we have an article about Shakespeare's lovelife. In 
precoordinate indexing, we have to put that under the categories:
- Shakespeare
- Skakespeare's lovelife
- lovelife
whereas in postcoordinate indexing, we have to put it under the categories
- Shakespeare
- lovelife
and the system will also show it under Shakespeare's lovelife.

Something like that. In precoordinate, you have to list out all the 
combinations, in post-coordinate, you let the system/user generate 
combinations. Is that correct? And if so, is it correct to say that 
these concepts are useful in a manual environment, but when you're 
dealing with databases and such, the concept of precoordinate indexing 
becomes pretty much irrelevant? This page 
http://www.archivists.org/glossary/term_details.asp?DefinitionKey=989 
says: "The flexibility associated with postcoordinate systems is lost 
when index terms must be printed out on paper or on conventional catalog 
cards."

Mmmm..

PeterV