February 15, 2010 5:50 pm
Published by Fran
When trying to integrate diverse vocabularies and repositories, the way to go is mapping – metadata crosswalks as they are known in the US. I’ve been looking for software that can handle mappings between taxonomies, of which there are a range on the market, but what is really exciting is the development of automated mapping tools to take much of the “heavy lifting” out of the work (for example Synaptica’s AutoMatch). It seems to me that there is a convergence between semi-automated mapping (we’ll be needing human editorial oversight for some time) and the semantic web project. A combination of... Read more »
January 31, 2010 10:39 am
Published by Fran
A fine example of how much inspiration you can get from randomly talking to the people who are actually engaging with customers was given to me by our Research Guide last week. She wants a video-tagging tool that includes chat functionality, some kind of interactive “pointing” facility, and plenty of metadata fields for adding and describing tags. When she is helping a customer to find the perfect bit of footage, she often finds herself in quite detailed discussions trying to explain why she thinks a shot meets their needs or in trying to understand what it is they don’t like... Read more »
January 10, 2010 4:29 pm
Published by Fran
I heard Umberto Eco lecture on the search for a perfect language about 20 years ago and still find myself referencing him (trying to create a taxonomy that suits everyone would seem to be a similar quest). The lectures were nothing to do with my course really, so I benefited from that serendipitous knowledge discovery that just happens when you have time and space to explore ideas. So I was pleased when a few weeks ago this interview with Eco in der Spiegel happened upon me in the twittersphere (what’s the protocol for referencing tweets?). In the interview, Eco asserts... Read more »
December 30, 2009 5:23 pm
Published by Fran
FUMSI Shop – FUMSI Folio on Taxonomies and Tagging looks like a useful resource (well, I’m biased – it has one of my articles in it!).
December 14, 2009 9:08 am
Published by Fran
Perhaps I am starting to suffer from “deformation professionelle”, but I am constantly surprised by how often I am still asked “Why do we need classification now we have free text search and Google?”. This post is designed to answer the question. If you are an info pro, it won’t tell you anything you don’t already know, but as always I’d appreciate suggestions and additions. The question seems to me a bit like asking “Why do we need scalpels now we have invented scissors?”. Scissors are a brilliant invention and they do many wonderful things – just like Google –... Read more »
November 16, 2009 5:21 pm
Published by Fran
A wise taxonomist once said to me “taxonomies are technology agnostic” and I’ve been thinking about why systems are not taxonomy agnostic. If you underpin a taxonomy with a thesaurus, can you use that to map one taxonomy to another, without altering either taxonomy? You can keep both taxonomies as metadata attached to your asset and expose one or the other depending on user choice. It’s just an interface issue. The mapping would enable cross navigation, so you could wander down one taxonomy, skip to another, then pop back to the first one if you wanted. You could attach folksonomies... Read more »
November 7, 2009 6:18 pm
Published by Fran
I enjoyed the LIKE dinner the other Thursday. The speaker Tim Buckley-Owen spoke on the theme “From Walled Garden to Amazon Jungle” describing the changing environment that information professionals find themselves in. He spoke of how disintermediation is often perceived as a threat in the information world, but that this is a mistake, because out in the jungle, the services of an expert guide become indispensable if you are to avoid getting completely lost and falling prey to posionous snakes and other hazards. He pointed out that at least one other profession is facing a similarly shifting environment – the... Read more »
November 2, 2009 1:51 pm
Published by Fran
I went to an interesting event last Monday night for UNESCO World Audio Visual Archives Heritage day, held at BAFTA in London. Professor John Ellis (Department of Media Arts, Royal Holloway, University of London) talked about the growing use of TV archives, particularly news footage, in academia, pointing out that over time such material becomes increasingly valuable in such diverse areas as physiology – for example in studying the effects of ageing by analysing footage of presenters and actors who have had long careers, and town planning, as footage can reveal the buildings that previously occupied a site being considered... Read more »
October 17, 2009 9:04 am
Published by Fran
I am sorry not to be able to make it to the UDC conference Classification at a Crossroads (via ISKO UK) in the Hague, as I am trying to get a better grasp of UDC at the moment. I would especially like to hear the paper on UDC and folksonomies. One of the issues I am thinking about is how to preserve the richness of a UDC-based classification while increasing usability. I am mulling over whether harvesting folksonomic tagging is a good way to get at the terminology that users prefer, and whether attaching additional thesaurus terms to a core... Read more »
October 9, 2009 12:30 pm
Published by Fran
I was very flattered to be mentioned by Bob Bater in this KOnnect post: Trying to please everyone. I wanted to spend my research time on something that would be of practical interest to taxonomy professionals, while avoiding the danger of becoming too philosophical. As Bob has such extensive experience in taxonomy work, I am delighted that he found my project interesting.