Research Methods in Information by Alison Jane Pickard (2007–Facet publishing), is a worthy reference tome covering topics from the various research paradigms through to how to present a dissertation. It reads primarily as a textbook for students, but would be a handy resource for anyone new to research.
A bizarre classification game from the University of Montreal. There are some wonderfully inventive classifications that make mine look really unimaginative!
I have now finished reading this splendid book by Patrick Lambe. It is one of those books that is really hard to take notes from because you just want to write so much of it down. It is extremely readable and combines clear explanations of theory with sound practical advice and insights from real world experience. I particularly appreciated definitions of concepts like the Babel instinct, boundary objects, salience, and archetypes.
Is there a language problem with quantum physics? – fundamentals – 05 January 2008 – New Scientist is a fascinating proposition. David Peat is a theoretical physicist who points out that European languages are bound up with notions of Newtonian physics and classical categorisation. He and the US physicists David Bohm held a meeting in 1992 with the elders of the Blackfoot, Micmac and Ojibwa tribes, who speak Algonquian langauages. The speakers of these languages don’t tend to divide the world into categories of objects but talk about things in terms of processes. They describe things and people as being... Read more »
The Essentials of Metadata and Taxonomy Conference in London on March 10th. Join a host of leading experts as they discuss how your business can manage and maintain a successful taxonomy and metadata strategies, essential for managing both internal and external data. This looks good. I plan to be there! I have also been in touch with the organisers who will give me a discount for a group booking. If anyone is interested, please leave me a comment.
I’ve now spoken to two more taxonomy consultants who both expressed the opinion that folksonomies should be embraced, but only where they really work, and that they can’t always substitute for formal systems. Would anyone entrust their child’s health to the opinions of a random crowd, rather than a thorough examination by a trained and qualified expert? On a different theme, if you want a comprehensive stock control inventory so that you know how many items to order from your wholesaler, you want to know exactly how many widgets you have in your warehouse, not how many widgets, plus doodahs,... Read more »
A good and detailed introduction to some key Knowledge organisation concepts and a few handy links by a learned chemist (interesting how so many “classifiers” are chemists!). I’m not sure I agree with the distinction between the role of the encylopedist and the information professional (having been both) – it seems to me that there is a lot of overlap! I am also not convinced that it is useful to talk about notions of only being able to categorise a topic successfully once it has ceased to grow. That seems to be calling upon a Platonic ideal where all that... Read more »
76%Are you an Uber-Geek? Quiz courtesy of Frigidaire Parts from PS Appliance Parts I suspected I verged on the geeky, but didn’t expect to score quite that highly!
I’ve just finished Taxonomies for business: Access and Connectivity in a Wired World a very detailed survey, based on 20 case studies, of taxonomies in business contexts. Lots of good basic taxonomy theory, backed up by practical examples. Pretty dense, but very informative.
I have just started reading Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness by Patrick Lambe. Of course, I turned straight to the last chapter – where folksonomies are discussed. Lambe argues that folksonomies work best with large quantities of new content, where social tagging creates some way of grouping similar items quickly and cheaply, but when the users start to demand comprehensiveness and accuracy in their searches, and once the size of the collection becomes too large, some sort of formal taxonomic structure works best. Sites are starting to add traditional facets, like location, to control and focus their social... Read more »