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SERUBA – A new search and learning technology for the internet and intranets.
Get PDFThe paper describes a multi-lingual, ontology-based system for user support and learning in very large, non-domain specific network environments. The languages implemented are English, Spanish, French and Gennan. SERUBA, named after its SEmantic and RUle-BAsed approach, will hit the Internet market early in 2001
Comparing cognitive maps using graph algorithms.
Get PDFThe purpose of this project is two-fold: (1) to examine researchers' knowledge structures on research topics; (2) to compare knowledge structures of experts with those of non-experts. Expert is defined as the researcher who had conducted in-depth research and published on the topic and whose vocabulary used to describe the topic for online searching was the basis for constructing maps. Non-experts are also researchers in the same field but had not done any in-depth work on the topics when they were asked to make a map using the given vocabulary. Both experts and non-experts were allowed to add new terms to or drop original terms from the given vocabulary. The finished cognitive map is a structured layout of the terms on a two-dimensional plane. During the mapping process, subjects also provided thinking-aloud protocols, which revealed additional information on how they saw the relationships of the concepts represented by the terms. Preliminary analyses of ten sets of cognitive maps for ten research topics revealed differences in final vocabulary (after adding and dropping terms), configuration (topdown, left-right, radial, etc.), and foci (focusing on problems, issues or processes). These results were reported at the 1999 ASIS Annual Meeting. Work has just been completed to advance the comparison of semantic closeness using graph theory to convert maps into matrices and to calculate similarities. The following algorithms have been developed for the conversion and calculation of cognitive maps
Information cartography: A proposed model for access to heterogeneous end-user databases.
Get PDFMaps are among our best information systems. They require little documentation and are commonly used and understood. In contrast, many systems of classification seem to lack this acceptance and ease ofuse. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this is particularly true of the way collections of databases are classified for online browsing on library Web sites. This paper argues that some ofthe characteristics that make maps easily usable can be applied to collections of databases. Those characteristics include logical grouping of information, the ability to move smoothly between levels ofdata, and consistent amounts of data at different levels of representation
An approach based on epistemology and sociology of knowledge.
Get PDFThis dissertation is an attempt at an inquiry into the nature and foundation ofknowledge organization in a library and information science (LIS) context. The objective is to contribute to raise the theoretical and practical understanding of knowledge organization within LIS. The main line of argument to be pursued is that a theory of knowledge organization must be stronger connected to a theory of documents. Documents are information channels fonned by technological innovations, cultural and/or scientific nonns and domain specific needs. This must be taken into account in knowledge organization, but it demands an understanding of the production and use of documents in various social contexts
Ekphrasis, Artists’ Intentions, and Anthropological Polemics in Angle Brackets: Toward a Thicker Description of Digital Documentary Material
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Classified displays of web search results.
Get PDFMost text retrieval systems return a ranked list of results in response to a user's search request. Such lists can be long and overwhelming. Furthermore, results on different topics or different aspects of the same topic are intermixed in the list requiring users to sift through a long undifferentiated list to find items of interest. We have been exploring the use of automatic text classification techniques combined with novel interface ideas to allow users to quickly focus in on results of interest. Our approach combines the advantages of human knowledge in an initial classification stage with the broad coverage available with text retrieval systems. In a series of user studies we developed and evaluated several interfaces for structuring search results in order to better understand the cognitive processes that lead to effective analysis of search results. There are two key aspects to our work that we describe in more detail: 1) automatic text classification algorithms for quickly and accurately tagging ew content, and 2) novel interface to support structured search
Automatic indexing by discipline and high-level categories: Methodology and potential applications.
Get PDFThis paper first describes the methodology of journal descriptor (JD) ndexing, based on human indexing at the journal level using only 127 descriptors, and applying statistical methods that associate this journal indexing with text words in a training set of MEDLINE® citations. These associations form the basis for automatic indexing of documents outside the training set. The paper then presents the new technique of semantic type (ST) indexing, based on JD indexing associated with each of 134 ST's, and applying the standard cosine coefficient measure to compare the similarity between the JD indexing of a document and the JD indexing of each ST. The ST indexing of the document is the list of ST's ranked in decreasing order of similarity between the JD indexing of the document and the JD indexing of the ST's. Discussion of the potential usefulness and application of the very general indexing provided by JD's and ST's comprises the remainder of the paper. JD's have been used for more than thirty years to search MEDLINE by discipline, and discipline-based indexing is in evidence on the Web. It is suggested, with several examples, that ST's may convey a unique slant of a document's content not normally represented in standard indexing vocabularies. Use of ST indexing to rank retrieved output is mentioned as a possible application. Notwithstanding the importance of methodology and performance issues, the intent of this paper is to explore questions of the potential utility and applicability of JD and ST indexing
Prototype theory: An alternative concept theory for categorizing sex and gender?
Get PDFClassical theories of classification and concepts, originating in ancient Greek logic, have been criticized by classificationists, feminists, and scholars of marginalized groups because of the rigidity of conceptual boundaries and hierarchical structure. Despite this criticism, the principles of classical theory still underlie major library classification schemes. Rosch’s prototype theory, originating from cognitive psychology, uses Wittgenstein’s “family resemblance” as a basis for conceptual definition. Rather than requiring all necessary and sufficient conditions, prototype theory requires possession of some but not all common qualities for membership in a category. This paper explores prototype theory to determine whether it captures the fluidity of gender to avoid essentialism and accommodate transgender and queer identities. Ultimately, prototype theory constitutes a desirable conceptual framework for gender because it permits commonality without essentialism, difference without eliminating similarity. However, the instability of prototypical definitions would be difficult to implement in a practical environment and could still be manipulated to subordinate. Therefore, at best, prototype theory could complement more stable concept theories by incorporating contextual difference