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Topic Modeling and Facet Analysis of an Emerging Domain: Research Data Management and Data Curation
Full text linkResearch data management (RDM) is often seen as the overarching field that permits research data to be managed, and is related to the field of data curation (DC), a subset of digital curation. Together, RDM and DC (RDM/DC) allow information professionals to work with clients and each other to make data available in support of the research enterprise. An emerging area of scholarly communication, RDM/DC represents a rich area of study from the perspective of knowledge organization (KO). This paper explores the following research question: What can facet analysis tell us about the emerging field of RDM/DC? First, the MAchine Learning for LanguagE Toolkit (MALLET) implementation of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) is used for topic modelling of abstracts of the RDM/DC scholarly literature. A preliminary analysis of this empirical data by the research team yields a number of topics and, when possible, their relevant aspects or contexts. Facet analysis principles are next applied to these results, producing four general facets: Practice, Stakeholders, Resources, and Study of RDM/DC; however, complex notions infused throughout the field such as “services” and “metadata” do not appear outright in the analysis. Each facet is then further explored through logical division, and the resulting system is encoded in Protégé and visualized using WebVOWL. We conclude that the major areas of emphasis in this data-intensive field will be fundamentally of interest to those in LIS, in scholarly communication, and perhaps increasingly, in KO and other fields that manage and make available data of all kinds
Ethics for Contingent Classifications: Rorty’s Pragmatic Ethics and Postmodern Knowledge Organization
Full text linkThere is potential disconnect between a view of classification as historically and culturally contingent and the ethics of KO. For instance, Mai (2011) urges a shift away from the ‘modernity’ of received classification theory, towards a more pluralistic view that acknowledges the social, political, and historical contingency of classification as a practice. While this is a view shared by many, it is not evident how such an approach can support an ethics which prioritizes a commitment to truth, fairness, democracy, and the common good. A view of such values as merely contingent factors in classification activities would seem to undermine their use as ethical ideals, posing a choice between abandoning modernist tendencies and a workable ethics of KO. An ethics that is consonant with core methodological commitments is critical if we seek to preserve both disciplinary rigor and claim to serve the common good. Rorty's thought is presented as an ethics compatible with a view of classification as contingent. His suggestion of an ironic ethics is presented and distinguished from cynicism, which is a common misinterpretation of this aspect of his thought. Finally, his ethical principle of solidarity is shown to be broadly compatible with the traditional values of the field of LIS, while approaching it from a philosophical standpoint that doesn’t demand or encourage the universalizing tendencies which Mai and others have exhorted us to abandon. In short, this paper attempts to preserve the baby of a workable ethics while discarding the bathwater of universalism in knowledge organization
Three Questions Concerning the Foundation of Multi-perspective Classification
Full text linkThis paper contributes to the discussion of the purposes and functions of multi-perspective classification by raising foundational questions. Starting from the motivations of developing multi-perspective classification, the author discusses questions concerning the accommodation of different perspectives. The discussion leads to the question “what is multi-perspective classification?” and envisions a possible amelioration. Through discussing the three questions concerning the foundation of multi-perspective classification, the goal is to identify challenges and thoughts for developing multi-perspective classification before focusing on specific implementations
Disciplinary, Asynthetic, Domain-Dependent: NARCIS a National Research Classification in Isolation
Full text linkNARCIS, the National Academic Research and Collaborations Information System, is the national research portal of the Netherlands. NARCIS is governed by a knowledge organization system—a classification—by the same name. For a variety of reasons—a disciplinary base, a lack of synthesis, and domain-dependency—the NARCIS classification is highly compartmentalized and therefore inhospitable for interoperability. In addition, the classification has been revised repeatedly leading to the problems of scheme-versioning and subject ontogeny
Perspective, Voice, Reference, and Warrant: A Sample of Ameliorations to the Multi-Perspective Design Requirement and Some Arguments Against It
Full text linkIn this concept paper I sketch these potential ameliorations at a high level and then work to address some foundational issues associated with attempts at communicating multiple perspectives in a single classification scheme. These include both Melanie Feinberg’s work on rhetorical stance of the classificationist (2010, 2012) and Birger Hjørland’s work on explicit philosophical grounding and classification scheme design (2013)
The Critical Catalog: Giving Voice to Diverse Library Materials through Provocative Design
Full text linkAlthough laudable strides have been made to highlight and provide access to diverse library materials about and made by traditionally marginalized communities, current approaches are curatorial, non-scalable, and non-systematic. Using a critical design approach, we address how libraries might move beyond curatorial practices with the proposal of a “Critical Catalog” that advocates for diverse materials and discusses the problems and challenges of categorizing identity. The proposed provocative catalog offers the possibility to raise awareness of diverse library materials; expose readers to new and different resources, ideas and cultures; alter reading habits; and ultimately provide more equitable representation by preventing the inadvertent and unintentional erasure of diverse library materials, thus giving a stronger voice to marginalized communities
Cultural Biases in Knowledge Organization Systems: A Discussion Regarding International University Rankings
Full text linkThis paper aims to: 1. present university rankings as knowledge organization systems; 2. compare the structures from the following rankings: Times, QS, Shangai, and Linden; and 3. point out cultural biases which permeate these university rankings
Moving Towards an Actor-Based Model for Subject Indexing
Full text linkThis paper presents a preliminary exploration of an actor-based model for subject indexing, which considers four types of actors: professional indexers, domain experts, casual indexers, and machine algorithms. The paper describes each of the four actors, enumerating differences in approach, training, methodology, priorities, and tools, as well as similarities and historical collaborations between actors. The paper then explores how the actor-based model for subject indexing might serve as a complement to existing models that focus on processes, methods, disciplinary norms, and cultural biases by defining and exploring the following key properties of an actor-based model for subject indexing: 1) actors are the primary drivers of subject indexing work, 2) observing and understanding many types of actors’ processes in real-life situations is as valuable as prescribing correct methods for professional subject indexing, and 3) multiple and different types of actors can perform subject analysis work and subject representation work on the same information objects, and these hybrid (multi-actor) approaches to subject indexing are explicitly supported. These key properties suggest that an actor-based model for subject indexing might open new research opportunities and encourage new hybrid and collaborative approaches to knowledge organization
Challenges of Constructing a Multiple-Perspective Domain Analysis of Neurodiversity
Full text linkWhen constructing a domain analysis of a phenomenon, researchers will likely encounter complexity in the method and resulting outcome, such as a taxonomy or thesaurus. This paper reflects upon a recent endeavor to conduct a domain analysis of neurodiversity with a focus on Autism Spectrum Disorder. Through the construction of this multi-faceted taxonomy, the researchers faced challenges regarding framing the perspectives represented by the taxonomy and addressing gaps and changes in the taxonomy. These challenges raise methodological, ethical, and technical issues. Ultimately, the researchers’ biases are inherent in their editorial decisions and are influential, yet often hidden, factors in the domain analysis
Mapping the KO Community
Full text linkKnowledge organization (KO) is considered a distinctive disciplinary focus of information science, with strong connections to other intellectual domains such as philosophy, computer science, psychology, sociology, and more. Given its inherent interdisciplinarity, we ask what might a map of the physical, cultural and intellectual geography of the KO community look like? Who is participating in this discipline’s scholarly discussion, and from what locations, both geographically and intellectually? Using the unit of authorship in the journal Knowledge Organization, where is the nexus of KO activity, and what patterns of authorship can be identified? What indices can be generated to describe the KO community of researchers as it has evolved? Cultural characteristics were applied as a lens to explore who is and is not participating in the international conversation about KO. World Bank GNI per capita estimates were used to compare relative wealth of countries and Hofstede’s Individualism dimension was identified as a way of understanding attributes of countries whose scholars are participating in this dialog. Descriptive statistics were generated through Excel, and data visualizations were rendered through Tableau Public and TagCrowd. The current project offers one method for examining an international and interdisciplinary field of study, but also suggests potential for analyzing other interdisciplinary areas within the larger discipline of information science