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THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CLASSIFICATION Session 1 Introduction to knowledge organization Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo ([email protected]) 20...

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CLASSIFICATION Session 1 Introduction to knowledge organization Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo ([email protected]) 2022/2023 2023/2024 Academic Year Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo 1 Lecture Overview This session introduces the concept of knowledge creation and the need to collect and organize recorded knowledge. Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo 2 Lecture Outline The key topics to be covered in this session are: 01 02 03 04 General Knowledge Information Classification overview organization carriers Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo Slide 3 Recommended Text Chan, Lois Mai. (2007) Cataloging and classification: an introduction Lanham, Md. Scarecrow Press. Hunter, E. (2009) Classification made simple: an introduction to knowledge organisation and information retrieval Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo 4 TOPIC Insert topic 1 General Overview Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo 2022/2023 Academic Year 5 Introduction Human beings are made to create things. Throughout history, human beings have engaged in different activities to show forth their intellectual capabilities. One major means by which this creativity is exhibited is through writing, drawing, painting etc. Introduction Prior to the twentieth century, information outside the brain was usually stored as symbols or signs on surfaces of stone, clay, animal skin (vellum), papyrus and cellulose. Probably every type of surface has been used to write on at one time or another. Introduction In order to preserve human knowledge, certain organizations or entities have been designated to collect human intellectual output in the form of Books Artifacts Documents Art works, Sound recordings Films Correspondence Government documents And other forms of recorded knowledge. Introduction The main reasons why such institutions exist is to help collect materials or works that result from the intellectual activity of humans For use by current generation And to preserve them for posterity. These institutions are libraries, archives and museums and other cultural institutions. Introduction After these entities collect the fast amount of recorded information, the next thing they need to do is to organize the information collected. If the information is not organized, it is difficult if not impossible to find the information when one is looking for it. When the information is organized, it helps us to Understand the nature of the information that has been collected by an entity To save time for the user and the practitioner To bring similar things together To help us retrieve the material To help preserve the materials Introduction Organization of things is not a preserve for only the selected institutions that collect information resources. As humans we have been created to organize. Psychologists according to Taylor and Joudrey (2009) have indicated that even babies organize images into faces and foods. As we grow we engage in more complex activities to sort things and group things. Though some individuals may have stronger desires than others to be organized. Even our natural world is organized TOPIC Insert Topic 2 2 Knowledge organization Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo 2022/2023 Academic Year 12 Knowledge organization The process by which libraries, archives, museums, commercial organizations and individuals organize information resources for retrieval either for the benefit of humanity or for profit is what we call knowledge organization. Knowledge organization Information does not organize itself, it rather has a tendency toward randomness. Unless there are ways to organize it, it quickly becomes chaos. Considering the vastness of today’s information, and the inevitable and explosive growth of knowledge in the future, it is daunting to consider the task of organizing it so it is accessible. This is the reason libraries organize (classify). TOPIC 3 Information Carriers/ Materials Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo 2022/2023 Academic Year SLIDE 15 Information Carriers/ Materials Organizing knowledge in libraries means organizing many types of information and media: information stored in physical items like books and information stored electronically. Knowledge organization also applies to records that serve as representation of these information materials. Example catalogues Information Carriers/ Materials It is a substance or medium that bears or contains information. It describes the complete range of physical forms for the recording of information. Types of information carriers Print Media: these are printed texts and they include books, pamphlets serials etc. Manuscripts: these are writings made by hand or as typescript, such as letters, minutes of meetings etc. Cartographic materials: these are materials representing the whole or part of the earth surface or any celestial body at any scale. Eg. Maps, plans etc. Types of information carriers Graphic Media: these are two dimensional representation of materials, which can be viewed without a projector (photographs, drawings, charts, postcards) or those that can be projected without motion by means of an optical device (filmstrips, slides, transparencies) Audio Recordings: these are information materials that have recorded sound vibrations. They are also called sound recordings. Types of information carriers Audio Visual Media: These are materials which can be used to provide information that can be seen and heard. They are recorded on films, discs and tapes. Microforms: these are photographically produced documents which have characters in micro images. The characters that have been photographed appear in miniature sizes. These characters cannot be seen with the naked eyes. Digital Media: this present information in electronic form. Examples: Databases, websites, CD ROM (Electronic Resources) Generally speaking these can be re-categorised into book and non-book materials TOPIC Classification 4 Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo 2022/2023 Academic Year SLIDE 21 Classification The word classification comes from the Latin word classis, a term used in ancient Rome to distinguish any one of the six orders into which the people were grouped according to their wealth and importance. We can decide to sort things into classes by any principle or characteristic we please to serve the ends we have in view. The class so made are arranged to form larger classes, and these into yet larger ones, until all the things we have to classify are covered in one large classification. Classification Classification, broadly defined, is the process of organizing knowledge into some systematic order. It has been considered the most fundamental activity of the human mind. Carveth Read defines classification as a mental grouping of facts or phenomena according their resemblances and differences so as to best serve some purpose. It is also defined as the arrangement of things or our notion of them according to resemblances or identities. It is natural and is everywhere. We classify birds and animals, languages, ethnic groups, diseases, occupation etc. Classification Classification is essential if we want to make sense of the world, which is full of unique creatures and objects. Everybody can and does classify. It is necessary to have systems for managing stored information in a way that allows us to find it again. We classify objects according to the class they belong to. A class is an assembly of things which are bound together by a quality, or property, which every member of the assembly possesses (Sayers, 1955). Classification Prytherch (2005) defines class as a group of concepts, or of things, assembled by some likeness e which unifies them. He continued that a class consists of all the things that are alike in essential characters, properties and relations by which it is defined. Chan (2007) also defines class as a group of objects exhibiting one or more common characteristics, and usually identified by a specific class number in a classification scheme.  Session Summary Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo 2022/2023 Academic Year SLIDE 26 Lecture Summary In this session, we have establish the fact that humans create knowledge. The knowledge created is recorded in different formats called information carriers or materials. The recorded knowledge in collected and kept by some designated institutions in our society. Once the knowledge is collected, they must be organised for easy retrieval Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo SLIDE 27 Activity 1.1 List five institutions that have been designated in your locality to collect and preserve recorded knowledge Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo SLIDE 28 Activity 1.2 Identify five major classes and indicate their elements or members Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo SLIDE 29 Reference Chan, Lois Mai. (2007) Cataloging and classification: an introduction Lanham, Md. Scarecrow Press. Hunter, E. (2009) Classification made simple: an introduction to knowledge organisation and information retrieval Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. Dr. Patience Emefa Dzandza Ocloo SLIDE 30