Announcement: Cataloguing and Indexing Group Conference, Glasgow, September 2008

CILIP Cataloguing and Indexing Group Conference entitled "Classification and subject retrieval in the 21st century: you can't make jelly without a mould" will take place at the The University of Strathclyde on 3 - 5 September 2008

The CIG conference 2008 web pages are now available at:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/CIG/2008/conf-glasgow/

Online booking is now open.

135 years after Melvil Dewey first had the idea for his classification scheme and with the exponential growth of new information storage and retrieval systems we are still wrestling with finding the right way to get things in order - on the shelves and in those very systems - and then to enable people to find them when they search. This conference is intended to explore current developments in classification and subject retrieval. The conference programme will cover both the longstanding methods - such as traditional classification schemes - right up to social networking and 'bleeding edge' ideas. The conference will also include the CIG AGM and Annual Standards Forum.

Following a call for papers, the conference programme is now in place. Papers will be considered for publication in Catalogue and Index following the conference. Powerpoint or similar presentation files, that accompany papers, will be published on the CIG website.

The varied programme of presentations and updates on standards will be complemented by opportunities to network with fellow professionals.

The future of subject analysis - discussion list

From the IFLA CLASS list:

The ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section Subject Analysis Committee would like to invite you to subscribe to the list http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/headings to discuss the future of subject analysis.

The ALCTS Subject Analysis Committee established a new SAC Subcommittee on the Future of Subject Headings at ALA Annual 2006. Its charge:

"To analyze the future of subject cataloging, with emphasis on Library of Congress subject Headings (LCSH), through the use of SWOT (Strengths,Weaknesses, opportunities, and Threats) analysis, taking into consideration both internal forces within the library community and the external environment. A preliminary report will be made at Midwinter 2008 with the final report and program made at Annual 2008. "

Your participation in this discussion would be most welcome.

The use of 'tag clouds' in text presentation/analysis/indexing?

Marcia Zeng posted today the following message to the NKOS (Networked Knowledge Organization Systems) list:

Everyone knows about the 'tag cloud' approach when showing popular tags. How about using this same idea for presenting keywords in documents and making a dynamic cloud which matches a particular event? Here are some examples I found interesting.

US Presidential Speeches Aging Tag Cloud Timeline
The tag cloud shows the popularity, frequency, and trends in the usages of words within speeches, official documents, declarations, and letters written by the Presidents of the US between 1776 - 2007 AD.

Microsoft's evolution, in keywords
At both case, there is a timeline on the top. Move the slider around for a unique glimpse into the document of a particular time.

Information about tagline generator is at:
http://chir.ag/tech/download/tagline/

New KO-related books from Chandos

For anyone who has not seen the latest catalogue from Chandos Publishing, it contains a number of books relevant to our field. Some are new (and even yet-to-be-published) and some have been out for a while.

Not least is the eagerly-awaited book by Patrick Lambe, "Organizing Knowledge: Taxonomies, knowledge and organizational effectiveness" (ISBN 1-84334-227-8).

Others include:

• Information Architecture for Information Professionals. Dr. Susan Batley.
• Knowledge, Information and the Business Process. Liz Taylor.
• Challenges of Knowledge Sharing in Practice: A Social Approach. Gunilla Widen-Wulff.
• E-Journal Invasion: A Cataloger's Guide to Survival. Helen Heinrich.
• Theory and Practice of the Dewey Decimal Classification System. Dr. M. P. Satija.
• Indexing: From Thesauri to the Semantic Web. Pierre de Keyser.
• Metadata for Digital Resources: Implementation, systems design and interoperability. Muriel Foulonneau & Jenn Riley.
• Descriptive and Subject Cataloguing: A Workbook. Dr. Jaya Raju.
• Classification in Theory and Practice. Dr. Susan Batley.

Further details available on the Chandos Web site via an author search.

Bob

Paper "Facet analysis and Semantic Web"

You may find F. J. Devadason's text "Facet analysis and Semantic Web" of interest.
A link to this paper/website was recently posted to the CLASS discussion group and also to Tomas Wilson's "Information Research" blog.