Request oriented approaches to k

Request oriented approaches to knowledge organization (KO)

In request oriented indexing is the indexer examining the document to be indexed from the point of view of which future questions, the document might help answering. The indexer asks “under which descriptors should this entity be found?” (Soergel, 1985, p. 230) and “think of all the possible queries and decide for which ones the entity at hand is relevant” (Soergel, 1985, p. 230).

Andersen (2004 (7.3.3.) classify request oriented indexing with user- and cognitive oriented ("7.3.3. Request, user and cognitive-oriented indexing"). But is request oriented indexing related to user-oriented or cognitive oriented KO? According to Hjørland (1997) they need not be. A feminist library, for example, may classify a document different from a historical library. This not based on an examination of users or cognitive studies, but is simply a consequence of the goal of the library. (The two libraries may have strongly overlapping audiences/user groups, but they aim at supporting different queries).

Indexing is a form of representation. As such it is both a reflection of the object being indexed and the indexer doing the representation. If indexing is close to the document being indexed (document-oriented) is is close to the object being indexed (the objective pole). If indexing is more depending of the indexer (and the goals of the library/database for which it is indexed or the target group or domain), it is closer to the subjective pole. Request oriented indexing is a kind of indexing that is based on the goals and values of the indexing organization and thus based on a deliberate subjectivity.

Literature:

Andersen, J. (2004). Analyzing the role of knowledge organization in scholarly communication: An inquiry into the intellectual foundation of knowledge organization. PhD dissertation. Copenhagen: Department of Information Studies, Royal School of Library and Information Science, 2004. (Chapter 7.3.3.: Request, user and cognitive oriented indexing, pp. 139-144). Available: http://www.db.dk/dbi/samling/phd/jackandersen-phd.pdf (Visited May 10, 2004).

Hjørland, B. (1997): Information Seeking and Subject Representation. An Activity-theoretical approach to Information Science. Westport & London: Greenwood Press.

Soergel, D. (1985). Organizing information: Principles of data base and retrieval systems. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.

Birger Hjørland

04-12-2005

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