UCLA CENTER FOR DIGITAL HUMANITIE INTRO 10 DIGITAL HUMANITIES La) Concepts, Methods, and Tutorials fr Students and Instructors 3A. Ontologies and Metadata (orucker 9/2013) Classitation systems are standardized in almost every fed, but the polls of thelr development and standarczation are highW charged. An entire worldview is embodied in a classification syster, and this can mean thatit serves the interests of one group and net another ofthat replicates traditional paterns of exploitation or cultural domination. A sensiviy to these issues is nt only important, but enlightening in svn righ, since the crosecultural or crss-constituency perspective demonstrates the power of clasicaton systems, but als, our bindspets. Classification systems reviewed + Describing, naming organizing + rcibutes in a nor-hierarchical system «Hierarchies of information Classification standards Standarclzatonis essential in classification systems. Ifyou call something a potato one day and a tomato the next, how's someone to pick the Ingredients fora recipe? And if you list all your music by artists name and then one by tite, how will you fin the lost item?) Consistencys everything, ‘men we are dealing with large scale systems used by many insttutional repositories to identity andor descrie thelr objects, suchas the Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH) or the Gets Ar and Architectural Thesaurus (AAT, the Standards (see Getty, for instance, then the necessity for dardization increases. I institutional repositories are going tobe able to share information, that information has tobe structured in a consistent and standardized manner, and thas to make use of st dard vocabularies Standarciration is related t the use to which the information wil be put, Objects can be organize, as you have seen n an almost infinite numberof ways. Organizing tools according to function makes Sense, but organizing books by subject and/or author makes sense, but switch these around, and they would not work Classiicaton systems are used to organize collections, identify characters of objects in a system, and to name or ldentiy those objects ina consistent way. They have a significant and substantve overlap with taxonomies and ontologies. Taxonomies are, quite literally, naming systems. They are comprised of selected and controlled vocabulary for naming items or objects. Ontelogies are models of knowledge. They may or may not classify ‘things, but they organize information and concepts ino structured system. Theres no need to try to pin these words - clesifation, taxonomy, ontology—into hard and fast definitions that are clearly dstnc. They are not always distinct, and often resemble each other and are interchangeable with each other. Ina general way, taxonomies are lets of termsinames, classifiation systems describe attributes and relations of objects na system, and ontologies model knowledge systems. Confused? Here's ait more to confuse you further. Metadata he term applied to information that describes information, objects, content, or documents. So, if Ihave a book onthe shel in the library, ‘the catalogue record contains metadata about that book that helps me figure out fis relevant and also, where co find. Standard biblographic ‘metadata on trary records includes tte, author, publisher, place of publication, date, and some description ofthe contents the physical features, and other attrioutes ofthe object, Metadata standards exis for many information fel in libraries, museums, archives, and record-keepingCone ofthe confusions in using metadata isco gure out whether you are describing the objector its representation. So, Ifyou have a photograph of a ‘temple in Athens, taken in 1902 with a glass plate and a box camera, but itis used to teach architecture, isthe metadata in the catalogue record describing the photographs qualities, the temple's qualies, both? Exercise: Take 2 loka the Getty AAT, and at the CCO (cataloguing culture objects) and figure out what woul be Involved in describing such an ier. Also, since we use Dublin Core for DH projects in Lab, you might want cook a its lds and terms as well. These are professional standards, and very replete, 1 GETTY AAT: npn getty ecuiresearchitoolsNocabularies/aat! *# €CO: nups/feco.wrafoundation org! Dublin Core: hep//dublincoreorgh Exercise: Characteristics of Ontologies Take the fallowing concepts and look at ther in relation toa spect analogy (sted on the wiki page link. Describe these elements or aspects ofan ontology ‘Structural organization of information = concepts in a domain * Koonledge model Link o purposesuse ‘See: The Wikipedia page “Ontology (pen wikinela.orgiiki/Ontology information science) and look at the many examples listed there; search fon severalto see how they are structured, ‘Alternative Exercise: Analyzing standard metadata systems Rea organizational structure ofa domain in Getty {extpsoegety edulresearch/tool/vacabulates/sat/, create a scenario in which it works, and one in which would not, Look for an ares in your project domain, Fluld Ontologles: The Poles of information vs. Ideology of intormation ‘The concept of fluid ontologies weaves through the essay by Wallach/Srinivasan, It makes clear what i at stake in the use of classification and ‘escription systems, aswell asthe naming conwertions they use. They emphasize the costs (nancial, cultural, human of mismatches between offical and observed approaches to description of catastrophic events. The ways in which objecs and events are classed makes a itference in whether 3 situation involving biosvaste canbe resolved or not—anid whether ic would have more eecively eal with ithe fact that dead animals were involved had been clear. These are nat just diferences of nomenclature, bu of substance. ‘Wallack and Srinivasan stress that ontologies “act as objects" and “negotiate boundaries between groups They aso state that they function as mental ‘maps of surroundings The mismatch, however, between offical and experiertil classification systems results in ineficiencies and even Insutficencies that are the rel, in part, of information lssin the negotiation among diffrent stakeholers and resource managers. Exercise: Can you think of an example from your own experience in which these tensions would be apparent? \Wollack and Srinivasan suggest the concept of fluid ontologies 2s a partial solution. This would allow adaptive exible tags that reflected local knowledge and were inclusive tobe joined with te oficial meta-ontologies managed by the State, which are selfreinforcing and exclusive. This raises a question about how flksomonies an taxonomies/ontologies can be merged together. ‘The importance ofthis articles the way it shows what isa stake In creating any classification system, Immediately, we see the polis of information and classification, particularly when we think of poles as instrumental ation towards an agenda of outcome, But What about the ideology of information and clasication? Whats meant by that phrase? Ife think of ideology asa set of cultural values, often rendered invisible by passing as. natura, then how are dassicaion systems enmeshed with ideological ones? Exercise: Start creating 3 taxonomy andor classification system for your project Sealing up your projects in imagination, what terms, references, resources would you want to ross-eference repeatedly and have stable ina single entry 28a pick ist, so you could use them consistent, and what felds would you want to be able to fil with fee ext or use to generate tags? Why? Review: So far we have gone through the exercise of analyzing the components of Digital Humans project: user experience/dislay, reposttory/storagelinformation architecture, and the sute of services/acities that are performed by the system. Where do the mecadata and lassifiation systems belong inthis model? How do they relate tothe structure of a project asa whole?Takeaways: Metadarais information about data. It describes the data in 2 document or project or fle. Flksonomies and taxonomies can co-exist in ¢ productive tension between crond.sourced and user-generated metadata and standards that emerge in communities of practice Newt: Databases, whatis data, and how are databace structures counter te narrative conventions -or not? Required Readings for 38: ‘+ 20H Ch. 15 Stephen Ramsay, Databases ‘+ ** Kroenke, Database_1, Database_2 ‘+ Michael Christe, “Computer Databases and Aboriginal Knowledge" ‘Study Question for 3 1. what does Michael Christie emphasize in contrasting aboriginal approaches to knowing wth western approaches to representing knowledge? Copyright © 2014- All Rights Reserved