Breakout Session Themes
1. Roles of automatic and human indexing (chaired by Dennis Nicholson)
Purpose: To explore the advantages and disadvantages of both automatic and human indexing, and their roles in of improving semantic interoperability. To suggest options for useful future activity in this area.
- How do we get the right balance between automatic and human indexing?
- Is machine processing more useful for some types of material than others?
- Can the two approaches be integrated, by human revision or adjustment of machine-allocated categories?
- How effectively can computer systems allocate documents to human-created thesauri and classifications?
2. User perspectives (chaired by Peter Brophy)
Purpose: To explore user behaviours and requirements in relation to a subject-based approach to information in the context of a range of domains. To suggest options for useful future activity in this area.
Please bring any evidence you have to support inferences about user behaviours and requirements.
- Are users better served by simple keyword searching (e.g. Google)?
- Is there commonality in the requirements for a subject-based approach across domains?
- Do we know whether the user wants to query a thesaurus or other terminology based service themselves or does the user prefer automated terminology services to be applied within the search process?
- Do we have evidence to support our inferences on user's preferences?
3. General schemes vs specific terminologies (chaired by Fred Garnett)
Purpose: To explore possibilities for enhancing the research and learning experience by enabling applications to exploit the context of individual user, in particular their own terminology and vocabulary. To suggest options for useful future activity in this area.
- How do we bridge the gap between general classification schemes and the terms users use?
- How can general classification schemes be made more relevant for a wider user base, including school children, FE students and ethnic groups?
- Does this require additional, specific terminologies to be established?
- In both cases, who is responsible for doing the work, the owners of the classification schemes, user communities or other organisations?
4. Technical aspects of the structure and use of terminologies (chaired by Rachel Heery and Alan Rector)
Purpose: To explore how far a common set of standards and tools might be used for a range of Knowledge Organisation Systems (KOS), and to recommend useful future activity in this area.
- Can common tools and standards provide the functionality required across domains?
- Is it feasible to agree on the use of common query protocols across domains?
- Is there a common set of queries that could be agreed across domains, on which a common set of APIs could be based?
- What demonstrators would be useful?
