Faceted Classification

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Faceted Classification

• Ok nam Park
• Information School
• University of Washington
• parko_at_u.washington.edu

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Overview

• Part 1 Background of Faceted Classification
• Part 2 Modeling Faceted Classifications

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Enumerated classification vs. faceted
classification

• Enumerated classification
• One-dimensional
• Rigid and hierarchical
• Analytico-Synthetic (Faceted Classification)
• Multi-dimensional

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History of Faceted Classification

• A Hindu mathematician
• Working as a librarian
• Starts from the limits of
• traditional enumerative classification systems
  
• Attempts to describe
• the entire universe of ideas
• 1930s
• Colon Classification Analytico-synthetic
  classification system (1933)

Ranganathan (1892 - 1972)
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Ranganathans 5 Facets

• Personality Who
• Matter What
• Energy How
• Space Where
• Time When

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Basic Ranganathan

• Analyze each document
• Identify concepts in a facet
• Establish an order for facets (Ranganathans is
  P-M-E-S-T).

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Examples

• Ranganathan's Colon Classification
• The design of wooden furniture in 18th century
  America

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Examples

• Ranganathan's Colon Classification
• The design of wooden furniture in 18th century
  America
• Personality Furniture
• Matter Wood
• Energy Design
• Space America
• Time 18th Century
• Furniture Wood Design America 18th Century

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Facets

• The broad categories into which the subject area
  is divided. A facet consists ... of a group of
  terms that represents one, and only one,
  characteristic of division of a subject
  field....no two facets may contain terms that
  could represent the same concepts. Louise
  Spiteri
• A "clearly defined, mutually exclusive, and
  collectively exhaustive aspects, properties or
  characteristics of a class or specific subject"
  Maple

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Facet Analysis

• Facet analysis is a mental process involving
  analysis of a subject into its facets based on a
  set of postulates, canons and principles. It
  provides a framework to accommodate various types
  of terms, along with rules for their
  combination.K. Kumar

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Faceted Classification

• FA (Facet Analysis) - (analytical technique)
• Analysis Break down
• FC (Facet Classification) - (synthetic structure)
• Synthesis combine relevant facets

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Facets, anyone? Recipes
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Epicurious.com

• Cuisine
• Special considerations
• Meal/Course
• Dish
• Main Ingredients
• Preparation methods
• Season/Occasion

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When to make a faceted classification

• When not to make a faceted classification
• One dimension
• Hierarchies (The rule of inheritance)
• When to make a faceted classification
• Multiple access points

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Examples

• Faceted Classification
• Epicurious http//www.epicurious.com
• Wine.com http//www.wine.com
• Flamenco http//bailando.sims.berkeley.edu/flamenc
  o.html
• Images of England http//www.imagesofengland.org.u
  k/default.aspx
• lawforwa.org http//www.lawforwa.org/home.html
• FAT-HUM Project http//www.ucl.ac.uk/fatks/index.h
  tm
• Tools
• FacetMaps Wine demonstration http//facetmap.com/
  download/starterKit.jsp
• Siderean software http//www.siderean.com/
• http//www.siderean.com/medidemo.jsp
• Endeca software http//endeca.com/
• Adiuri systems http//www.adiuri.com/facet.htm

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Part 2 Modeling Faceted Classification
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Planes of Work (Spiteri)

• The Idea Plane the progress of analyzing a
  subject field into facets
• The Verbal Plane the process of choosing
  appropriate terminology

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Idea Plane Principles for the Choice of Facets

• Differentiation
• Divide by a clearly defined characteristic of
  division
• E.g., Humans by Gender
• Relevance
• Reflect the purpose and scope of the
  classification system
• E.g., Children by Grade, but not for Dogs
• Ascertainability
• Definite and ascertainable facts
• E.g., Date of birth for Humans, Breed for Dogs
• Permanence
• Permanent qualities of the entity
• E.g., Color wouldnt work for chameleons

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Idea Plane Principles for the Choice of Facets

• Mutual Exclusivity
• Facets represent only one characteristic
• Exhaustivity
• Fundamental Categories
• Categories should be derived from the domain

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Idea Plane Principles for the Citation Order of
Facets and Foci

• Relevant Succession
• Chronological Order
• Alphabetical Order
• Spatial/Geometric Order
• Simple to Complex Order (or Complex to Simple)
• Canonical Order
• Increasing Quantity (or Decreasing Quantity)
• Consistent Succession

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Verbal Plane - Terminology

• Context (for example)
• Grain dishes
• Rice dishes
• White rice dishes
• With raisins
• Brown rice dishes
• Currency
• Should use the current use

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Guidelines of Faceted Classification

• Domain Collection
• (Context) Examine the domain
• (Content) Study information objects
• (Users) Who? Information Needs?
• Collect terms
• Facet creation
• Facet Arrangement
• Foci Arrangement
• Revision, testing, and maintenance

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Use of the Facet Approach

• Traditional Use
• Classification
• Thesaurus
• Indexing
• Information Systems
• Information Architecture User-Centered Design
• Navigation and browse
• Information Retrieval
• Individual facets can be accessed and retrieved
  either alone or in any desired combination

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Faceted Navigation
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Facet-based Advanced Search
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Both
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Challenges of Faceted Approach

• Mismatch Labeling
• Inconsistent category
• Difficulty in deciding correct or appropriate
  facet
• Challenge to defining a Useful and Usable
  Collection of facets

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Summary

• Enumerated classification (Hierarchical)
• One-dimensional
• Rigid Hierarchy
• Analytico-Synthetic (Faceted Classification)
• Multi-dimensional

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Summary

• Hierarchical and faceted approaches are not
  mutually exclusive
• You can use hierarchies under facets to help with
  entry vocabulary and cross references
• You may not always be able to apply mutual
  exclusion and exhaustivity to facets, but you
  should use these principles to help clarify