025.431: The Dewey blog

DDC Online Training: WebDewey Basics: Searching & Browsing WebDewey

Among the first modules being posted to the Dewey online training web site is a PowerPoint presentation entitled "WebDewey Basics: Searching & Browsing WebDewey." This presentation is not accompanied by a set of exercises. For further information about our overall online training effort, see our previous blog entry. 

As a result of successfully completing this module, learners will understand the relationship between WebDewey and the print edition of the DDC; be able to access content in WebDewey by making effective use of its search, browsing, and navigation capabilities; and understand the structure of WebDewey data displays.

Since these online training modules assume access to the latest version of the DDC database (i.e., WebDewey), completion of this module (or equivalent background) is required by essentially all other modules.

DDC Online Training: Number Building: Add Tables

Among the first  modules being posted to the Dewey online training web site is a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Number Building: Add Tables.”  The presentation is accompanied by a set of exercises.  For further information about our overall online training effort, see our previous blog entry.

As a result of successfully completing this module, learners will be able to build numbers using add tables and be able to apply instructions about standard subdivisions found in add tables.

This module presupposes some level of mastery of the principles taught in the Technical Introduction and Introduction to Table 1 modules.  In particular, learners need to be aware of methods of choosing the correct base number.  When the Choice of Number Review module is available, that will be a good module to use immediately preceding this unit.  Meanwhile, there is a section on choice of number in the Technical Introduction module.

DDC Online Training: Table 1

Among the first modules being posted to the Dewey online training web site is a PowerPoint presentation entitled "Table 1." The presentation is accompanied by a set of exercises. For further information about our overall online training effort, see our previous blog entry.

As a result of successfully completing this module, learners will understand the basic principles underlying use of Table 1; be familiar with topics that can be expressed by Table 1 notation; and be able to apply the basic principles underlying use of Table 1.

This module presupposes some level of mastery of the principles taught in the Technical Introduction module and is in turn presupposed by many other modules.

DDC Online Training: Technical Introduction

Among the first modules being posted to the Dewey online training web site is a PowerPoint presentation entitled "Technical Introduction to the DDC." The presentation is accompanied by a set of exercises. For further information about our overall online training effort, see our previous blog entry.

As a result of successfully completing this module, learners will understand DDC's use of structural and notational hierarchy; be familiar with different types of notes in the DDC; be familiar with the relationship of different terminologies to the DDC; be able to apply basic rules to choose correctly between multiple potential base numbers; and be able to apply basic number building techniques. The module also provides a brief introduction to Tables 1, 2, 5, and 6.

This module provides the groundwork required for most other modules.

DDC Online Training Goes Live!

We are developing an online set of DDC training materials focused on the needs of experienced librarians who need Dewey application training. (We hope they will also be useful as supplementary materials in other Dewey training contexts, e.g., teaching Dewey to LIS students.) The materials will include a basic course on the structure and use of the DDC, plus a series of short modules based on special topics (including a general overview).

We are planning to make all course materials available on the Dewey web site at no charge. The presentations and exercises assume the availability of the latest version of the DDC database (i.e., WebDewey), and a professor, trainer, and/or experienced Dewey user for offering explanations and fielding questions. Other interested parties may have access to course materials, but may need to consult an expert directly for background information and additional assistance. Note that WebDewey access is provided without cost as part of OCLC's Library and Information Science Education Program. Others currently without access to WebDewey can sign up for access on a 30-day trial basis.

The website contains links for modules and related materials that are available for immediate review. In general, modules include a PowerPoint presentation and a set of exercises to assist learners in putting the principles learned into practice. The exercises often include the titles of approximately 10 bibliographic works, with one or more corresponding subject headings, that together point toward the most appropriate DDC class. Exercise files include pages with only the title and subject heading information, as well as answer sheets with DDC class numbers and explanations.

We expect to make additional modules and related materials available shortly and will blog each entry as it becomes available. We welcome comments directly on the blog entry for each module. If you prefer to send us comments privately, please send them to dewey@loc.gov with the subject line of the module, and we will summarize them here.

Second Life

A recent blog entry on foreign exchange rates elicited the comment/question, “Where would you class the Linden dollar?”  (For those who are not in the know, the Linden dollar is the currency used in Linden Lab’s Second Life, a virtual world; the Linden dollar is exchangeable for real-world currencies.)   The answer is that the Linden dollar is classed in 332.4 Money, given its including note for "other mediums of exchange."

Even before we answered the question that was posed, we were asking among ourselves, “But where would you class Second Life?”  Does it qualify as a computer game (that is, as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game [MMORPG])?  If so, the appropriate class would appear to be 793.932 Computer fantasy games, which inherits the “Class here . . . role-playing games” instruction from 793.93 Fantasy games.  Or does Second Life lack the essential qualities of a game and belong in standing room at 793.9 Other indoor diversions?  What indeed are the essential qualities of a game?

Consider the following observations:

While Second Life is sometimes referred to as a game, this description does not fit the standard definition. It does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels, an end-strategy, or most of the other characteristics of games, though it can be thought of as a game on a more basic level because it is “played for fun.” (From “Second Life” in Wikipedia)

Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interactivity. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational or psychological role.  (From “Game” in Wikipedia)

MMORPGs are massively multiplayer games in that they take place in a perpetual online world with hundreds or thousands of other players. They are role-playing games in that each player controls an avatar which interacts with other players, completes tasks to gain experience and acquires items. (From “List of MMORPGs” in Wikipedia)

Second Life is a 3D online digital world imagined and created by its residents.  (From Second Life home page)

Is Second Life a MMORPG?  (From Second Life FAQ)
Yes and no. While the Second Life interface and display are similar to most popular massively multiplayer online role playing games (or MMORPGs), there are two key, unique differences: 
    Creativity . . .
    Ownership . . .

(Please excuse me for considering this Q&A from the FAQ more marketing copy than a reasoned answer to the question.  But it is perhaps informative that the creators of Second Life feel the need to pose the question at all.)

Phenomena that are part of the MMORPG category generally have character progression goals, in which the player gains skills and resources to deal with the challenges of the game.  Everyday, non-virtual games (e.g., board games, sports games) involve something very much like character progression in the gaining of points, traversing a path, etc., while dealing with the challenges of the game.  Thus, the typical MMORPG really does seem like a game.  But does Second Life include the basic sense of progressing against challenges set forth by the game?  According to the explanation given on its website, the Second Life world consists of creating an avatar, exploring the Second Life world, meeting and interacting with people (i.e., other avatars), having fun (by engaging with the phenomena created by the various residents of the Second Life world), and building a presence in this world (by buying land, creating games, opening a business, whatever you want to do).  Thus, while there are many games that can be played as part of the Second Life world, Second Life itself seems more an alternative reality, an online digital world, a virtual reality, than a game.  This line of reasoning leads to Second Life’s being classed in standing room at 793.9 Other indoor diversions.  As we have seen, specific aspects of Second Life are still classed with the aspect in question.  Real estate speculation in Second Life is classed at 332.63 Specific forms of investment; social interaction in Second Life would go into 302.231 Communication via digital media. 

Were it not that Second Life and its aspects are in standing room in the classes we have cited, we would be inclined to reflect the virtual nature of Second Life by adding —028568 Virtual reality (built with T1—0285 Computer applications plus 68 from 006.8 Virtual reality, following the add instructions under T1—0285).

We are virtually sure this is the right approach to classifying Second Life.  Please let us hear from you, dear readers, whether the distinctions we are making—games vs. other diversions; the real world vs. the virtual world—strike you as appropriate distinctions for the bibliographic world.  Comment on!

Proposals for Dewey in MARC

MARBI proposals related to Dewey were made public today by the Network Development and MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress.  The proposals are available under the title "Proposal No. 2008-01: Representation of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) System in the MARC 21 formats."

This collection of proposals has been jointly authored by the Dewey editorial team, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, the Library of Congress, and OCLC, and contains nine parts:

• 2008-01/1: Identification of internal add table numbers in the Authority and Classification formats
• 2008-01/2: Revision of the 765 field in the Classification format
• 2008-01/3: Classification number edition and source information in the Bibliographic and Classification formats
• 2008-01/4: Designations for optional numbers in the Bibliographic format
• 2008-01/5: Additional Dewey numbers for access in the Bibliographic format
• 2008-01/6: Synthesized classification number components in the Bibliographic format
• 2008-01/7: Segmentation information in the Classification format
• 2008-01/8: Encoding topic information in some Classification format fields
• 2008-01/9: Classification number hierarchy in the Classification Format

They all arise from an earlier discussion paper which I reported on in earlier blog entries: Dewey in Marc 21 and Dewey in MARC 21 -- report back.

They will be discussed at the MARBI meeting on Saturday, January 11, at ALA Midwinter.

Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter

We have been asked how to classify Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter by Shoko Tendo. 

General works on organized crime in Japan are classed in 364.1060952 (built with 364.106 Organized crime plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—52 Japan), e.g., Yakuza: Japan’s Criminal Underworld and The Japanese Mafia: Yakuza, Law, and the State.

We have mapped the Library of Congress Subject Heading “Children of gangsters” to 364.1060854 Children of gangsters (built with 364.106 Organized crime plus T1—0854 Progeny, which has the note: “Class here children considered in relation to parents”).  That number should be used for children of gangsters discussed as a group, however, not for the memoirs of an individual.  At T1—08 History and description with respect to kinds of persons is the note: “Class treatment of specific kinds of persons as individuals in T1—092.” Also, in the table of preference at the start of Table 1, T1—092 Persons appears above T1—08 History and description with respect to kinds of persons.  See “Preference order” in the Dewey Glossary.

The number for persons treatment of organized crime, however, is bracketed and cannot be used: 364[.106092] Persons treatment.  The notes read:  “Do not use for organized crime figures not associated with a specific offense; class in 364.1092.  Do not use for organized crime figures associated with a specific offense; class in 364.13–364.18 with the offense, e.g., a hired killer 364.1523092.”  Shoko Tendo’s father, a Yakuza boss, was not associated with a specific crime; hence a biography of him would be classed in 364.1092 Persons associated with crime (built with 364.1 Criminal offenses plus T1—092 Persons).

Shoko Tendo’s memoir of growing up as the daughter of a Yakuza boss is best classed in the number that would be used for her father’s biography: 364.1092 Persons associated with crime.  The Manual at T1—092 Persons, in the section “Families and close associates of the famous,” gives advice about the similar situation of the biography of a famous person:  “Class a history of the immediate or extended family of a famous person with the biography of that person if the work strongly emphasizes the famous person. The same rule applies to the biography of a single relative or close associate of a famous person.”

Computers and music, part 3

This is the third and last part of a three-part series of postings on computers and music in DDC 22. Part 1 examined explicit provisions in the schedules for treating this topic area. Part 2 looked at where the processes of creation, recording, and performance of music should be classed if done by a computer. This part discusses the classification of a representative sample of specific computer technologies and products, as used with music. Specifically, it examines music notation software, digital music players, digital jukebox software, digital audio editors, digital audio workstations, music sequencers, and the musical instrument digital interface (MIDI).

As noted in previous posts, much of digital music technology (both hardware and software) is multifunctional. Consistent with the principle of classing a work on two subjects with the subject receiving fuller treatment—see section 5.7(B) of the DDC Introduction—our policy is to class multifunctional technologies with the predominant technology. Statements in this posting about where to class a given technology may need to be modified in specific situations, for example, if the work emphasizes a different aspect of the technology than is assumed to be the default here. Where it is stated below that a topic classes in, for example, both a computer science number and a music number, the classifier must decide the disciplinary focus of the specific work when assigning it a class number.

Music notation software (a.k.a. scorewriters), while often including both recording and playback functions, focuses on producing printed music. Examples of scorewriters include Finale® and Sibelius®. Software for producing notated music classes in 780.1480285 Musical notation—Computer applications (built with 780.148 Musical notation plus notation T1–0285 Computer applications). This may appear to contravene the principle of not adding multiple standard subdivisions to the same number. However, as section 8.6 of the DDC Introduction explains, standard subdivisions can be added to notation for standard subdivisions with changed or extended meanings (or as the schedules describe it, notation from Table 1 that has been modified).

Digital music players (a.k.a. digital audio players)—for example, MP3 players, iPods®—class in 621.38933 Sound reproducers (Communications engineering). (The engineering aspects of sound recording and reproducing systems class together at 621.3893, with the recording aspects in 621.38932 and the reproducing aspects in 621.38933.) The iTunes® application, commonly marketed as a means of organizing the digital media played on an iPod, can also be used to manage the playing of those media. However, iTunes does not class with the iPod in 621.38933. Where the iPod is hardware, iTunes is software. Thus, even though iTunes is the preeminent example of “digital jukebox software” and jukeboxes class in 621.38933, iTunes belongs in computer science, not engineering, where it classes in 006.5 Digital audio (Computer science). We have also mapped digital jukebox software to 780.28565 Digital audio (Music) (built with 780 Music plus notation T1–0285 Computer applications plus 65 Digital audio from 006.5, following the add instructions at T1–0285).  

Another major digital music technology is the editing of digital audio. Not surprisingly, the software products that perform this function are known as digital audio editors and include, for example, Sound Forge® and Audacity®. Digital audio editors have been mapped to 006.5 Digital audio and also to 781.34536 Microcomputer programs for computer composition (built with 781.34 Computer composition plus 536, from 005.36 Microcomputer programs, following the add instructions under 781.344–781.346 Computer science aspects of computer composition).

Digital audio workstations and music sequencers, terms now often used interchangeably, incorporate digital audio software into a system that can record, edit, and play back digital audio, with editing as the predominant function. Examples of digital audio workstations include Cubase® and Pro Tools®. Consistent with the treatment of digital audio editors, digital audio workstations class in 006.5 Digital audio and 781.34416 Microcomputer systems for computer composition (built with 781.34 Computer composition plus 416, from 004.16 Microcomputers, following the add instructions under 781.344–781.346 Computer science aspects of computer composition); both computer systems and comprehensive works on hardware and programs in electronic data processing are in the class-here note at 004 Data processing Computer science.

The protocol that permits digital devices (e.g., computers, electronic musical instruments) to communicate with one another is called MIDI, Musical Instrument Digital Interface. As a communications protocol, MIDI classes in 784.19028546 Computer interfacing and communications for musical instruments (built with 784.19 Musical instruments, plus notation T1–0285 Computer applications plus 46 Computer interfacing and communications from 004.6, following the add instructions at T1–0285).

EPC Meeting 128

A few weeks ago, we shared a brief report on Meeting 128 of the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) with a promise of more information to come on committee actions and departing members.

Among key actions at Meeting 128, the committee approved a complete overhaul of the treatment of groups of people in Dewey—a project that has been under discussion since late 2005.  We’ve blogged about some of these changes earlier (see here for transgendered people, and here and here for groups of people in general).  Comments received from outside reviewers spurred us to make some adjustments to our proposed development for transgendered and intersex people—we expect to post a revised version for comment in the next few weeks (watch this space). 

In addition to the updates discussed in our earlier report on Meeting 128, EPC approved updates to 004–006 Computer science; 010–090 Information and general works; 100 Philosophy, parapsychology and occultism, psychology; 320 Political science; 380 Commerce, communications, transportation; 390 Customs and etiquette (except folklore); 500–509 Natural sciences; 520–550 Astronomy, physics, chemistry, earth sciences; 600–609 Technology (Applied sciences); 610 Medicine and health; 630 Agriculture and related technologies; 780 Music; 790 Recreational and performing arts; and 800 Literature and rhetoric.  EPC suggested that we seek user feedback on the proposed new expansion for Trans-Neptunian objects (and relocation of Pluto)—we plan to post the proposed development for comment next week (again, watch this space).  Dewey users can expect to see many of the updates approved for immediate release by EPC included in WebDewey over the next year (and selected updates highlighted on the New and Changed Entries page on the Dewey web site).

EPC also feted four members leaving the committee at the end of 2007 (pictured from left to right): Migell Acosta (County of Los Angeles Public Library); Andrea Stamm (Northwestern University), Chew Chiat Naun (University of Minnesota, and formerly of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and Deane Zeeman (Library and Archives Canada).

Migell Acosta ably served as the official ALA representative to EPC during 2007.  The committee’s resolution honoring Migell reads in part:

Whereas, Migell Acosta . . . offered sound advice on emerging technical issues; . . . asked probing questions and contributed to discussions in matters as diverse as political parties, use of the UDC as a possible source of vocabulary, DDC licensing, DDC training, and the treatment of murder; . . . drafted the Committee’s response on the representation of evolving trends in marriage and family; . . .

Andrea Stamm served on EPC 1993–2007, including multiple terms as vice-chair (1996–1999) and chair (2000–2005).  The committee’s resolution honoring Andrea (excerpted in part here) notes some of the many contributions she made to EPC and the DDC during her long tenure (fittingly, it ends with Andrea’s constant focus on users):

Whereas, Andrea Stamm . . . is the only current member of EPC to have participated in two retreats on the future of the DDC in 1997 and 2004, respectively; . . . presented the response paper to “Future of the Relative Index” . . . at the EPC Retreat in Saratoga Springs, April 30 – May 4, 1997; . . . served on the planning committee for the March 15–18, 2004, EPC Retreat, . . . and presented “Editions and Translations in the DDC”; . . . presented “How Users Contribute to the Classification” at the DDC 22 Preconference in Toronto in June 2003, and teamed up with the Dewey editors to present hands on training at said meeting; . . . challenged the editors to make the Manual notes telegraphic to support classifier efficiency; . . . steered the revision of the EPC bylaws through the committee; . . . developed the EPC ground rules for teleconferences (and chaired a record five teleconferences in 2003!); . . . pioneered New Member Training as a way to introduce new members to the committee in advance of voting at an actual meeting; . . . recommended the addition of translators to EPC-L [the private EPC listserve]; . . . always focused on the users of the DDC in her comments . . .

Chew Chiat Naun served on EPC 2004–2007.  The committee's resolution honoring Naun reads in part:

Whereas, Chew Chiat Naun . . . raised key questions about testing schedules at Meeting 122: “What do we mean by testing? . . . Is it easy to apply? or, Does it give a good arrangement?”; . . . gave key advice on the split of materials in the development for graphic novels at Meeting 124: “Just because it’s hard to make the decision doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make the decision that every bookshop seems to do”; . . . while Naun's membership on the committee was as an American Library Association nominee, his leaving has also had the unexpected effect of reducing the Australian influence on the committee's work, since he is indeed one of the many Australians to be found quietly living and working in unexpected places far from home . . .

Deane Zeeman also served on EPC 2004–2007, and succeeded Andrea Stamm as chair 2006–2007.  The committee’s resolution honoring Deane reads in part:

Whereas, Deane Zeeman . . . perfected the art of conducting electronic meetings over EPC-L; . . . asked at regular intervals at meetings . . . “What principle is being followed here?”; . . . though not the first Canadian chair, was the first chair to share leadership with a fellow member of the Commonwealth . . .

All four resolutions end with the following sentiment:

Be it resolved that the members of the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee, the DDC editors, and staff at the Library of Congress Decimal Classification Division and OCLC express to [outgoing member] their deep gratitude and appreciation for [her/his] service and commitment to the Committee and the Classification, their regret that [she/he] will no longer be one of their number, and their wishes for [her/his] continued success and happiness now that [she/he] has retired from the Committee.