025.431: The Dewey blog

My Excellent Scandinavian Adventure

I spent the last week of January and the first week of February in Norway and Sweden.  The purpose of my trip was threefold:

Work on the mixed translation project with colleagues from the National Library of Norway and the National Library of Sweden (I’ve blogged about our mixed translation work previously—see our presentation from ISKO 2008)

Speak at Kunnskapsorganisasjonsdagene 2009 in Oslo, followed by a meeting with the Norwegian Classification Committee (NKKI)

Speak at a Dewey—let’s do it! in Stockholm, followed by a day of meetings with catalogers, subject experts, and members of the Libris department at the National Library of Sweden

I spent over a week in Oslo, most of it working on the mixed translation project at the National Library of Norway.  Ingebjørg Rype, Karen Nisja Domaas, and I worked on developing a mixed Norwegian-English version of 006 and 616-616.1 (back in DC, my colleague Rebecca Green performed magic on the mixed translation files each evening to transform the English-language instructions into their Norwegian counterparts for Dewey records in Norwegian).  Magdalena Svanberg (National Library of Sweden) joined us in Oslo at the midpoint of my visit to continue work on the mixed translation, and to discuss future project directions.  Inger Johanne Christiansen gave me a wonderful behind-the-scenes tour of the National Library of Norway (a highpoint of which was the chance to look at some Ibsen manuscripts that happened to be out for an Ibsen scholar’s visit later in the day).  On February 3, Magdalena, Ingebjørg, and I gave presentations at Kunnskapsorganisasjonsdagene 2009.  Later that day, we met with NKKI members to discuss the needs of Norwegian librarians in the design of the next Norwegian translation.  We also discussed the treatment of Nordkalotten (the area north of the Arctic Circle in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia). On the following day, Magdalena and Ingebjørg participated in a Dewey workshop sponsored by the National Library of Norway, NKKI, and JBI (the three of us used a break in the workshop to squeeze in a final meeting on the mixed translation research project). 

After the workshop in Oslo ended, Magdalena and I flew to Stockholm for a whirlwind two days of meetings.  The first was occupied by a full-day seminar on Dewey (the aforementioned “Dewey—let’s do it!”).  On the day following the seminar, I met with catalogers and subject experts at the National Library of Sweden to discuss use of the DDC in general, mappings between Svenska ämnesord (SAO) and Dewey, and the addition of Dewey numbers to SAO records.  We also managed to have two side discussions about classification of visual materials and proposed changes to the 780 Music schedule. (After my return home, I shared draft documents on both topics with our Swedish colleagues, and we have already received back preliminary reactions to the proposed changes in 780 Music [we will be posting a discussion paper on 780 Music for public comment shortly].)  I also briefed members of the Libris department on our work on MARC, RDF/SKOS, and URI representations of DDC data, plus a prototype DDC history-of-concepts web service.

During the course of my trip, the National Library of Norway made a decision to proceed with a web version of a Norwegian translation of the DDC, and the administration of the National Library of Sweden awarded preliminary funding to a group headed by Magdalena Svanberg to launch work on the Swedish translation of the DDC in September 2009.  Also, three more Swedish university libraries (Göteborg, Linköping, and Gävle) announced that they would make the switch to the DDC.

My colleague Lorcan Dempsey often writes about the need to make our data work harder.  The underlying DDC data files (including the set of interoperable translations), the mappings between Dewey and other terminology resources, and the large body of content categorized by Dewey available in WorldCat and elsewhere are incredible resources in the networked information environment.  We are focused right now on a number of efforts to make the DDC data available in web-friendly formats for human and machine interaction.  The challenge remains to find ways to make our DDC data work harder.

Designing identifiers for the DDC

Although the Dewey Decimal Classification is currently available on the web to subscribers as WebDewey and Abridged WebDewey in the OCLC Connexion service and in an XML version to licensees, OCLC does not provide any “web services” based on the DDC. By web services, we mean presentation of the DDC to other machines (not humans) for uses such as searching, browsing, classifying, mapping, harvesting, and alerting.

In order to build web-accessible services based on the DDC, several elements have to be considered. One of these elements is the design of an appropriate Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) structure for Dewey.

The design goals of mapping the entity model of the DDC into an identifier space can be summarized as follows:

• Common locator for Dewey concepts and associated resources for use in web services and web applications
• Use-case-driven, but not directly related to and outlasting a specific use case (persistency)
• Retraceable path to a concept rather than an abstract identification, reusing a means of identification that is already present in the DDC and available in existing metadata

We have been working closely with our colleagues in the OCLC Office of Research (especially Andy Houghton as well as Eric Childress, Diane Vizine-Goetz, and Stu Weibel) on a preliminary identifier syntax. The basic identifier format we are currently exploring is:

http://dewey.info/{aspect}/{object}/{locale}/{type}/{version}/{resource}

where

• {aspect} is the aspect associated with an {object}—the current value set of aspect contains “concept”, “scheme”, and “index”; additional ones are under exploration
• {object} is a type of {aspect}
• {locale} identifies a Dewey translation
• {type} identifies a Dewey edition type and contains, at a minimum, the values “edn” for the full edition or “abr” for the abridged edition
• {version} identifies a Dewey edition version
• {resource} identifies a resource associated with an {object} in the context of {locale}, {type}, and {version}

Some examples of identifiers for concepts follow:

<http://dewey.info/concept/338.4/en/edn/22/>

This identifier is used to retrieve or identify the 338.4 concept in the English-language version of Edition 22.

 <http://dewey.info/concept/338.4/de/edn/22/>

This identifier is used to retrieve or identify the 338.4 concept in the German-language version of Edition 22.

 <http://dewey.info/concept/333.7-333.9/>

This identifier is used to retrieve or identify the 333.7–333.9 concept across all editions and language versions.

 <http://dewey.info/concept/333.7-333.9/about.skos>

This identifier is used to retrieve a SKOS representation of the 333.7-333.9 concept (using the “resource” element).

There are several open issues at this preliminary stage of development:

Use cases: URIs need to represent the range of statements or questions that could be submitted to a Dewey web service. Therefore, it seems that some general questions have to be answered first: What information does an agent have when coming to a Dewey web service? What kind of questions will such an agent ask?

Placement of the {locale} component: It is still an open question if the {locale} component should be placed after the {version} component instead (<http://dewey.info/concept/338.4/edn/22/en>) to emphasize that the most important instantiation of a Dewey class is its edition, not its language version. From a services point of view, however, it could make more sense to keep the current arrangement, because users are more likely to come to the service with a present understanding of the language version they are seeking without knowing the specifics of a certain edition in which they are trying to find topics.

Identification of other Dewey entities: The goal is to create a locator that does not answer all, but a lot of questions that could be asked about the DDC. Which entities are missing but should be surfaced for services or user agents? How will those services or agents interact with them? Should some entities be rendered in a different way as presented? For example, (how) should the DDC Summaries be retrievable? Would it be necessary to make the DDC Manual accessible through this identifier structure?

Moving beyond the Presentation Layer

“Moving beyond the Presentation Layer: Content and Context in the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) System” has just been published as a special double issue of Cataloging and Classification Quarterly, v. 42, nos. 3/4.  It will also be available shortly as a monograph. Diane Vizine-Goetz and I co-edited the special issue, and invited a group of researchers and practitioners from Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, and the United States to explore the content and context offered by the DDC from a variety of perspectives.  The preface, which is available in full online, provides an in-depth overview of the issue. 

Dewey Web Services

Diane Vizine-Goetz, Andrew Houghton, and I had a meeting earlier this week to brainstorm about Dewey web services (for an explanation of web services and some current examples from the Office of Research, see Lorcan Dempsey’s recent article in NextSpace).

We have two basic “what” and “how” questions: “What do users want in terms of Dewey web services?” and “How would they use the data?” We decided to take the discussion directly to you, dear 025.431 readers. First, here’s a brief reminder about the Dewey data already available for experimentation on the ResearchWorks web site.  We have the top three levels of the DDC available in several languages in the DeweyBrowser.  The DeweyBrowser points to three databases, one of which is the abr14 database, which is a subset of Abridged Edition 14 database.  The subset includes the numbers, captions, Relative Index terms, and mapped terminology associated with schedule numbers 000-999.  The schedule notes (class definitions, number-building instructions, and references to other classes), Manual, and Tables 1-4 are not included in the subset. Using the DeweyBrowser browse box, you can feed a term to the abr14 database, and see where the term falls in Dewey.  A click on a particular category at the third level displays the numbers and captions associated with the term in that section of Dewey. Similarly, you can feed a Dewey number to the database, and see the number and caption.  In either case, you can click on a number in the results set, and see the Relative Index terms and mapped terminology associated with each number.

So we need some information on use cases (the How question) and what you need in terms of Dewey web services to address those cases (the What question).  For example, you might say, I would like a Dewey number resolver that I could access from my catalog to deliver the caption associated with a number back to my users (or the caption plus associated terminology).  But let’s not put words in your mouth—please tell us what you want to do.  We’d love to get a discussion started here, but you can also contact one of us directly.

Gathering Clouds

A few months ago a colleague brought the Dewey cloud created by Steve Thomas to our attention. Steve used the Dewey Summaries to provide a visual presentation of the print collection of the University of Adelaide Library. In OCLC Research, we have also been experimenting with tag clouds. We recently generated Dewey clouds in English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, and Vietnamese for the top 100 Dewey classes in the WorldCat collection searchable through the DeweyBrowser. We also added some new features to the DeweyBrowser including a library shelf view and the ability to sort the title list. Please let us know what you think of these DeweyBrowser changes.

Dewey in the News

Well, Dewey has finally made it into the greatest reference source on the Web!  No, we're not talking about Google or Wikipedia (Dewey made it into those minor institutions years ago).  We're talking about this news item yesterday in the Onion -- which not only mentions Dewey, but also mentions the Editorial Policy Committee.

And where is the "phantom zone" that they talk about, i.e., "the phantom zone between Jenny McCarthy’s book of marriage tips and novels in which a cat helps solve a mystery"?

Well, Jenny McCarthy’s book of marriage tips would not  go in 306.81 Marriage and marital status, but in 646.78 Family life, since that's the part of the classification about how to have a happy family.

Collections of fiction in which a cat helps solve a mystery would be built using our favorite Table 3.  First you have 808.83 Collections of fiction, then you have to decide between 808.831-808.838 Specific scope and types of fiction (i.e., mystery stories) and 808.839 Fiction displaying specific features (i.e., fiction about cats).  The Manual note at 808.8 gives preference to specific themes and subjects (i.e., cats), but that is over-ridden by the reference at 808.839: "Class fiction of specific scope and types displaying specific features in 808.831-808.838."  So we follow the instruction at 808.831-808.838 and add 872 from T3B--30872 Detective, mystery, suspense, spy, Gothic fiction in Table 3B, and get 808.83872.  At this point, we follow the instructions at T3B--30872, which say that subdivisions are added for mystery fiction alone, and that you add as instructed under T3B--102-107.  Here, we are told to add 08 Collections of literary texts, then notation from Table 3C.  In Table 3C, we go to T3C--362 Animals, then add "the numbers following 59 in 592-599, e.g., cats T3C--3629752".  You should check in the schedules that 599.752 Felis includes domestic cats (even though the interdisciplinary number for domestic cats is over in 636.8 Cats).  And you get 808.83872083629752, meaning collections of detective, mystery, suspense, spy, Gothic fiction from more than two literatures with animals of the genus Felis as a subject.

So the "phantom zone" must be between 646.78 and 808.83872083629752.

Tags and Dewey

We’re sure many blogs in library and information science land will be buzzing about Kevin Kelly’s piece in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine, “Scan This Book!” (pp. 42-49, 64, 71 in the print version).  We’ll comment on Kelly’s observation about Dewey: “Because tags are user-generated, when they move to the realm of books, they will be assigned faster, range wider and serve better than out-of-date schemes like the Dewey Decimal System, particularly in frontier or fringe areas like nanotechnology or body modification” (p. 45).

Kevin Kelly, it’s not an either/or thing—tags and classification systems complement each other similar to the way subject headings and classification numbers have complemented each other for years. Categories in a classification system represent concepts—the number associated with each category is a language-independent representation of those concepts.  We update Dewey continuously and regularly associate additional terminology with categories explicitly and through mappings. The win for tags and classification systems is to encourage associations between the two—aren’t tags just another set of vocabularies that could enrich Dewey and for which a language-independent standard such as the DDC might provide a useful underlying switching language?

By the way, there are a few Dewey numbers related to those “frontier or fringe areas” named by Kelly. Nanotechnology has a category of its own in engineering, 620.5 Nanotechnology (in French, 620.5 Nanotechnologie; in German, 620.5 Nanotechnologie; in Italian, 620.5 Nanotecnologia; in Russian, 620.5 Нанотехнология; in Spanish, 620.5 Nanotecnología—starting to see the “language-independent” picture?).  There are explicit index entries for nanotechnology in economics (338.476205) and commerce (381.456205).  There’s also a general instruction in the record for 620.5 concerning the classification of applied nanotechnology: “Class a specific application of nanotechnology with the technology, e.g., nanotechnology used in manufacturing thin-film circuits 621.3815.  If you are into body modification, we have you covered at 391.65 Tattooing and scarification (with a reference to 391.7 for body piercing).

Jewelly Festival Number

First of all, a bit of blog madness has crept into 025.431: The Dewey blog. When Jonathan turned over the keys to the blog to the rest of the Dewey editors last week, none of us (including Jonathan) expected that all Jonathan's posts would mysteriously reappear with "Joan" as the author. We haven't figured out how to fix the transformed authorship, so we'll just go on record here that all posts prior to April 6, 2006, were written by Jonathan Furner.

Now a Dewey Teaser from Winton: In which novella does the following exchange take place:

"I'm going to tell you the books you need to steal," Fox says. "Author, title, and the jewelly festival number----"

"Dewey Decimal," Jeremy says. "It's actually called the Dewey Decimal number in real libraries."

All-New Dewey Teaser: All-old time slot

Last week we asked you to name your favorite sport yet to be indexed in the DDC. Props to Bill Murray for taking time out from what must be a punishing production schedule to wax lyrical about his first love, the fine art of chucking enormous cheeses down a steep incline and then chucking oneself after them. Many thanks also to Mark Behrens, resident social-sciences expert here at the Manor and source of much authoritative advice to the Dewey blog team, who outed himself as a big fan of the world punkin chunkin championships of Millsboro, DE: a unique event in which competitors attempt to propel pumpkins by catapult, trebuchet, or other mechanical means as far as decently possible. We'd class cheese-rolling races in 796.425 Non-track races; we'd put punkin chunkin in 796.2 Activities and games requiring equipment. All that remains now is to introduce this week's Teaser, which again isn't really a teaser per se (Leave it. -- Ed.), but a simple call for suggestions of special commemorative or celebratory days that haven't yet made it into the DDC. Saint Patrick's Day, Earth Day, Groundhog Day -- they're all indexed. But which day doesn't have the recognition it deserves? Pi Day (March 14)? Towel Day (May 25)? Talk Like A Pirate Day (September 19)? Let us know your favorite; tell us where you'd class it; and then sit back and reflect on a job exceedingly well done.

All-New Dewey Teaser: Sport for all

Some excellent responses to last week's Dewey Teaser. Thanks to Joe and Giles and Kate for their great additions to our master list of inhabitants-of-Table-2-places-who-go-by-relatively-strange-names. We're still working on that one, so if anyone has any late entries, please send them along! As for this week's Teaser -- well, it's not really a Teaser, per se -- it's more of a general call for inspired ideas. (Get on with it. -- Ed.) We're looking for the world's most unlikely sport that isn't already indexed in the DDC. Regular readers will have thrilled, presumably, to our earlier coverage of book-cart pushing, pancake racing, free running, rock paper scissors, and even something called cricket. No, wait, that last one is actually in the index. Anyway, maybe competitive staring is your thang. Or snowkiting, or mountain unicycling. Perhaps you're the world chessboxing champion? Let us know, and tell us where in the DDC you'd put works on your pastime of choice.