Subject: Re: Poor FC example?
Newsgroups: gmane.comp.infodesign.facetedclassification
Date: 2002-12-18 19:51:00 GMT (6 years, 28 weeks, 3 days, 13 hours and 29 minutes ago)
I think you need to keep two things in mind when thinking of facets and facet analysis. What is the universe you are trying to organize/analyze/provide access Who are your users Context is always key here. The following text is from Vickery (1960). Faceted classification. In the future I'll try not to be so heavy-handed with my quotations. Today I think completeness is essential. (p.12-13) What is facet analysis? "The sorting of terms in a given field into homogeneous, mutually exclusive facets, each derived from the parent universe by a single characteristic of division." "Facet analysis is partly analagous to the traditional rules of logical division, on which classification has always been based. The result, however differs from traditional classification in the following ways. First: The strictness with which the rules are applied: in the analysis performed in order to construct a scheme every distinctive logical category should be isolated, every new characteristic of division should be clearly formulated, every new relation should be recognized *even though at a later stage it may be possible and advisable to present a less refined analysis* Second: ...facets so distinguished are not locked into rigid, enumerative schedules, but are left to combine with one another in the fullest freedom, so that every type of relation between the terms and between subjects may be expressed. Third: (From the theoretical point of view) FC breaks free from the restriction of the traditional classification to the hierarchical, genus-species relation: by combining terms in compound subjects, it introduces new logical relations between them, thus better reflecting the complexity of knowledge [and I insert here: whatever universe for which you are attempting to provide access]. Facet analysis by means of fundamental distinguishing characteristics or *categories* is the basic operation in constructing a faceted classification." End of the reference citing: > > There is a general consensus that these two are fine examples of FC. > > [http://www.wine.com/] > > [http://eat.epicurious.com/recipes/browse_home/index.ssf/?/recipes/browse_ho > me/index.html] These are examples, but not ones I would consider fine. > > The epicurious recipe site troubles me. I think it is a good example of how > FC *navigation* can succeed on a web site. However, the FC itself does not > seem complete. For instance, Beef and Vegetables at the same level creates > problems. Beef is more specific than Vegetables as a facet. What about > Chicken? It is like Beef as a specific meat, but hidden under Poultry. And > to add the fact that I can't find Turkey under Poultry. > > Is this a misappropriation of good FC? Or am I being too picky? In my opinion yes. You've got to conduct proper facet analysis, if your site design, and access tools are going to be robust and useful. Our Universe is recipes. Our users may possibly want to access by ingredient, cooking time, meal type etc. etc. So what then should our facets be? Let's tackle access by the ingredient facet first. How best to approach this? I'd propose: Meat Dairy Vegetable Thus the facet/attribute (Ingredient) would have as isolates/examples: Meat Dairy and Vegetable Now if a new cooking craze breaks out which involves introducing inedible substances like *gasp* gold leaf (sound familiar to anyone?) we might want to add indigestibles to the isolate/examples. I'd be interested in hearing from others about how to approach facet analysis, especially worked examples, or examples of sites which demonstrate elegant use of facets. (I'll try to access my list and get it here soon). We can go further with this list too. Facet analysis is just the first hurdle. Interface remains a serious impediment as well, as any of you who are familiar with Steven Pollitt's work are well aware. Kathryn To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: facetedclassification-unsubscribe <at> yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/