Summary

The first act in classification is that of grouping objects or concepts.

Grouping brings together like concepts, according to their properties or attributes.

Ordering is the next process, to determine the sequence of groups.

Problems occur when objects have more than one attribute and we have to decide which is most important for grouping.

The order of importance of attributes is called citation order.

Properties which are scattered by the citation order are called distributed relatives.

Citation order

Whether it has been logically arrived at or not, some sort of citation order exists in any collection of compound subjects...When we apply a citation order we're bringing the two classificatory principles of grouping and ordering together, in order to create a logical and predictable sequence.

An inescapable outcome of bringing together objects on the basis of one attribute is that other attributes are scattered...When have to produce a linear order...this scattering is inevitable, and we must decide which aspects of things are more important for grouping, and which are secondary and can be distributed. The citation order can be varied for different groups of users, although only one citation order should be used in a particular collection: if citation orders are muddled searchers won't be able to predict locations, and retrieval will be much more difficult to achieve.

Compound subjects

We begin to see the 'no-right answer' syndrome in action.

What is happening here is a demonstration of the fact that concepts usually have more than one characteristic or attribute.

Subjects...with more than one aspect or component, are called compound subjects.

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There is obviously more than one potential answer here, and it's impossible to say that there is a correct order, or that one arrangement is better than another in any absolute sense. The difficulty arises because we're trying to put all to these subjects (and potentially the whole of knowledge) into a straight line: the single sequence, or linear order, can't take account of the variety of relationships that exist between subjects. This problem isn't limited to arranging books on shelves: it also occurs in other situations where goods need to be displayed.

The fact of this complexity of relationships, and how they are sorted out in practice, will determine how effective a classification is for a particular subject, or in a particular context...and this variability is multiplied a thousandfold across the whole of knowledge. This gives us the first fundamental law of classification - this are lots of possible right ways to do things. This is usually not a single 'correct' order of subjects, but only an appropriate or helpful order, which changes according to the situation, and the needs and interests of the users.

Some general theoretical principles of ordering are used in classification schemes: chronological order is an obvious one, and proximity is used as the basis of ordering geographical places. Developmental orders and orders based on complexity can be used in classifying the natural world, and the idea of dependency is also often employed: for example, life forms are dependent on their chemical constituents and therefore biochemistry must precede botany and zoology. Nevertheless, much ordering in classification is done on a pragmatic and arbitrary basis.

3. First principles of classification

Two ideas are fundamental to any system of classification: grouping and ordering. Grouping is the primary act of classification and one that is inherent in human thinking...We can all classify in this sense quite instinctively.

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Grouping:

...the essence of classification: the act of putting like with like and separating unlike. The principle used to create a group is sometimes called the:

Principle of Division

or

Characteristic of Division

This is the technical term for the property or attribute that all members of a group have in common.

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Ordering:

The process of grouping together related terms or concepts is central to a classification scheme, and it forms the first stage in constructing a classification.

The second stage is to decide on the relationships between groups, since this determines the order in which the groups will be arranged (...determines the order that the groups will be arranged).

2. The need for classification

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...the classification is the means by which we arrange books on shelves. The classification scheme may also be used to organize the results of searches...

Classification is a fundamental tool in the process of organizing a collection and in the complementary process of searching for and retrieving information.

1. Introduction

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Classification is everywhere. We classify...

It is natural to the human mind to classify, and essential if we want to make sense of the world...the process of the classification allows us to recongnize...and make sense of those things.

Everybody can and does classify...it's necessary to have systems for managing stored information in a way that allow us to find it again - systems that use our human classificatory skills to organize, to match, to predict and to interpret.

...The emphasis throughout is on the activity of classification rather than the theory...

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...there is no reason why the techniques learned can not be applied to non-book materials...On the same basis there is usually no reason why classification schemes can't be used to organize resources in any format...text...objects and data, and representations or surrogates of all of these.