Brief Summary
This video introduces the basics of information organization, explaining its definition, reasons for doing it, the hierarchy of information, and the concept of bibliographic control. It highlights the importance of organizing information for understanding, saving time, collocating related items, and facilitating information retrieval. The video also touches on the role of metadata in describing information sources and the functions of bibliographic control in identifying, collecting, and providing access to information resources.
- Information organization involves forming unity and arrangement of elements for decision-making, supporting information search activities.
- Reasons for information organization include understanding, saving time, collocation, and information retrieval.
- Bibliographic control functions to identify resources, collect them systematically, provide access points, and enable information retrieval.
Introduction to Information Organization
The lecture introduces the concept of information organization, starting with the definition of "organize" from the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Organizing involves forming a coherent unity, sorting for easy retrieval, arranging in a sequence, and integrating elements into a whole. Information organization is defined as the activity related to data collection or document control using a specific approach, forming unity and arrangement of elements for decision making involving data, information, and knowledge. It also encompasses the process to make information resources findable and supports information search activities.
Reasons for Information Organization
Human nature drives the need to organize, applicable in both formal environments like libraries and daily life, such as arranging spices in the kitchen. Human learning relies on analyzing, organizing, and retrieving data, information, and knowledge, recognizing patterns, comparing experiences, and processing relationships. Taylor explains that information organization aids in understanding, saving time, collocating similar ideas, and facilitating information retrieval. The concept aligns with the functional requirements of bibliographic records (FRBR), focusing on finding, identifying, selecting, and accessing resources, as well as exploring to gain a better understanding.
Saving Copies and Institutions Involved
Organizing information allows for the preservation of human-produced works like books, art, and recordings for future generations, creating a collective memory. Libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions are typically responsible for organizing information, a practice that has been ongoing for years.
Hierarchy of Information
The lecture transitions to discussing the hierarchy of information, referencing Clifford Stoll's book "Silicon Snake Oil." The hierarchy progresses from symbols to data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, representing increasing levels of understanding. While some experts argue that institutions organize knowledge, Taylor posits that they organize information, enabling others to find, read, absorb, and use it to increase their knowledge. Knowledge resides in the mind, while information is the communication of that knowledge through various recorded forms like writing, speaking, and art.
Definition of Information and Metadata
Information is defined as all forms of knowledge, such as facts and news, that reduce uncertainty and are communicated in recorded form, including text, video, audio, images, and more. Regardless of the format, all information sources share basic attributes like titles, creators, and subjects. These attributes are recorded as metadata to help organize information. Metadata is data about data, describing the information source itself.
Control Bibliography
The lecture introduces controlled bibliography, which involves describing information sources and assigning names, titles, access points, and subjects to create metadata records. These records serve as substitutes for the actual information items and are placed in information retrieval tools like catalogs, bibliographies, indexes, and registers. These tools help users find information sources.
Functions of Bibliographic Control
Harold and Walter define six functions of bibliographic control: identifying the existence of all types of information resources, identifying the works that depend on the resource, collecting resources into a systematic collection, producing a list of information resources that comply with standards, providing useful access points, and providing a means to find information resources. Standards used include RDA for libraries, DACS for archives, and CCO for museums. Access points are names, words, or phrases used to search for information resources, and the success of retrieval depends on adequate metadata. Metadata enables the world to know about the information resource, identify smaller works, create consistent lists, provide access, and facilitate information retrieval.
