Incorporating Historical and Geographical Dimensions into a Search Interface Michael Buckland

Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative University of California, Berkeley Association of American geographers San Francisco, CA 17 April 2007

17 April 2007

Acknowledgements

Summarizes work done by and with Kim Carl, Fredric Gey, Ray Larson, Vivien Petras, Jeanette Zerneke and others.

Supported by the [Federal] Institute of Museum and Library Services. Amer Assoc Geogr 2

Support the Learner: What, Where, When and Who

Supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Five ideas . . .

1. Understanding requires knowing context.

2. Using internet resources should be as easy as using a library reference collection.

3. Find context of any museum object, document, or performance: What is related to it: what it is, where it came from, when it originated, and who associated with it?

4.

5.

WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHO as a useful structure.

Make better use of

existing

descriptive metadata.

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 3

Any document, object, performance or query Connect it with its context – and other resources.

Facet Vocabulary Displays WHAT WHERE Thesaurus Cross e.g. LCSH references Gazetteer Map Any catalog: Archives, Libraries, Museums, TV, Publishers WHEN WHO 17 April 2007 Period directory Timeline Biograph. dict. Interpersonal e.g.

Who’s Who

relationships Amer Assoc Geogr Any resource: Audio, Images, Texts, Numeric data, Objects, Virtual reality, Webpages 4

Linking portal with resources

Local: Relational database - - Generates pages dynamically - - Search term recommender system - - Vocabulary mapping tables - - Library of maps

Remote: - “Federated” search e.g. Z39.50

- - Structured URLs 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 5

WHAT Subject headings Cross-references within

and between

indexes LCSH: Kung fu films

see

Martial Arts films

Previously

Hand-to-hand fighting, oriental, in motion pictures

NEED TO MAP TO & BETWEEN UNFAMILIAR VOCABULARIES

Automobile

: - PASS MOT VEH, SPARK IGN ENG (U.S. Import/Export statistics) - TL 205 (Library of Congress Classification) - 180/280 (US Patent classification) - 3711 (Standard Industrial Classification)

Computer: HS 847120

Digital auto data proc mach contng in the same housing a CPU and input & output device.”(International Harmonized Commodity Classification System).

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 6

Guidance from user’s query to remote system’s vocabulary 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 7

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 8

But language evolves differently in different social groups.

Different words for the same thing … or the same word for different things . . . 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 9

“Cardiac arrest” A single topic, but different specialists don’t want same literature! So how to select differently?

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 10

Linking vocabularies WHAT, WHERE, WHEN

Library subject headings

Topic – Geographic subdivision – Chronological subdivision

Place name gazetteer:

Place name – Type – Spatial markers (Lat & long) – When

Time Period Directory

Period name – Type – Time markers (Calendar) – Where

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 11

Mapping diverse vocabularies“Feature types” to “Subject Headings” National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Geographic Description Codes: -- 600+ types of

physical object

, e.g. School, Plateau, Dike Library of Congress Subject Headings: >100,000

topics

and combinations to form complex topics Most GDC have comparable LCSH, ordinarily in plural.

- GDC

School =

LCSH

School buildings

. LCSH

School

means an institution. - Ambiguity of

Farm

,

Plantation

, &c. physical / institution.

- 38% LCSH same, usually plural; 61% match incl variant spellings & synonyms; 22% boader; 4% narrower; 12% problematic. - GDC weak on historic features, e.g.

Ancient site.

- Object / topic issues:

North Dakota – Antiquities

.

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 12

Linking vocabularies WHAT, WHERE, WHEN

Library subject headings

Topic – Geographic subdivision – Chronological subdivision

Place name gazetteer:

Place name – Type – Spatial markers (Lat & long) – When

Time Period Directory

Period name – Type – Time markers (Calendar) – Where

Now re-align the WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN . . . 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 13

Well-developed facet indexes include other facets.

WHAT (LCSH) What A Where A When A Who A WHERE (Place Gazet.) WHEN (Period dir.) M M M M M M WHO (Biogr dict.) M M M M M = Mandatory; A = If Applicable Need vertical interoperability between vocabularies, e.g. for “What” topical mapping from NGA Gazetteer

Geographic Description Code

“Lthse” (Lighthouse) to

LCSH

“Lighthouses.” and place name interoperability for “Where.” Horizontal associations occur within records.

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 14

Linking portal with resources

Local: Relational database - - Generates pages dynamically - - Search term recommender system - - Vocabulary mapping tables - - Library of maps

Remote: - “Federated” search e.g. Z39.50

- - Structured URLs

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 15

Use external search engine to forward query to remote resource Interface: Herzl, Theodor, founder of Israel, lived most of his life in Austria, 1860 to 1904 CHESHIRE Z39.50 query to Library of Congress template: https://sherlock.sims.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/CheshireZSearch.tcl?

search=subject+

______

+

______

& target=lc&numwanted=20& format=html& recsyntax=marc Insert name https://sherlock.sims.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/CheshireZSearch.tcl?

search=subject+

Herzl

+

Theodor

&target=lc&numwanted=20&format=html &recsyntax=marc 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 16

https://sherlock.sims.berkeley.edu/cgi bin/CheshireZSearch.tcl?search=subject+ Herzl + Theodor &target=lc&num wanted=20&format=html&recsyntax=marc 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 17

Structured URLs: templates for searching remote sites Wikipedia Template: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

_________

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Theodor_Herzl

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 18

Structured URLs: templates and cross-vocabulary mappings e.g. Metropolitan Museum of Art Time line Of Art History (TOAH)

11

time periods, 01-10, e.g.

04 11

= 1,000 B.C. – 1 A.D.

= 1900 A.D. – present Geographical hierarchy (some variation by time period), e.g.

ss

= South & southeast Asia

ssa

= South Asia (India, Himalayas,…)

eu

= Europe

euwcm

= Austria, Germany, Switzerland http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/

__

/

___

/ht

_____.

htm e.g. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/

04

/

ssa

/ht

04ssa

.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/

11

/

euwcm

/ht

11euwcm

.htm 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 19

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/

__

/

___

/ht

_____

.htm Insert

s04

and

ssa

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/

04

/

ssa

/ht

04ssa

.htm

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 20

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/

__

/

___

/ht

_____

.htm Insert

11

and

euwcm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/

11

/

euwcm

/ht

11euwcm

.htm 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 21

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 22

Prototype “4W” search interface

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 23

Search term recommender service for LC Subject Headings Entry Vocabulary Index suggests correct LCSH with different spelling 17 April 2007 Buttons for searchable resources & local catalogs Amer Assoc Geogr 24

Recommender service lists statistically associated Subject Headings Potentially related people 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 25

17 April 2007 Potentially related period?

Amer Assoc Geogr 26

Mostly in India 16 th 18 th century 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 27

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr Find out more about this area.

28

Different Browsing Options!

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 29

17 April 2007 Zooming in to South Asia Select Restricting time frame Amer Assoc Geogr 30

Interface generates menu page General information about the country of India… 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 31

Wikipedia BBC CIA Factbook General information about the country of India… Berkeley Natural History Museums Ethnologue 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 32

Historical events – linked to Library catalog & Wikipedia : none avail. for this time period 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 33

ECAI Cultural Atlases:

presenting history in its geographical & chronological contexts 17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 34

Understanding means knowing context.

The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative

Advancing scholarship through increased attention to place and time.

http://ecai.org

Join us at our next ECAI conferences!

Moscow, Russia, May 28-June 1 Berkeley, CA, Oct 17-20.

Project website: ecai.org/imls2004 The “4W” portal at: ecai.org/imls4W The “4W California” portal at: ecai.org/imls4W [email protected]

17 April 2007 Amer Assoc Geogr 35