Points of Knowledge

To deal with a large body of knowledge, we need to localize and organize it somehow. Where that knowledge is located, or where and how it is organized, or the system by which it is identified and perhaps indexed, might be called the points of knowledge. And certainly, databases connected to and/or indexed with knowledge organization systems represent points of knowledge.

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Trekkie Taxonomy

You know my fascination with unique applications of taxonomies. What you don’t know is how much of a sci-fi fan my husband is. So if I failed to report on this little gem, well, I might have to sleep on your couch for awhile. As the third story in a multi-part series on taxonomy and speciation, this look at the infamous tricorder and how it relates to taxonomies, is an interesting read.

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Recycling Treasures

Once again my search for the odd and illusive taxonomies have resulted in a treasure. “Taxonomy of trash” was brought to us by Philly.com and it didn’t fail to entertain and intrigue me.

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Ranganathan, Classification, and British Toys

I’ve mentioned Ranganathan briefly in some earlier posts. Let’s look at his innovations and influence from a historical perspective. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan (1892-1972) was an Indian mathematician and librarian. His academic training was in mathematics, in which subject he earned two degrees. He taught mathematics and wrote several articles on the history of mathematics. These articles worked to…

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WAND Within Launched

WAND has launched their WAND Within taxonomy partnership initiative and it comes with a roster of nine top search and information management vendors who each will be offering the WAND Taxonomies to customers as a part of its respective technology solution.

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Theory of Knowledge: 18th Century Developments

Last time, we mentioned biological taxonomy. This leads us inevitably to Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), a Swedish zoologist and botanist. We regard him as the “father of modern taxonomy.” Contrary to popular belief, Linnaeus did not invent the binomial nomenclature system, with organism types designated by genus and species. That honor belongs to the Bauhin brothers, Gaspar (1560-1624) and Johann (1541-1613). The two Swiss brothers formalized the then-existing method of (often vague and wordy) polynomial nomenclature, introducing a stricter, more logical system with one word for the genus and one for the species.

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