A Bluffers Guide to Terminologies
Confused? Here's the world of words demystified.
Authority List
A list containing information about persons and organisations. A standard for structuring of this information information is International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (ISAAR(CPF)).
Classification
An hierarchical organisation of subjects using codes and numbers, rather than words. For example, the Social History and Industrial Classification (SHIC).
Knowledge Organisation System (KOS)
A systematically structured collection of terms including dictionaries, term lists, glossaries, taxonomies, ontologies and thesauri.
Ontology
The structuring of a set of things, events and relationships in order to exchange information. A heritage sector example is the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC CRM).
Thesaurus
Terms arranged in a hierarchy, allowing the selection of more general or specific words. For example the MDA Archaeological Object Names Thesaurus.
Delving deeper into thesauri you'll find:
Narrower Term – a more specific instance of the term. For example, 'broadsword' is a narrower term of 'sword'. It's possible for a term to have none, or many, narrower terms.
Broader Term – a less specific instance of the term. For example, 'brush' is a broader term of 'paint brush'. A term can have one, or many, broader terms.
Related Term – a term related to another term in a non-hierarchical way. For example, 'bow (weapon)' is related to 'arrow'.
Non-preferred Term – it's possible for more than one term to refer to the same concept. When this happens, a choice is made of one of the terms to be part of the hierarchy of the thesaurus. The other related terms are said to be non-preferred for the thesaurus. This does not imply the chosen term is in any way better in the 'real world'.
Wordlist
A simply structured set of terms, often organised alphabetically and created 'in house' for a particular purpose. For example the Hertfordshire Simple Name List.
