The Organization of Information

Chapter 10:  Systems for Vocabulary Control

Bass. Bass. Bass.  A fish? A guitar? Low male singing voice?  If you were in a music store, bass (which rhymes base) numbers 2 and 3 would peak your interest.  Planning for a weekend with your friends at the lake might leave you more interested in the first bass, as in class.  Searching online would definitely present challenges if the pronounciation and background knowledge of the words were not known.  That is why there is such a dire need for systems of vocabulary control.

A controlled vocabulary is a database of terms in which all of words and phrases that represent a term are brought together.  Most often, one word or phrase would be the best choice for retrieving the desired information. Nevertheless, there are challenges to creating such a vocabulary.  Among other concerns, issues of homographs (Polish-nationality vs. polish-to make smooth or shiny), homophones (sea-ocean vs. see-visualize) and abbreviations and acronyms (Ph.D.--Doctor of Philosophy and NASA-National Aeronautics and Space Administration) arise. To make searching easier and more efficient, online subject heading lists (Library of Congress Subject Headings, Medical Subject Headings), thesauri (Thesaurus of ERIC descriptors and Art & Architecture Thesaurus) and ontologies (Unified Medical Language System and the Semantic Web) are readily available.