Transcript PresentationA16

Changing the tune – matching
language with user needs to
maximise discoverability
Anna Gifford
Australian Drug Foundation
Australian Drug Foundation
Agenda
Controlled vocabularies revisited
User language and changing literacies
Case study 1: Victoria Online Thesaurus
Case study 2: Australian AOD Thesaurus
Controlled vocabularies
Managed sets of subject terms used in
description to aid or enhance discovery,
e.g.:
Thesauri
Glossaries
Ontologies
Taxonomies
Other (sort of) controlled
vocabularies
• Faceted classification
• Folksonomies
• Topic maps
Other (sort of) controlled
vocabularies
Folksonomy example
Other (sort of) controlled
vocabularies
Topic map example
Controlled vocabularies in
librarianship
• Bibliographic/resource subject description
– Library of Congress subject headings
– Australian Thesaurus of Education
Descriptors
– APAIS
– AOD Thesaurus
Controlled vocabularies in
librarianship
• Developed with
the intermediary
audience in mind
• User language or
context can be
quite different
User language & changing
literacies
User language & changing
literacies
How can controlled vocabularies
still help users??
Case study 1: Victoria Online
Thesaurus
Users
Personas
 Demographics
 Usability
research

Language for VO
1. Existing subject terminology
• Existing keywords
• Topic taxonomy
2. User language
• Search term analysis
• Search terms from aligned sites
Building the thesaurus
• Identify user language
• Confirm ontology
• Develop methodology and quality
checking
• Standards compliance
• Implementation and maintenance
Victoria Online Thesaurus
Case study 2: Australian AOD
Thesaurus
A proposed thesaurus
• Modify the AOD Thesaurus to bring it closer to local
contexts and issues
• Incorporate user language within the structure
• Retain a capability for linkage with LC subject headings
to preserve interoperability and data sharing
• Implement into the DrugInfo Library catalogue
• Roll out across websites
Users - library & website
Library
• AOD sector - students, workers,
researchers, policy makers, etc.
Website
• AOD sector
• General public (to be determined)
User language
Technical language
•
cannabis,
methamphetamine,
gamma-hydroxy butyrate
Common language
•
marijuana, crystal meth,
GHB
Slang
•
dope, mull, weed, ganja, ice,
grievous bodily harm, fantasy,
liquid E, blue nitro…
Building the thesaurus
• Identify user language
• Confirm ontology
• Develop methodology and quality
checking
• Standards compliance
• Implementation and maintenance
Controlled vocabularies 2.0
Information Online 2009
Anna Gifford
Australian Drug Foundation
[email protected]
http://druginfo.adf.org.au