Page 117 - DLIS405_INFORMATION_STORAGE_AND_RETRIEVAL

Information Storage and Retrieval

Notes A major goal of vocabulary control is to ensure that each distinct concept refers to a unique linguistic
form. These types of linguistic relationships should be controlled or regularized so that information
or content that is provided to a user is not spread across the system under multiple access points,
but is gathered together in one place. Eliminating ambiguity and compensating for synonymy
through vocabulary control assures that each term has only one meaning and that only one term
may be used to represent a given concept or entity.

Why is vocabulary control necessary in organizations?

Ambiguity

Ambiguity occurs in natural language when a word or phrase (a homograph or polyseme) has more
than one meaning. Below figure provides an example and shows how a single word may be used to
represent multiple, very different concepts.

Mercury
...(automobile)

Term Mercury
...Mercury ...(planet)

Mercury
...(metal)

Mercury
...(mythoulogy)
A controlled vocabulary must compensate for the problems caused by ambiguity by ensuring that
each term has one and only one meaning.

Synonymy

A different problem occurs when a concept can be represented by two or more synonymous or nearly
synonymous words or phrases. This is called synonymy. This means that desired content may be
scattered around an information space or database because it can be described by different but
equivalent terminology. Below figure illustrates this case:

Words: Concept:
Artificial consciousness
} Conscious automata
Biocomputers

Electronic brains

Mechanical brains

Synthetic consciousness

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