Indexing: Concepts and Theory

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Standard

Indexing: Concepts and Theory. / Hjørland, Birger.

In: Knowledge Organization, Vol. 45, No. 7, 22.10.2018, p. 609-639.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Hjørland, B 2018, 'Indexing: Concepts and Theory', Knowledge Organization, vol. 45, no. 7, pp. 609-639. https://doi.org/10.5771/0943-7444-2018-7-609

APA

Hjørland, B. (2018). Indexing: Concepts and Theory. Knowledge Organization, 45(7), 609-639. https://doi.org/10.5771/0943-7444-2018-7-609

Vancouver

Hjørland B. Indexing: Concepts and Theory. Knowledge Organization. 2018 Oct 22;45(7):609-639. https://doi.org/10.5771/0943-7444-2018-7-609

Author

Hjørland, Birger. / Indexing: Concepts and Theory. In: Knowledge Organization. 2018 ; Vol. 45, No. 7. pp. 609-639.

Bibtex

@article{9e9cf0a44af644959f144473d2dd34dc,
title = "Indexing: Concepts and Theory",
abstract = "This article discusses definitions of index and indexing and provides a systematic overview of kinds of indexes. Theories of indexing are reviewed, and the theoretical basis of both manual indexing and automatic indexing is discussed, and a classification of theories is suggested (rationalist, cognitivist, empiricist, and historicist and pragmatist theories). It is claimed that although many researchers do not consider indexing to be a theoretical issue (or consider it to be a field without theories) indexing is indeed highly theory-laden (and the idea of atheoretical indexing is an oxymoron). An important issue is also the subjectivity of the indexer, in particular her socio-cultural and paradigmatic background; for example, if authors of documents are the best indexers of their own documents. The article contains a section about the tools available for indexing in the form of the indexing languages and their nature. It is concluded that the social epistemology first proposed by Jesse Shera in 1951 provides the most fruitful theoretical framework for indexing.",
author = "Birger Hj{\o}rland",
year = "2018",
month = oct,
day = "22",
doi = "10.5771/0943-7444-2018-7-609",
language = "English",
volume = "45",
pages = "609--639",
journal = "Knowledge Organization",
issn = "0943-7444",
publisher = "Ergon-Verlag",
number = "7",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Indexing: Concepts and Theory

AU - Hjørland, Birger

PY - 2018/10/22

Y1 - 2018/10/22

N2 - This article discusses definitions of index and indexing and provides a systematic overview of kinds of indexes. Theories of indexing are reviewed, and the theoretical basis of both manual indexing and automatic indexing is discussed, and a classification of theories is suggested (rationalist, cognitivist, empiricist, and historicist and pragmatist theories). It is claimed that although many researchers do not consider indexing to be a theoretical issue (or consider it to be a field without theories) indexing is indeed highly theory-laden (and the idea of atheoretical indexing is an oxymoron). An important issue is also the subjectivity of the indexer, in particular her socio-cultural and paradigmatic background; for example, if authors of documents are the best indexers of their own documents. The article contains a section about the tools available for indexing in the form of the indexing languages and their nature. It is concluded that the social epistemology first proposed by Jesse Shera in 1951 provides the most fruitful theoretical framework for indexing.

AB - This article discusses definitions of index and indexing and provides a systematic overview of kinds of indexes. Theories of indexing are reviewed, and the theoretical basis of both manual indexing and automatic indexing is discussed, and a classification of theories is suggested (rationalist, cognitivist, empiricist, and historicist and pragmatist theories). It is claimed that although many researchers do not consider indexing to be a theoretical issue (or consider it to be a field without theories) indexing is indeed highly theory-laden (and the idea of atheoretical indexing is an oxymoron). An important issue is also the subjectivity of the indexer, in particular her socio-cultural and paradigmatic background; for example, if authors of documents are the best indexers of their own documents. The article contains a section about the tools available for indexing in the form of the indexing languages and their nature. It is concluded that the social epistemology first proposed by Jesse Shera in 1951 provides the most fruitful theoretical framework for indexing.

U2 - 10.5771/0943-7444-2018-7-609

DO - 10.5771/0943-7444-2018-7-609

M3 - Journal article

VL - 45

SP - 609

EP - 639

JO - Knowledge Organization

JF - Knowledge Organization

SN - 0943-7444

IS - 7

ER -

ID: 195335414