Information Technology Reference
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Box 1.1
Historical valuing of selection power
Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are clept
All by the name of dogs: the valu'd file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous Nature
Hath in him clos'd; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill
That writes them all alike;
—Shakespeare. Macbeth . c.1606. III.i.91
Macbeth's questioning of the murderers (Shakespeare, 1606/1988, 77-78)
indicates the value historically attached to subtlety of distinctions in the
language or lexicon of information retrieval systems. In this respect, the
passage anticipates the principle formulated in modern discussions of
indexing and classification—the value of an index term lies in its discrimi-
natory power—and is consistent with the valuing of selection power (see
chapter 2).
Commentaries have glossed “valu'd” as an adjective derived from the
noun (value) and not as the participle of the verb (Shakespeare 1606/1988,
77), implying that values attached to objects are analogous to attributes
in modern databases and index terms in information retrieval systems. It
could also be read as being valued or valuable, giving “[p]articular addi-
tion” or added value. A “file” (Shakespeare 1606/1988, 142) is a list or roll,
a highly linear technological form.
While regarded as an image of order (Shakespeare 1606/1988, 77), the
passage also contains elements of disorder: interactions between the breeds
are listed in tension with the hierarchy from “dogs” to breeds of dogs—
“shoughs” (shag-haired dogs) lead to “water-rugs” (rough-haired water
dogs). The transition from the first-named type (“hounds”) to the last
(“demi-wolves”) represents a move from domestic to semiferal, with a hint
of lycanthropy implied by the analogy with types of men. The imposition
of hierarchy also associates closely with political tyranny.
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