Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
- either in schemas defining the
objects of analysis*
(such as [Civilization] or
[Cultural construct]);
- or in schemas defining the
activities of analysis*
(such as [Minimal
designation (of an object)], [Illustration (of an object)], etc.).
Thus, the act of description or analysis is regulated at the level of the schemas of
definition in the form of “instructions” or implicit “directives” of the type:
a)
first
, select the type or types of objects to be analyzed,
b)
then
carry out the analysis, opting for this-or-that activity.
Let us specify that a particular
task
of description (referential description,
description of the space-time context, description of the discourse production, etc.)
is always carried out according to precise
procedures of description
which include
one or a selection of objects of analysis. In particular, we distinguish between two
main procedures:
1.
free description*
(it is the analyst who determines the values of a conceptual
term);
2. and
controlled description*
(the analyst relies on a thesaurus to determine the
value or values of a conceptual term).
Thus, as Figure 3.2 demonstrates, the
referential description*
of the knowledge
object [Civilization] is done using a procedure of free description. It is the analyst
who enters the nominal expression <Chavín civilization> to denote the specific
value of the conceptual term [Civilization] in the context of his analysis of an
audiovisual text thematizing “something” about this pre-Colombian civilization
from around 2,500 years ago.
On the other hand, the referential description of the knowledge object [Cultural
construct (of the civilization in question)] is carried out using a procedure of
controlled description, i.e. using a thesaurus specialized in the particular domain of
cultural expertise. In order to assign a specific value to the conceptual term [Cultural
construct (in relation to Chavín civilization)], the analyst uses (in our case) the ASW
micro-thesaurus “Types/genres of cultural systems” and selects the descriptor
<Technical culture> thereby indicating that the audiovisual text he is analyzing deals
with the technical culture of the
Chavín
civilization. We shall discuss the procedures
of free and controlled description in greater detail in Chapters 9 and 10.
