Joseph T. Tennis

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Areas of Research
  

The focus of my research is classification theory. This subfield of Information Science is concerned with the evaluation of classification practices and structures. Classification theory critiques these processes and structures in order to improve existing systems and future system design. Theorists can critique these systems from a number of viewpoints.  I look at how systems change over time, compare with one another when diverse design requirements are invoked by different communities, and how systems can interoperate in the web environment.

Scheme Versioning and Subject Ontogeny

How do indexing languages change over time? Also, how can we accommodate change in indexing languages to help their management and use?

  • Tennis, J. T. and Sutton, S. A. (2008). "Extending the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) for Concept Management in Vocabulary Development Applications." In Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 59(1):25-37. 
  • "Diachronic and Synchronic Indexing: Modeling Conceptual Change in Indexing Languages." (2007).  In Information Sharing in a Fragmented World, Crossing Boundaries. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Information Science/L'Association canadienne des sciences de l'information. (Montreal, Quebec).  Older version | Revised version
  • "SKOS and the Ontogenesis of Vocabularies."  (2005). In International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications: Vocabularies in Practice. (Madrid, Spain: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid): 275-278. Available
  • "Subject Ontogeny: Subject Access through Time and the Dimensionality of Classification." (2002). In Challenges in Knowledge Representation and Organization for the 21st Century: Integration of Knowledge across Boundaries: Proceedings of the Seventh International ISKO Conference. (Granada, Spain, July 10-13, 2002).  Advances in Knowledge Organization, vol. 8. Würzburg: Ergon: 54-59.

Framework Analysis and Descriptive Informatics

Descriptive Informatics is looking at metadata in the wild: What are the species and what is the extent of unique types of information organization systems?  Conceptual Frameworks for Understanding the Phenomenon of Information Organization: How can we conceptualize the differences and similarities that obtain between these species of systems, and how does that affect design, use, management, and evaluation of such systems?

  • Tennis, J. T. and Calzada-Prado, J. "Ontologies and the Semantic Web: Problems and Perspectives for LIS Professionals." (2007).  In IBERSID: Revista de Sistemas de Información y Documentación. (1): 303-311.
  • "The Economic and Aesthetic Axis of Information Organization Frameworks." (2007). In Proceedings of the North American Symposium on Knowledge Organization.  (Toronto, Ontario). Abstract available
  • "Social Tagging and the Next Steps for Indexing: Fordist Reflexivity and Intertextuality." (2006).  In Advances in Classification Research. vol. 17.  (Austin, Texas).  Available
  • "Function, Purpose, Predication, and Context of Information Organization Frameworks." (2006). In Knowledge Organization for a Global Learning Society: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference for Knowledge Organization. International Society for Knowledge Organization. (Vienna, Austria. July 5-7, 2006). Advances in Knowledge Organization vol 10. Ergon. Würzburg: 303-310.
  • "Comparative Functional Analysis of Boundary Infrastructures, Library Classification, and Folksonomies." (2006).  In Information Science Revisited: Approaches to Innovation Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Information Science/L'Association canadienne des sciences de l'information. (York University, Toronto, Canada). Available here and here
  • Conceptions of Subject Analysis: A Metatheoretical Investigation. (2005). (University of Washington: Seattle).  [Dissertation]. Advisor: Allyson Carlyle Committee: Clare Beghtol, Jens-Erik Mai, and Stuart Sutton
  • "Experientialist Epistemology and Classification Theory: Embodied and Dimensional Classification." (2005). In Knowledge Organization. 32(2): 79-92.
  • "URIs and Intertextuality: Incumbent Philosophical Commitments in the Development of the Semantic Web." (2004).  In Knowledge Organization and the Global Information Society: Proceedings of the Eighth International ISKO Conference. (London, United Kingdom, July 13-16, 2004).  Advances in Knowledge Organization vol. 9.  Würzburg: Ergon: 103-108.
  • "Three Spheres of Classification Research: Emergence, Encyclopedism, and Ecology." (2004). In Advances in Classification Research. vol. 13. (Medford, NJ: Information Today for the American Society for Information Science and Technology) Version available
  • "Two Axes of Domains for Domain Analysis." (2003).  In Knowledge Organization. 30(3/4): 191-195. Version available

Interoperability and Standards

How do we get diverse systems (metadata in the wild) to work together in a disparate and constantly evolving networked environment?  We can do this through harmonization to standards and through building systems specifically to work in a changing ecology of information technologies.

Image courtesy of John Hinds (Hudson River, 2004)