The Centrality of "The Work" as Component for Knowledge Sharing Richard P. Smiraglia, Professor, Palmer School of Library and Information Science, Long.

The Centrality of "The Work" as Component for Knowledge Sharing

Richard P. Smiraglia, Professor, Palmer School of Library and Information Science, Long Island University, Brookville NY USA

©2003. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Contexts - Sources

Knowledge organization, bibliographic control Documentation, information retrieval Extending the model to information objects generically

speaking A work is essentially one potential property of an informing

object

The Nature of ‘A Work’: Implications for the Organization of Knowledge. (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrw, 2001)Works as Entities for Information Retrieval. (Binghamtom, NY: Haworth Information Press, 2002)“Works as signs, symbols, and canons: The epistemology of the work.” Knowledge organization 28 (2002): 192-202.

Framing the Discussion

Text, Document, Work – Document, Documentary Entity, Document Content

Signs and Symbols Treatment of Works in Retrieval The Evidence: Derivative Relationships Toward a Theory of the Work Toward a Meta-theory of Document Content

The Documentary Entity

Documentary Entity

Work (intellectual)

Document (physical)

text

Document: A unique instance of recorded knowledge.

Content always conveyed by “text.”

Deliberate text may constitute a “work.”

Regardless, the intellectual content is distinct from the physical instantiation

Text, Document, and Work

A text is the set of words that constitute a writing. A document is the physical container (an "item") on which a text is recorded. A work is the set of ideas created, set into a document using text, with the

intention of being communicated to a receiver. A work is represented by semantic and ideational content. A given physical instantiation is essentially a realization at a specific point in

time of the semantic and ideational content.

Instantiation Taxonomy (earlier: Derivative Bibliographic Relationships)

Simultaneous derivations Successive derivations Translations Amplifications Extractions Adaptations Performances

An Operational Definition Of A Work

Work is the intellectual content of a bibliographic entity; any work has two properties: a) the propositions expressed, which form ideational content; and b) the expression of those propositions (usually a particular set of linguistic (musical, etc.) strings), which form semantic content.

Characteristics of Works

"Work" is an abstract concept (immaterial, conceptual) A work is a new synthesis of knowledge that consists of ideational

content and semantic content Once expressed a work may take a variety of physical instantiations The expression of a work may change freely in either ideational or

semantic content or both Relationships among works are complex A work's essential role is as a vehicle of communication between its

creator and its consumers

Volatility Is an Essential Trait of Works

Change in the expression of the semantic and ideational content Variation in the perception of semantic and ideational content Evolution in ownership

Saussure’s System of Sign, Signfied, Signifier

A sign "unites a concept and a sound image" (1959, 66). The signified is the concept under conveyance The signifier is the sound-image used to convey the concept (1959, 67). Signifiers are fixed in the linguistic communities that use them, and therefore

have the property of immutability (1959, 71). But over time signifiers (and ultimately signs) change--mutate--and therefore

linguistic signs are mutable.

Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1959 (repr. 1966) Course in General Linguistics. Ed. by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye; in collaboration with Albert Riedlinger; trans., with an introd. and notes by Wade Baskin. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Peirce’s Triad of Types of Signs

Firstly, there are likenesses, or icons; which serve to convey ideas of the things they represent simply by imitating them

Secondly, there are indications, or indices; which show something about things, on account of their being physically connected with them

Thirdly, there are symbols, or general signs, which have become associated with their meanings by usage. Such are most words, and phrases, and speeches, and books, and libraries.

Peirce, Charles Sanders. 1998. The essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings. Vol. 2 (1893-1913), ed. by the Peirce Edition Project, Nathan Houser [et al.], p. 4-10, "What is a Sign?" Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Pr.

Peirce’s Symbol

Representamen Object Interpretant

Interpretant

Representamen Object

Representation of dynamic conceptual instantiation

Poster's Concept of "Mode of Information"

Cultural history is demarcated by variations in the structure of symbolic exchange (1990, 5). Every society makes elemental use of symbolic exchange ... Works are required to facilitate the preservation and propagation of the culture through formal symbolic exchange (1990, 7).

Poster, Mark. 1990. The Mode of Information: Poststructuralism and Social Context. Univ. of Chicago Pr.

Eggert's Concept of the Work As a Collaborative Entity

Changed over time by those who embrace it--the more embraced the more changed--that is, the more popular the works the more likely we will observe derivation over time.

Eggert, Paul. 1994. "Editing Paintings/Conserving Literature: The Nature of the 'Work.'" In Studies in Bibliography v.47 ed. by David L. Vander Meulen, pp. 65-78. Charlottesville, Pub. for The Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia by The University Press of Virginia.

A Work is A Cultural Artifact

A new work clearly is unique at the point of its creation Its ownership is clear for that single moment when the work is fixed for the first

time in tangible form. At this point the work has the quality of the linguistic signifier--immutable and

clearly definable both in its ideational and semantic content and in its social role for the culture in which it is created.

Once the work is released to the public it becomes inherently mutable in a variety of ways.

Works are volatile; changeable in the expression of their content, variable in their perception among those who receive them, and constantly evolving in ownership as they progress through their collaborative social roles.

Works change over time, they take on new meanings as they are assimilated in cultures, they reflect their perceptions, and they evolve in content and tangibility.

Works are Analogous to Signs

Works can be seen as analogous to signs that are inescapably mutable over time. The texts of works are signifiers that are clearly immutable when first fixed, but which have other properties that are mutable. Gérard Genette (1997) posited a theory of "paratexts"--essentially preliminaries--which themselves mutate over time as a function of the reception history of the particular work to which they attend.

Empirical Evidence from the Bibliographic Universe

The size of a bibliographic family seems to be related to its popularity, or ... its canonicity. Most bibliographic families are formed and reach full size soon after publication of the progenitor. On the other hand, older progenitors are the locus for larger bibliographic families.--Smiraglia and Leazer (1999)

Proportion of Works Demonstrating Derivative Bibliographic Relationships

Site Proportion Confidence interval

Confidence level

Georgetown 49.9% ±4% .095

WorldCat 30.2% ±4% .095

Burke Theology

52.9% ±10% .090

Bobst Theology

57.9% ±6% .095

Bestsellers 98% ±2% .095

Age of the Progenitor

Site Regression Coefficient

Constant

Georgetown .123 .84

WorldCat .002 .239

Burke Theology .01 2.2

Bobst Theology .006 2.3

Bestsellers .002 .039

Extent of Instantiation Networks

Mean

Georgetown 8.4

WorldCat 3.5

Bobst Theology 4.2

Burke Theology 5.8

Bestsellers 28.17

Distribution of Derivation

*categories of musical derivation only

Smiraglia (1992)

Georgetown

Smiraglia and Leazer (1999) OCLC Worldcat

Smiraglia (2000) NYU

Smiraglia (2000) UTS

Vellucci (1994)

Sibley

Simultaneous 23.4% 7.1% 34% 18%

Successive 82.4% 55.5% 76% 80% 51.7%

Predecessor 13.1% 14.2% 4% 4%

Translation 30.2% 6.8% 26% 26% 12.2%

Amplification 7.3% 2.2% 6% 2% 47.1%

Extraction 2.4% 1.6% 4% 2%

Performance 4.3% 1.6% .9% 56.8%

Adaptation 2.7% 2% 35.9%

Arrangement* 35.6%

Musical presentation*

33.7%

Notational transcription*

2.4%

Studhorse Man by Robert Kroetsch

London 1969

New York 1969

(boards)

Toronto 1969

New York 1970

New York 1971

Ontario 1973

Ontario 1977

Ontario 1982

Ontario 1988

New York 1969 paper

L'eleveur d'étalon Sherbourne French Trans. 1985

L'étalon Montreal French Trans. 1990

A Thousand Miles up the Nile by Amelia B. Edwards

1877 Edinburgh 1891 London

1877 London 1891 New York

1877 New York [1891] New York

1888 Boston 1897a Boston

1888 Chicago 1897b Boston

1888 London 1899 London

1888 New York 1900 Philadelphia

1888 Philadelphia 1978 Leipzig

1889 London 1982 London

1889 New York 1983 Boston

1890 London 1989 Boston

1890a New York 1991 Connecticut

1890b New York 1993 London

[1891] Boston 1891 Boston

“Works” Language

FRBR – Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item Carlyle, Svenonius, Yee – Works and Superworks Leazer and Furner – Textual Identity Networks Smiraglia – Instantiation, Derivation, Mutation

Toward a Theory of The Work

A work is the intellectual content of a bibliographic entity. A work functions in society in the same manner that a sign functions in

language. A work has the characteristics of a Peircean symbol—general signs

associated with their meanings by usage over time. A work is potentially a collaborative phenomenon over time. Works that are assumed into the canon of their cultures are likely to

generate families of derivations. Certain bibliographic characteristics of literatures--predominantly age of

the progenitor--can be used to predict which works in the bibliographical universe at large have entered the canon, by virtue of the extent of their bibliographical families.

Epistemological Ramifications: 1

Hjørland (1998) asserts a basic epistemological approach to fundamental problems of information retrieval, particularly to the analysis of the contents of documentary entities … Hjørland lists four basic epistemological stances:

Empiricism: derived from observation and experience;

Rationalism: derived from the employment of reason;

Historicism: derived from cultural hermeneutics; and,

Pragmatism: derived from the consideration of goals and their consequences.

Epistemological Ramifications 2

The nominal anchor for a work (its citation) is a historical construct. Empiricism demonstrates the multiplicity of instantiations, and the

characteristics of arbitrariness and linearity in their evolution over time. Rationalism allows us to perceive the cultural roles of works as communicative

vehicles (I.e., not only informative documents). Pragmatism leads to the development of normative constructs for retrieval of

works—cf. IFLA’s FRBR model.

Semiotic Representation of IFLA’s FRBR Model

FRBR

WorkExpressionManifestationItem

Representamen1

conception

Object1

Work

Interpretant1/Representamen2

ExpressionObject2

Manifestation

Interpretant2

Item

Charles DickensOliver Twist

1139 English instantiations in OCLC

Continued reception from 1838 to present

Total adaptation not distinguished (viz. Lionel Bart’s musical)

Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist; or, The parish J. Duncombe & 1838Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist; or, The parish J. Turney, Jr. 1838Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist, or the parish b 1838...Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist Chapman and Ha 1850Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist / Getz, Buck, 1853Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist / T.B. Peterson, 1854...Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist. Hearst's Inter 1868Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist The Mershon Co 1868Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist / Hurd and Hough 1869Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist. Chapman & Hall 1870...Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist a serio-comic bu Samuel French, 1864Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist : a serio-comic John Dicks, 1879...Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist / Oxford Univers 2000 UDickens, Charles, Oliver Twist / Longman, 2000 UDickens, Charles, Oliver Twist / Dorling Kinder 2000 DDickens, Charles, Oliver Twist / Modern Library 2001 D...Dickens, Charles, Oliver! Columbia Pictu 1968Dickens, Charles, Oliver! RCA/Columbia P 1985Dickens, Charles, Oliver! Columbia Trist 1987Dickens, Charles, Oliver and the artful Dodger Worldvision Ho 1985Dickens, Charles, Oliver and the artful Dodger Hanna-Barbera 1989...Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist Decca, 1960Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist. Columbia, 1960Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist Golden Records 1962 DDickens, Charles, Oliver Twist Books on Tape, 1977Dickens, Charles, Oliver Twist Listen For Ple 1977...Dickens, Charles, Oliver! / Hollis Music, 196Dickens, Charles, Oliver! / Lakeview Music 1960

Oliver Twist in the Catalog

Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870. [Oliver Twist] [Oliver Twist. Chinese] [Oliver Twist. Dutch] [Oliver Twist. French] [Oliver Twist. German] [Oliver Twist. Hebrew] [Oliver Twist. Japanese] [Oliver Twist. Spanish] [Oliver Twist. Ukrainian] ... Bart, Lionel. [Oliver! Selections]

Works as Entities for Information RetrievalPartial Concept Map

Works Information retrieval entities

Record clusteringBibliographic record as text and paratext

Networked electronic environment Typologies

Cartographic worksCollected works as genusDigitized worksCollected works as speciesComposite multimediaPerformed works—Action as

significationScientific works—GenresScientific models—Metadata

representationTheological works—Genres

Scripture and RevelationVideo works and non-works--Taxonomy

Knowledge organization Ontology Epistemology

Action vs. text

Text and paratext

Taxonomy Representation

Entity-relationship Semiotics

Semiotic of Scientific Meaning Levels of signification—

Phenomenology, Description, Explanation

From Document to Object

Instantiation understood as content geneology As yet undescribed categories of mutation and derivation Re-presentation of object (fine art, natural science) clearly precedes

instantiation The epistemology of the documentary work can be extended as a

pragmatic tool for the development of metadata and other documentation practices for knowledge-sharing about works across domains.

Just as some documents contain non-works, so do many real world information objects

Non-works have distinct ideational and expressive content apart from their carriers

An Architecture of Content Geneology

Representamen1 Object1

Interpretant1/Representamen2

Object2

Interpretant2

Nominal Anchor (the Name of the Work)

-Instantiation of the Original-Re-presentation of the Instantiation-Mutation, Derivation, Etc. of the Re-presentation

Outline of a meta-theory

Theory of “works” Theory of the interaction of signification and reception The evolution, derivation, and mutation of ideational and expressive

content across: Time Culture Linguistic boundaries Canonicity Etc.

Lacunae: empirical evidence of the geneology of re-presentation