DOYLC

An involuntary hiatus has prevented me from the pleasure of blogging on definitions for about a month.  I am now gradually getting back to normal, and am able to blog again. Today I want to look at concept systems, and types of concept system. In data modeling, only one type of concept system commonly appears - the generic concept system, containing Supertypes and Subtypes.  Very occasionally, the part-whole type of concept system can also be found.  The latter be seen in "bill of material" structures.  Strangely, the visual representation of a generic concept system and a part-whole concept system can look very similar in a data model.   I think that this leads data modelers to play down the idea of concept systems, and indeed the term "concept system" is not really met with in data modeling. However, if we turn to the discipline of terminology, the idea of concept system is very prominent, and different types of concept systems are called out.  Let m...

The issue of the emotive power of terms and definitions is a difficult one.  However, it is never far away, even in data management.  With the recent passing of Kim Jong Il, it seems appropriate to reflect on the political application of terminology.  Below is an excerpt taken from George Orwell's novel "1984" which can be found at the Newspeak Dictionary site www.newspeakdictionary.com.  It deals with how abbreviations can be constructed to achieve certain ends. Admittedly, these are terminological rather than definitional principles, but they are not without interest and certainly have their place.  So far as it could be contrived, everything that had or might have political significance of any kind was fitted into the B vocabulary. The name of every organization, or body of people, or doctrine, or country, or institution, or public building, was invariably cut down into the familiar shape; that is, a single easily pronounced word with the smallest number of s...

ISO 704 is a standard that has a good deal of relevance for anyone interested in definitions.  I am providing an outline of it here, so its scope can be appreciated.  Substantive discussion of the content of the standard will be provided in future posts.   The standard has been produced by ISO Technical Committee (TC) 37, which is called "Terminology and other language and content resources".  Actually the standard has been produced by Subcommittee SC1 of TC 37, which is known as "Principles and Methods".  ISO 704 existed in a previous version, that was published in 2000.  The present version of the standard is 74 pages long and can be obtained from http://www.iso.org. The abstract of the standard states: ISO 704:2009 establishes the basic principles and methods for preparing and compiling terminologies both inside and outside the framework of standardization, and describes the links between objects, concepts, and their terminological representations. ...

In the sparse literature about definitions, most publications are from Academia.  However, Nordterm 8 Guide to Terminology by Heidi Suonuuti (ISBN 952-9794-14-2) is a very useful and practical booklet from a practicioner community.  Further details can be found at http://www.nordterm.net/info/Publ/PNORDTERM8-en.html . Nordterm describes itself as follows: "Nordterm is an association of organisations and societies in the Nordic countries which are engaged in terminology work, training and research.".  Terminology work, of course, covers much more than definitions, but A Guide to Terminology does contain a fair amount on definitions, and has a very practical focus. Nordterm 8 contains a very useful set of references, particularly about ISO Standards.  It introduces definitions in a section on Concept Analysis, that is also valuable as an overview of ontology - again from a practical perspective. A section dedicated to definitions follows, with systematization in termin...