The PhilArchive Categorization Project
A central aspect of PhilArchive is a categorization system, by which
papers can be categorized into hierarchical categories. For this
purpose, we have developed an extensive, if preliminary, taxonomy of
philosophical areas, and we have also developed a number of tools by
which the categorization system can be used. Details on these matters
follow below.
The PhilArchive Taxonomy
DESCRIPTION OF THE TAXONOMY USED
The levels are as follows:
- Level 1: **** DESCRIPTION
- Level 2: **** DESCRIPTION
...
Because papers can be categorized under more than one category, there
is a certain amount of crossclassification among these categories.
For example, papers in the history of Philosophy will often fall under
both a historical category and underneath a topical category.
SOME MORE DESCRIPTIONS
Categorization Tools
Categorization of papers and books within PhilArchive is an ongoing
project. ...
The fine-grained categorization tool. This tool enables
fine-grained categorization of any entry. It is available by pressing
"categorize" under an entry, if you are signed in. Using this tool
you can classify an entry in up to three fine-grained categories. You
can find a category either by using the search box or by proceeding
through the hierarchy by opening folders in turn. You can repeat this
process for up to three categories, clicking on a category to add it
to a paper, and clicking the red mark next to a category to remove it.
You can also categorize multiple entries simultaneously by choosing
multiple-entry mode. This mode is especially useful for populating
categories quickly by using search tools.
The iterative categorization tool. This tool enables quick
categorization of entries into immediate subcategories, allowing
further subcategorization by people with expertise in those areas. It
is available in the area pages under the "Browse by area" menu. Here,
the "Uncategorized Material" page contains entries that have not yet
been categorized at all, while area pages for non-leaf categories
contain a list of entries in that category that have not yet been
categorized under a leaf category. Each entry is followed by a set of
links for classifying the entry under a lower-level category (two
levels lower for uncategorized material, one level lower for other
nonleaf areas). Clicking on a link will place the entry under the
relevant subcategory. You can repeat this for up to three
subcategories, then click "remove" (on a category page) or "done with
this one" (on the uncategorized material page).
The direct categorization tool. This tool enables users to
add papers to a category directly, whether or not an entry for that
paper is currently displayed. It is available in a box at the top of
every category page. Simply enter the authors' surname and the first
few words of the title into the box. If the paper is in the
PhilArchive database, it will appear, and you can select it to add it
directly to the category.
The three tools are complementary. The fine-grained tool is the
most powerful but slower to use. The iterative is less powerful,
because it performs only coarse-grained categorization, but is quicker
and is easy to use for repeated categorization. The direct
categorization tool provides more flexible coverage of papers. We
hope that the presence of all three tools will enable faster progress
on the categorization project than would be possible with any of them
alone.
We encourage users to use these tools. Please use them only if you
have relevant expertise: typically a Ph.D. in Philosophy or graduate
work in a relevant area. If you do have this expertise,
categorization of as many papers as possible, especially within your
areas of expertise, will be much appreciated! This process will make
the category system much more useful and comprehensive.
Of course it will sometimes happen that users have different ideas
about categorization. If you see what you think is a mistake in
categorization, feel free to undo it (though you should examine the
paper in question first) and replace by a more appropriate category.
Cases like this will be flagged for the editors' attention and we will
eventually adjudicate.
Automatic Categorization
At the moment, PhilArchive uses a limited amount of automatic
categorization. First, many journals are associated with a specific
area, and every paper in that journal is filed under that area.
Second, books are frequently filed under a category corresponding to
their Library of Congress call number. Third, we have some automatic
filters for classifying entries under areas according to the
occurrence of certain words in their titles.
All of these processes are imperfect. Entries are most frequently
assigned to nonleaf categories, so that they will need to be further
assigned to leaf categories. Often an entry will be assigned a single
category automatically but will also belong under further categories
that need to be assigned manually. In some cases, entries will be
miscategorized entirely. Users are encouraged to look out for these
imperfections and to correct them by manual categorization.
We plan to eventually add more sophisticated automatic categorization
tools. These tools will probably require a database of
already-classified items to serve as a training set, however, so
manual categorization will play a vital role in any case.
The Use of Categories
Categories are used at a number of places on PhilArchive.
First, users have the option to automatically display the categories
currently associated with a given entry, by checking the "Display
categories" box in the right column of most pages containing entries.
Second, users can browse categories by using the "Browse by area"
menu. The menu itself leads to pages for clusters or areas (for now,
putting the full category system in the menu is impractical due to
memory usage and speed). The page for a nonleaf category displays the
subcategories of that category in the left column, with an item count
for each (either [n] or [n/m], where n is the number of items under
tht category, and m is the number of items in that category that await
further subcategorization). Deeper subcategories can be opened by
pressing "+". Clicking on a subcategory will take on to the page for
that subcategory.
For every category, the right-hand column will contain a list of
papers under that category. For nonleaf categories, these will be
papers awaiting further subcategorization. For leaf categories, these
will be all the papers falling under that category. Our hope is that
these lists will eventually constitute comprehensive bibliographies
for all sorts of areas of Philosophy.
In addition, the page for every category contains a link to the
discussion forum for the area associated with that category, for
user-contributed bibliographies in that area, and to a list of users
(with publically available profiles) who have listed that area as an
area of interest.
Third, every area (such as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and
so on) has an associated discussion forum, available via the "Forums"
page. This discussion forum contains discussions of papers that fall
under that category, initiated via the "Discuss" link under a paper
(note that when the areas associated with a paper change, the
associated discussion forums will change correspondingly). The
discussion also contains other discussions relevant to that area,
initiated via the "Forums" page. There are also aggregated forums for
each cluster (produced by aggregating the area forums), and for all
clusters at once.
Fourth, every user can choose up to ten areas as their areas of
interest. At the moment, users who choose such areas can (i)
optionally filter any list of papers using those areas, (ii)
optionally receive e-mail alerts for new items in those areas, (iii)
be listed on the page of users associated with that area, and (iv)
receive information about forums in those areas on their profile page.
Once again, all feedback regarding the category system is welcome
at the PhilArchive
Categorization Project discussion forum.
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