Bias 5: Insensitivity to thesaurus implications

Anti-Developmental Biases in Thesaurus Design (Part #6)

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Although few would argue that the universe is organized into the categories reflected in a given thesaurus, unfortunately many users are poorly served by the mechanistic category assemblages characteristic of existing thesauri. Because thesauri are the prime concern of high-volume documentation systems, it is easy to forget the needs of those who want information directly relevant to development. Such users may be misled by the structure of existing thesauri and their simplified versions. Or, frustrated by the lack of a relevant thesaurus, they may well have to design their own -- however primitive.

The irresponsibility of those skilled in thesaurus design may be seen in their lack of concern for the following user needs:

(a) Bookshop layout: Major bookshops, faced with the volume of books, are now reduced to displaying books linearly within a few sections and relying on retrieval by author. There are no non-linear aids to retrieval other than point-of-sale advertising of fashionable items. Sale of books in mass marketing environments ensures the absence of qualified assistants to provide non-linear retrieval advice.

(b) Agenda design: The link is seldom made between thesaurus design and the construction of an agenda, despite the major importance of the latter for action planning. it is highly probable that many agendas are "bad* thesauri, and many thesauri constitute "bad" agendas (even in development agencies).

(c) Curricula design: Consider the relation between thesaurus design and the elaboration of a curriculum for a school or university. Despite the developmental significance of curricula, it is highly probable that many curricula are "bad" thesauri, and many thesauri constitute 'bad'
curricula.

(d) Organization charts: The organization chart of any institution, including governments, is in effect a thesaurus of action responsibilities. Again it is. highly probable that many such charts do not benefit from the skills of thesaurus construction, and that many thesauri are a poor foundation for the structuring of organizational responsibilities, in response to development issues. This problem also extends to planning and policy formulation. Many thesauri may simply reinforce bad policymaking.

In each of the above examples there is a sense in which the operational context could constitute a 'bad' thesaurus - the "medium becomes the message"-- however good the thesauri used in documentation systems may seem to be.

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