Design of an information system to facilitate the production of concept thesauri by different schools of thought

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Design of an information system

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Notes on the design of an information system to facilitate the production of concept thesauri by different schools of thought. Notes presented to a workshop of the Committee of Concetual and Terminological Analysis (COCTA) of the International Poltical Science Association (Bellagio, September 1971) and susbsequently developed into a more extensive proposal Relationship between Elements of Knowledge: use of computer systems to facilitate construction, comprehension and comparison of the concept thesauri of different schools of thought (1971)

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Design of an information system
Difficulties
Proposal
Data to be included on each entity

In a discussion about any form of thesaurus, it would seem to be important to distinguish between the problems of identifying and processing the entities to be included and the problem of classifying these entities or rejecting some on the basis of a particular set of criteria. The first problem is a much simpler one and its solution, if sufficiently general, can be arranged so as to minimize controversy and therefore maximize acceptance of the procedure. The second problem is more complex and the solution may raise real or perceived theoretical issues or even be perceived as a threat by certain schools of thought. This could undermine any attempt to solve the problems of conceptual anarchy.

In these notes some of the difficulties are summarized and an attempt is made to demonstrate how adequate structuring of the required information system may help to eliminate or isolate these problems in such a way as to render the project feasible. These notes do not therefore touch upon any theoretical issues. They are solely concerned with the design of a practical information system to be used as a tool by scholars in order to facilitate solution of such issues.