Discussion Question

This was my response to this weeks discussion question, which asked us to describe in plain language a concept that we had difficulty with in this weeks reading: I had a bit of trouble with the Types of Indexing. I don't necessarily think that it is a hard concept, but for some reason the text just did not make any sense to me. So, derivative indexing uses keywords taken from the document, while assignment indexing uses a controlled vocabulary. For example, in a cookbook a recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake using derivative indexing would be listed under keywords taken from the recipe, like chocolate, raspberries, sugar, flour, cream etc. The same recipe in an assignment index would use a controlled vocabulary determined by a person and may list the recipe under desserts, chocolate desserts, fruit desserts, etc. Both types of indexing have their drawbacks, for instance listing Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake under the ingredient sugar would be problematic as sugar is a popular ingredient in many recipes. Also, listing using a controlled vocabulary can be confusing since an actual person is choosing what to list the recipe under and what one person or group of people choose may not what everyone thinks of, for instance I would not look for Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake under fruit desserts. Both types have thier advantages as well. Using derivative indexing Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake would most likely be listed under Chocolate which would be helpful when looking it up in an index. Using the assignment index Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake would probably be listed under Cakes (depending on the controlled vocabulary) which again, would be very helpful when searching for it in an index.