Combining Faceted Classification and Concept Search: A Pilot Study

This study reports the first step in the Classification-based Search and Knowledge Discovery (CSKD) project, which aims to combine information organization and retrieval approaches for building digital library applications. In this study, we explored the generation and application of a faceted vocabulary as a potential mechanism to enhance knowledge discovery. The faceted vocabulary construction process revealed some heuristics that can be refined in follow-up studies to further automate the creation of faceted classification structure, while our concept search application demonstrated the utility and potential of integrating classification-based approach with retrieval-based approach. Integration of text-and classification-based methods as outlined in this paper combines the strengths of two vastly different approaches to information discovery by constructing and utilizing a flexible information organization scheme from an existing classification structure.