“A profession also has a responsibility, both to the public and its members, to develop and employ a vocabulary for expressing the fundamental concepts on which its discipline is based.” Neville Holmes, The Great Term Robbery.

Selected Definitions Relating to Information

Academic Libraries: Academic libraries encompass research libraries, baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degree granting institutions, junior and community colleges, and distance learning programs of higher education. Academic libraries work together with other members of their institutional communities to participate in, support, and achieve the educational mission of their institutions by teaching the core competencies of information literacy—the abilities involved in identifying an information need, accessing needed information, evaluating, managing, and applying information, and understanding the legal, social, and ethical aspects of information use. The systematic delivery of instructional programs and services should be planned in concert with overall strategic library planning, including the library’s budgeting process. Such planning may also involve strategizing with other campus units to deliver collaboratively designed programming. Research has shown that the academic library is a positive influencing factor on students' academic success.

Source The American Library Association Resource Guids. Accessed February 28, 2026 at: https://libguides.ala.org/library-definition

Access Point: “A name, term, code, etc., under which a bibliographic record may be searched and identified. See also Heading.“

Source: American Library Association. (2004) Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition, 2002 Revision, 2004 Update. Chicago.

Access Point: “A name, term, code, etc. under which a bibliographic record may be searched and identified.“33

Source: Lois Mai Chan, (1981) Cataloging and classification : an introduction, New York : McGraw Hill. Page 479.

Access Point: “1. A name, term, code, etc. under which a bibliographic record may be searched and identified. Compare with heading. (AACR2) 2. In computer-based information storage and retrieval, a field designated as a means of access to a record or file.“

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 2.

Access Point: “Access Point refers to a name, term, code, heading, word, phrase, etc., a unit of information representing a specific entity that can serve as a search key in information retrieval, under which a library catalog or bibliographic database may be searched and library materials may be identified and retrieved. Access points are the indexed elements of an authority or bibliographic records that helps make the record searchable and identifiable. In a catalog, index, or other organized systems some examples of access points are, author, title, name (person, family, corporate body, etc.), subjects (topical, geographical, etc.), classification or call number, and codes such as ISBN, etc. which are chosen by the cataloger or indexer, when creating a bibliographic, authority, or metadata record (a surrogate), to enable the retrieval of the record. In modern cataloging using advanced Integrated Library Systems (ILS), the machine-readable cataloging, almost any portion of the catalog record can serve as an access point. The advanced search of the Online Public Access Catalogs provides many options as access points.“

Source: Salman Haider, Glossary of Library & Information Science. Librarianship Studies & Information Technology. Copied August 25, 2021 from: https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2016/06/access-point.html

Access Point element (3.1.1.10) under which a bibliographic entry (3.7.2.17) may be searched and identified (3.2.1.26) EXAMPLE:Name, term, code (2) <data>, etc. Note 1 to entry: See also heading (2) <access point>, (3.7.3.01).

Source: ISO 5127:2017(en) Information and documentation — Foundation and vocabulary. Copied 2022-01-04 from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:11179:-4:ed-2:v1:en

Access Point: “Access to bibliographic records is provided through access points. Access points are specific pieces of information, such as author, title, or subject (subject headings). This standard information is common to all bibliographic records and is used to locate records or additional information.“

Source: Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Copied November 30, 2020, from: https://library.uaf.edu/ls101-access-points

Access Point: “Based on the card catalog, an access point was any element of the record that resulted in a card being added to the catalog for access. Access points were headings that were filed alphabetically in the catalog. The access point concept was carried over in some computerized catalog software. In these catalogs, a user enters a left-anchored string and is returned a screen of alphabetically sorted catalog entries that appear before and after that string. The term "access point" is sometimes used to refer to any part of the bibliographic record that is searchable, in particular when speaking of fielded searches in OPACs.“

Source: Library terminology informally explained, W3C. Copied November 30, 2020 from: https://www.w3.org/2001/sw/wiki/Library_terminology_informally_explained#access_point

Access Term: A term to which direct access is provided in an index. If an access term is not an entry term, a cross-reference must lead to an entry term that is used in its place.

See also entry vocabulary; lead term

Source:Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction, by Hans H. Wellisch. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 6.

Administrative Metadata: See also "Descriptive Metadata" and "Structural Metadata."

Administrative Metadata: “Data about an information resource primarily intended to facilitate its management, for example, information about how and when a document or digital object was created, the person or entity responsible for controlling access to and archiving its content, any restrictions on access or use, and any control or processing activities performed in relation to it. Compare with descriptive metadata and structural metadata. The concept of administrative metadata is subdivided into: Rights metadata - facilitates management of legal rights in a resource (copyright, licenses, permissions, etc.) Preservation metadata - facilitates management of processes involved in ensuring the long-term survival and usability of a resource Technical metadata - documents the creation and characteristics of digital files.“

Source: Glossary of Technical Services Terms. Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), a Division of the American Library Association (ALA). Copied August 21, 2021 from https://www.ala.org/alcts/about/advocacy/glossary

Administrative Metadata: “Metadata used in managing and administering information resources, e.g., location or donor information. Includes rights and access information, data on the creation and preservation of the digital object.“

Source: DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/

Administrative Metadata: "Describe how the this object relates to business content. Who created it? Who owns it? When was it created? When should it be removed?"

Source: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, by Peter Morville and LouisRosenfeld. (2007). Sebastopol, CA : O'Reilly, c2007. Page 243

Administrative Metadata:

“n.

Data that is necessary to manage and use information resources and that is typically external to informational content of resources.

Notes: Administrative metadata often captures the context necessary to understand information resources, such as creation or acquisition of the data, rights management, and disposition.

Citations: (Puglia, Reed, and Rhodes 2004, p. 8) Administrative metadata comprises both technical and preservation metadata, and is generally used for internal management of digital resources. Administrative metadata may include information about rights and reproduction or other access requirements, selection criteria or archiving policy for digital content, audit trails or logs created by a digital asset management system, persistent identifiers, methodology or documentation of the imaging process, or information about the source materials being scanned. In general, administrative metadata is informed by the local needs of the project or institution and is defined by project-specific workflows. Administrative metadata may also encompass repository-like information, such as billing information or contractual agreements for deposit of digitized resources into a repository.“

Source: Society of American Archvists Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology. Copied 2020-12-27 from https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/archive.html

Alphabetic Index: “An index in which the entries are arranged in the order of the alphabet of a language. See also alphabetization; alphanumeric arrangement.“

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 7.

Amodal: “Amodal (meaning “without” modality perception is perception of information that is common or redundant across multiple senses (e.g., auditory, visual, tactile). Amodal information includes changes along three basic parameters of stimulation—time, space, and intensity. Properties of objects and events such as temporal synchrony, rhythm, tempo, duration, intensity, and co-location are common across auditory, visual, and proprioceptive stimulation. Properties such as shape, substance, and texture are common across visual and tactile stimulation. For example, the same rhythm and tempo can be detected by seeing or hearing the pianist strike the notes of the keyboard, and the same size, shape, and texture can be detected by seeing or feeling an apple.

Virtually all events occur across time, are distributed across space, and have a characteristic intensity pattern, so virtually all events provide amodal information. For example, speech comprises changes in audiovisual synchrony, tempo, rhythm, and intonation (intensity changes) that are common to the movements of the face and the sounds of the voice. Self-motion produces proprioceptive feedback (information from the muscles, joints, and vestibular system) that is synchronized and shares temporal and intensity changes with the sight of self-motion (e.g., seeing and feeling one's hand move). Perceiving amodal information is critically important for organizing early perceptual and cognitive development and for accurate perception of everyday events in children and adults alike.

The term amodal has also been used in a different sense—to refer to perception in the absence of direct information from a specific sense modality. For example, in visual perception, amodal completion describes how we perceive a unitary shape (e.g., a ball), even when part of the object or shape is occluded (hidden) behind another object (e.g., a block). Even infants can accurately perceive a partially hidden shape if the occluder is moved back and forth, progressively revealing and then hiding the object's contours. Scientists propose that we perceive unitary shape by detecting visual invariants (patterns that remain constant across change) through object motion, whereas others maintain that we must fill in the missing information by inference or cognitive processes. Whatever the process, the term amodal referring to incomplete information is not consistent with the previous definition (which refers to information that is fully available and can be directly perceived through more than one sense) and, thus, will not be discussed further. This entry describes the history, theory, and development of amodal perception."

Source 'Amodal Perception' Pages 45-46 in In:Encyclopedia of Perception edited by:E. Bruce Goldstein. Chapter DOI:https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412972000.n18.

Amodal: Literally meaning ‘without’ modality (see Bahrick, 2010), the term ‘amodal’ is often taken to mean that the same information can be picked up regardless of the sensory source, or modality, by which that information was acquired (Walker-Andrews, 1994). For instance, the results of an early psychophysical study by Von Hornbostel (1931) led to the claim that intensity might be a universal dimension of sensory experience (see also Hayek, 1952, p. 21).1

Cited Resource: 'Amodal perception' by Lorraine E. Bahrick (2010). Pages 44-46 in Encylopedia of perception E. Bruce Goldstein (Editor). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Source 'What, if anything, can be considered an amodal sensory dimension?' by Charles Spence and Nicola Di Stefano. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (PBR). 2024 Oct;31(5):1915-1933. doi: 10.3758/s13423-023-02447-3. Epub 2024 Feb 21. PMID: 38381301; PMCID: PMC11543734.

Amodal: When we see an object, we also represent those parts of it that are not visible. The question is how we represent them: this is the problem of amodal perception.

Source 'Perception and imagination: modal perception as imagination' by Bence Nanay. Accessed online February 11, 2026 at: https://philarchive.org/archive/NANPAI-2

Analytic Classification Scheme: “A classification scheme in which the classes are subdivided hierarchically from the general to the specific. Example: the Dewey Decimal Classification See also enumerative classification scheme; synthetic classification scheme. AND see logical product.

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 7.

Archive: “The building, facility, or area that houses an archival collection (the term repository is preferred by most archivists). Also, to place documents in storage, usually to preserve them as a historical, informational, legal, or evidential record, permanently or for a finite or indefinite period of time. See also: digital archive.“

Source: Copied December 29, 2020, from ABC CLIO at https://products.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx

Archives: "(1) The noncurrent records of an organization or institution preserved because of their continuing value. (2) The agency responsible for selecting, preserving, and making available records determined to have permanent or continuing value. (3) The building in which an archival institution is located."

Source: Archives and Records Management Resources, National Archives and Records Administration. Copied 2021-06-01 from https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/archives-resources/terminology.html

Archive:

“n.“

“1. a physical or digital collection of historical records(Citations)“

“2. a fonds(Citations)“

“3. an individual record of continuing value(Citations)“

“4. a curated online collection of information and contextual data relating to a particular theme (Citations)“

“5. a conceptual construct of a storehouse of recorded knowledge with outsized social and political significance that generally controls meaning and discourse and serves as a simulacrum of truth and fact (Citations)“

“v.“

“to transfer records of continuing value to a repository and to preserve and manage those records (Citations)“

“to back up or to store data offline(Citations)“

“adj.““

“1.relating to archives and archival practice(Citations)“

“Notes“

“Many American and Canadian archivists deprecate the use of the word “archive”—as a noun, verb, or even an adjective, in all of their many meanings. In the case of the noun, the faux plural “archives” is preferred in North American professional discourse—although “archive” is preferred in the rest of the English-speaking world. The verb is sometimes considered a déclassé usage that undermines the serious value of archives and perverts the meaning of what archivists do. The less recognized adjectival form “archive” is often used, but the use of that term is small compared to the use of the more common term “archival.”https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/archive.html

https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/archive.htmlDespite this disregard for the term, the word “archive” as a noun and adjective is of relatively ancient vintage in North American professional writing about archives. The adjective appears in all of the earliest issues of The American Archivist, beginning in 1938, and the noun has been used by archivists at least since the early 1960s. “Archive” as a verb is about a quarter of a century old in professional parlance, but this archival (rather than information technology) sense of the verb appeared in Webster's New International Dictionary, second edition, as early as 1934. The meanings assigned to the word “archive” are legion, encompassing archival, information technology, and philosophical concepts.“

Source: Society of American Archvists Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology. Copied 2020-12-27 from https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/archive.html

Archives: “An organized collection of the noncurrent records of the activities of a business, government, organization, institution, or other corporate body, or the personal papers of one or more individuals, families, or groups, retained permanently (or for a designated or indeterminate period of time) by their originator or a successor for their permanent historical, informational, evidential, legal, administrative, or monetary value, usually in a repository managed and maintained by a trained archivist. Also refers to the office or organization responsible for appraising, selecting, preserving, and providing access to archival materials.“

“Archives can be classified in three broad categories: government archives (example: National Archives and Records Administration), in-house archives maintained by a parent institution, and collecting archives (manuscript libraries, film archives, genealogical archives, sound archives, personal archives, etc.). ProQuest provides the subscription database Archive Finder. Compare with archive. See also: archival copy, archival database, archival jurisdiction, archival paper, archival quality, archival value, artificial collection, digital archives, International Council on Archives, and Society of American Archivists.“

“The term is also used in academia to refer to a repository of electronic preprints, working papers, and similar documents, commonly called e-print archives. Used in this sense, there is no implication of archival management, which has caused some confusion, for example, around the purpose of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI).“

Source: Copied December 29, 2020, from 3ABC CLIO at https://products.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx

Artificial Language: Any language or language like system that is not a natural language. The category includes invented languages, such as Esperanto, and the various languages used in computer programming; the formal languages of logic and mathematics are also sometimes included. In linguistics and psycholinguistics, artificial languages are sometimes invented to simulate or to violate certain aspects of natural-language rules.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online January 14, 2026 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/artificial-language

Artificial Language: A constructed language whose controlled vocabulary and rules of syntax are based either on a subset of a natural language or on a concatenation of symbols. All classification schemes are examples of artificial languages.

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 9.

Artificial Neural Network (ANN): The artificial neural network (ANN), or simply neural network, is a machine learning method evolved from the idea of simulating the human brain. The data explosion in modem drug discovery research requires sophisticated analysis methods to uncover the hidden causal relationships between single or multiple responses and a large set of properties. The ANN is one of many versatile tools to meet the demand in drug discovery modeling. Compared to a traditional regression approach, the ANN is capable of modeling complex nonlinear relationships. The ANN also has excellent fault tolerance and is fast and highly scalable with parallel processing.

Source'Overview of artificial neural networks' by Jinming Zou, Yi Han, and Sung-Sau So. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2008;458:15-23. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60327-101-1_2. PMID: 19065803.

Assignment Indexing: "An indexing method by which terms, descriptors, or subject headings are selected by an indexer to represent the subjects, topics, or features of a document. Assigned terms may or may not occur in the text of the indexed document. See also automatic indexing; derivative indexing; indexable matter."

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 9.

Associative Memory: Associative memory: retrieval or activation of memories (stimulus, behaviors, facts, events…) conceptually or contextually associated.

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Authority File: "A.file of established descriptors or headings and the cross-references to be made to and from them, often citing the authority for the preferred form and the source of variants. See also subject heading list; term record; thesaurus; vocabulary control."

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 10.

Automatic Abstracting: "An abstracting method by which the text of a documentary unit is subjected to algorithmic operations in orderto represent the subject or the topics of the document in a concise and coherent form."

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 10.v

Bibliographic Control: "A term which covers a range of bibliographic activities: complete bibliographic records of all bibliographic items as published; standardization of bibliographic description; provision of physical access through consortia, networks, or other cooperative endeavors; and provision of bibliographic access through the compilation and distribution of union lists and subject bibliographies and through bibliographic service centers."

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 21

Bibliographic Control: “The operation or process by which recorded information is organized or arranged and thereby made readily retrievable. The term covers a range of bibliographic activities, including complete records of bibliographic items as published, standardization of bibliographic description, and provision of physical access through consortia, networks, or other cooperative endeavors.“

Source: Lois Mai Chan, (1981) Cataloging and classification : an introduction, New York : McGrawHill. Page 480.

Bibliographic Control: “The means and methods by which publications are listed on a systematic basis in bibliographic files. In this context, 'publications' include not only printed books and serials (i.e. journals, magazines, annuals, newspapers, etc.) but also works in other media, e.g. microforms, computer files, audio cassettes, OPTICAL DISKS. Bibliographic control covers a range of library and information disciplines. These may include the following: BIBLIOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION, subject access by controlled vocabulary subject headings, name authority control and coding for MACHINE-READABLE CATALOGUING (MARC). A variety of systems and schemes have been developed for these disciplines.“

Source: John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 35.

Bibliographic Control: “A term which covers a range of bibliographic activities: complete bibliographic records of all bibliographic items as published; standardization of bibliographic description; provision of physical access through consortia, networks, or other cooperative endeavors; and provision of bibliographic access through the compilation and distribution of union lists and subject bibliographies and through bibliographic service centers.“

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 21

Biosemiotics: “Biosemiotics is devoted to establish a paradigmatic background for research on the evolution of cognition and communication in all living systems going beyond mechanical molecular biology.”

Source: 'Can biosemiotics be a “science” if its purpose is to be a bridge between the natural, social and human sciences?' by Søren Brier. Progress in biophysics and molecular biology, 2015-12, Vol.119 (3), p.576-587; England: Elsevier Ltd

Boolean Search: A search using Boolean logic. See also natural language search A search using Boolean logic. See also natural language search.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 6.

Browsability: “The ability of a retrieval system to lend itself to unsystematic or random searches.”

Source: H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page r.

Browsability: “The ability of a documentation system to lend itself to unsystematic or random searches. For example, an open-access library with subject arrangement allows a reader to browse in a subject category.“

Source: Terminology of documentation : A selection of 1,200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Compiled by Gernot Wersig and Ulrich Neveling. Paris : The Unesco Press. 1976. p. 138

Catalog: 1. A file of bibliographic records, created according to specific and uniform principles of construction and under the control of an authority file, which describes the materials contained in a collection, library, or group of libraries. (AACR2, mod.) 2. In a wider sense, a list of materials prepared for a particular purpose, e.g., an exhibition catalog, a sales catalog

Source: Anglo-American cataloguing rules / prepared under the direction of the Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, a committee of the American Library Association [and others]. Appendix D - Glossory, page D-2.

Catalog: 1. A systematically arranged list of records or other items and their descriptive details. 2. The act of creating a descriptive index.

Source: Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA), Glossary of records and information management terms (4th Edition). Overland Park, KS: 2012. Page 8.

Catalog: An ordered list of document surrogates that enables usersto retrieve documents from a collection.

See also bibliography; classified catalog

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 12.

Chunking: 1) The process by which the mind divides large pieces of information into smaller units (chunks) that are easier to retain in short-term memory. As a result of this recoding, one item in memory (e.g., a keyword or key idea) can stand for multiple other items (e.g., a short list of associated points). The capacity of short-term memory is believed to be constant for the number of individual units it can store (see seven plus or minus two), but the units themselves can range from simple chunks (e.g., individual letters or numbers) to complex chunks (e.g., words or phrases). The exact number of chunks remembered depends on the size of each chunk or the subunits contained within each chunk. 2) The associated principle that effective communication between humans depends on sorting information into units that do not exceed the mind’s capacity to chunk them (the chunking limit). This has implications for the content and layout of written documents, diagrams and visual aids, websites, and so on. For example, any list of more than nine bullet points should normally be subdivided into two or more shorter lists. [coined by George Armitage Miller in 1956]

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online January 14, 2026 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/chunking

Chunking: Chunking refers to the process of organizing information into smaller, more manageable units, which can be easily stored and retrieved. This technique makes it easier to process and recall information, as it allows the brain to focus on smaller, more meaningful pieces of information at a time. By breaking down larger pieces of information into smaller chunks, individuals can more effectively retain and recall important details.

Source Taylor & Francis. Accessed online January 14, 2026 at: https://taylorandfrancis.com/knowledge/Medicine_and_healthcare/Psychiatry/Chunking/

Classification: "A logical scheme for arrangement of knowledge, usually by subject. Classification schema are alpha and/or numeric; for example, Library of Congress Classification, Dewey Classification, Universal Decimal Classification."

Source: DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo

Classification: “The systematic organization of books, serials, and other documents in all media by their subject matter. The subject divisions identified are generally assigned a coded notation to represent the subject content. Classification schemes in libraries, or BIBLIOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION, are used both as the basis of the SUBJECT CATALOGUE and a SUBJECT INDEX, and for the arrangement of the items on the shelves.“

Source: John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 78.

Classification: “The systematic assignment of resources to a system of intentional categories, often institutional ones. Classification is applied categorization - the assignment of resources to a system of categories, called classes, using a predetermined set of principiles.“

Source: Robert J. Glushko, Editor. The Discipline of Organizing. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 484.

Classification Scheme: A list of classes arranged to show their hierarchical relations by means of a notation.

Classification schemes are used for

1. the physical arrangement of documents in a collection', or

2. for the display of their surrogates in classified indexes, bibliographies, or catalogs.

Classification schemes (or systems) are often referred to as just “classifications,” but this term should be avoided in professional discourse because of its ambiguity.

See also classified order; classing; universal classification schem

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 16.

Co-Speech Gesture: Humans rarely speak without producing co-speech gestures of the hands, head, and other parts of the body. Co-speech gestures are also highly restricted in how they are timed with speech, typically synchronizing with prosodically-prominent syllables.

Source: 'Co-speech gestures influence the magnitude and stability of articulatory movements: evidence for coupling-based enhancement' by Karee Garvin, Eliana Spradling, and Kathryn Franich. Scientific Reports. Accessed online January 26 2026 at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-84097-6#:~:text=Co%2Dspeech%20gestures%E2%80%93the%20term,with%20another%20system16%2C17

Co-Speech Gesture: Face-to-face dialogue is both audible and visible, combining speech and co-speech gestures. Co-speech hand gestures include hands, arms, or shoulders. Co-speech facial gestures include facial configurations as well as movements or positions of the head and gaze. It is essential to distinguish between co-speech gestures and nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is by definition any behavior or state that is independent of speech; it is often characterized as a separate channel of information. In contrast, co-speech gestures are by definition closely synchronized with speech in both their timing and their meaning. The meaning of a nonverbal communication relies on expert inference or ratings by other observers and is usually about attitudes, feelings, personality, and other characteristics of an individual. The meaning of a co-speech act is what it explicitly portrays to the person to whom it is addressed in the context of the immediately accompanying words and ongoing conversation.

Source: Abstract in 'From Nonverbal Communication to Co-speech Gesture ' by Janet Beavin Bavelas. Pages 35–48 in: Face-to-Face Dialogue: Theory, Research, and Applications by Janet Beavin Bavelas. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, [2022]. Accessed online January 26 2026 at: https://academic.oup.com/book/43092

Co-Speech Gesture: Co-speech gesture is a form of bodily communication primarily involving the hands and arms to convey a message. These gestures enrich the conventional format of spoken words by embodying thoughts in ways that speech cannot

Source: 'Gesture' by Spencer D. Kelly. Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. Accessed online January 26 at: https://oecs.mit.edu/pub/usvwqp80/release/2 (NOTE: This resource cites Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought by David McNeill (1992). University of Chicago Press.

Co-Speech Gesture: Humans gesture when they talk– gesturing is an integral part of human communication, together with speech and facial expressions. Gestures can vary from beats– two phase hand movements (up/down, left/right etc) that emphasize particular words or phrases and match the rhythm of the speech, but do not carry semantic content– to iconic and deictic gestures that are representational and illustrate the content of the speech [7, 32]. For example, hands and arms moving apart can accompany a speech segment indicating that something is “huge”, or as illustrated in Fig 1, an inward pointing gesture to depict the uttered word “my”.

Non-verbal communication accounts for 55% of overall communication1, highlighting the need for machines to understand non-verbal gestural elements in order to have a holistic understanding of human communication.

Source 'Understanding Co-speech Gestures in-the-wild' by Sindhu B Hegde, KRPrajwal, Taein Kwon, and AndrewZisserman. Accessed online January 26 2026 at: https://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~vgg/publications/2025/Hegde25/hegde25.pdf

Cognition: ;n. 1) all forms of knowing and awareness, such as perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem solving. Along with affect and conation, it is one of the three traditionally identified components of mind. 2) an individual percept, idea, memory, or the like. —cognitional adj. —cognitive adj.

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed October 14, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/cognition

Cognitive Plasticity: Cognitive plasticity is the capacity to acquire or improve cognitive skills (e.g., the ability to solve problems or recall events). It varies across individuals, species, and throughout the lifespan, and can be influenced by health and training.

Source ‘Cognitive Plasticity and Cortical Modules’ by Eduardo Mercado III. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2009 Jun 1;18(3):153-158. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01627.x. PMID: 19750239; PMCID: PMC2740482. Accessed online January 12, 2026 at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2740482/

Cognitive Plasticity: Cognitive plasticity has typically been defined in terms of the individual's latent cognitive potential under specific contextual conditions. Specifically, plasticity has been defined in terms of the capacity to acquire cognitive skills (Jones et al., 2006; Mercado, 2008). Cognitive skills are cognitive functions that an organism can improve through practice or observational learning and that involve judgment or processing beyond perceptual motor skills. The definition of cognitive plasticity usually involves a contrast between the individual's current average level of performance under normative conditions and one's latent potential.

Source ‘Cognitive training and plasticity: theoretical perspective and methodological consequences’ by Sherry L Willis and K Warner Schaie. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. 2009;27(5):375-89. doi: 10.3233/RNN-2009-0527. PMID: 19847065; PMCID: PMC3607292. Accessed online January 12, 2026 at: Cognitive training and plasticity: Theoretical perspective and methodological consequences - PMC

Cognitive Repertoire: “The range of skills and strategies available to individuals as they encounter new information and new experiences and seek to understand them. The cognitive repertoire is a collection of internalized models of the world and strategies for operating on those models. For example, chess grandmasters are distinguished by having available for immediate recall a large repertoire of memories of particular configurations of chessboards, moves made in response to particular situations, and consequences of those moves. People with other experiences have different internal models of how the world works.”

Source: Edspeak : a glossary of education terms, phrases, buzzwords, and jargon by Diane Ravitch. c2007; Alexandria, VA : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Cognitive Scaffolding: Cognitive scaffolding is a teaching and tutoring method in which the tutor controls elements of a task that are beyond the student’s initial abilities. This strategy is employed so that a student can focus on completing the parts of the task that they have the required knowledge and skills to finish. A key element of cognitive scaffolding is the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development which was defined by Lev Vygotsky, or ZPD, which refers to the range between the lowest and highest point of what a student can accomplish with the help of a tutor.

Source: ‘Cognitive Scaffolding: What and How?’ by T. Alayne, K. Anastasia, and T. Koko. Accessed 2025-09-19 at https://ucwbling.chicagolandwritingcenters.org/cognitive-scaffolding-what-and-how/.

Cognitive Semiotics: Cognitive semiotics is the trans-disciplinary study of meaning. It combines concepts and methods from semiotics, cognitive science, linguistics and related fields, in order to investigate fundamental notions such as metaphor and narrative, how we communicate using different semiotic systems such as language, gesture and depiction, how these have evolved, and how they are learned by children.

Source Lund University Centre for Languages and Literature. Accessed October 25, 2025 at: https://www.sol.lu.se/en/semiotik/

Collection: “(1) An artificial accumulation of materials devoted to a single theme, person, event, or type of document acquired from a variety of sources. (2) In a manuscript repository, a body of historical materials relating to an individual, family, or organization.“

Source: Archives and Records Management Resources, National Archives and Records Administration. Copied 2021-06-01 from https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/archives-resources/terminology.html

Collection: "An organized body of stored items.”

Source: Terminology of documentation : A selection of 1,200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Compiled by Gernot Wersig and Ulrich Neveling. Paris : The Unesco Press. 1976. p. 135

Collection Development: A term which encompasses a number of activities related to the development of the library collection, including the determination and coordination of selection policy, assessment of needs of users and potential users, collection user studies, collection evaluation, identification of collection needs, selection of materials, planning for resource sharing, collection maintenance, and weeding.

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 49.

Collection Development: The process of planning a library's programme for ACQUISITIONS and disposals, focusing on the building of collections, in the context of the institution's COLLECTION MANAGEMENT policy.

Source: John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 81.

Collection Development: Libraries and museums usually make their selection principles explicit in collection development policies. Adding a resource to a library collection is called acquisition, but adding to a musesum collection is called accessioning. Documenting the contents of library and museum collections to organize them is called calaloging. Circultation is a central interaction in libraries, but because museum resources don't circulate the primary interactions for museum users are viewing or visiting the collection. Maintenance activities are usually described as preservation or curation.

Source: The Discipline of Organizing.Robert J. Glushko, Editor. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 485

Collective Memory: (We) …go beyond the metaphorical character of the concept of collective memory by substituting two operational concepts: that of shared memory, and that of collaborative memory. Shared memory refers to individuals as members of a group, whereas collaborative memory refers to individuals as participants in an interaction. As for contemporary sociology, it offers the concept of social memory. By no means metaphorical, the latter refers to the memory of a society or of social systems, which of course are composed solely of self produced and self-referential communication operations, and absolutely not of individuals and their individual and collective memories. As we demonstrate, social memory is generated by the recursiveness of communication operations, the repetition of the same references, and the cs ontinuous and selective re-imprinting of the system’s own states and meanings for use in subsequent communication operations.

Source 'Collective memory: between individual systems of consciousness and social systems' by Jean-François Orianne and Francis Eustache. Frontiers in Psychology. 14:1238272. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1238272.

Communication: “The theory in question is telementation; that is to say, the theory which explains communication as the transference of thoughts from one person’s mind to another person’s mind.”

Source: ‘On Redefining Linguistics’ by Roy Harris. Chapter 7 in: Rethinking Linguistics, edited by Hayley G. Davis, and Talbot J. Taylor, Taylor & Francis Group, 2002.

Communication: Like most events, communication is multisensory: It involves visual information such as facial motions, expressions and gestures, and tactile information such as touch as well as the auditory information contained in the speech stream (Jouanjean-L’Antoune, 1997; see Meltzoff & Kuhl, 1994, for a review). During communication, some of this multimodal information is coordinated and redundant across the senses; often the same information is seen and heard. For example, audible and visible speech are temporally synchronous and share a common rhythm, tempo, and intensity pattern. Visible gestures appear to be coordinated with audible speech (words) in a similar manner.

Source: Prelinguistic evolution in early hominins: whence motherese? Dean Falk, Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2004 Aug;27(4):491-503; discussion 503-83. doi: 10.1017/s0140525x04000111. PMID: 15773427.

Communication: Communication comes from the Latin word Communicare, which means "to make common" or "to share." The root definition is consistent with our definition of communication. In this text, communication is defined as the process of understanding and sharing meaning. Communication is considered a process because it is an activity, an exchange, or a set of behaviors — not an unchanging product. Communication is not an object you can hold in your hands — it is an activity in which you participate.

Source: An introduction to human communication : understanding & sharing. Judy C. Pearson, Paul E. Nelson. Madison, WI : Brown & Benchmark, c1997. Page 6.

Communication: Communication involves transmission of verbal and non-verbal messages. It consists of a sender, a receiver and channel of communication. In the process of transmitting messages, the clarity of the message may be interfered or distorted by what is often referred to as barriers.

Source: Communication: concepts, practice and challenges. Davison Munodawafa. Health Educ Res. 2008 Jun;23(3):369-70. doi: 10.1093/her/cyn024. PMID: 18504296..

Communication: “a fundamental anthropological experience, which consists in exchanging / sharing something with someone else;”

Source: Dominique Wolton, quoted in ‘Communication: Semiotic Interaction or Intersubjective Interaction?’ by Dan S. Stocia. Argumentum, Journal of the Seminar of Discursive Logic, Argumentation Theory and Rhetoric. 2021-07, Volume 19 (2): 147-172.

Communication: “Communication is the process of exchanging information between two or more parties, where the sender conveys a message to the receiver. It can involve both verbal and non-verbal signals, such as words, gestures, and facial expressions. The goal of communication is to generate shared meaning and understanding between the parties involved. It plays a crucial role in our daily lives, influencing relationships, decision-making, and societal interactions. ””

Source: 'Introduction to communication skills' by Ugenya Technical & Vocational College. Accessed 2025-081-11 at: https://utvc.ac.ke/storage/ app/media/E LIBRARY/introduction-to-communication-skills-revised-jan-2017.pdf

Communication: “The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theatre, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior. In some connections it may be desirable to use a still broader definition of communication, namely, one which would include the procedures by means of which one mechanism (say automatic equipment to track an airplane and to compute its probable future positions) affects another mechanism (say a guided missile chasing this airplane).

Source: Recent Contributions to The Mathematical Theory of Communication by Warren Weaver. Accessed 2025-08-15 at: https://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i218/s15/Weaver_Recent-Contributions.pdf

Communication: “Claude E. Shannon (1916-2001) was the first who suggested a model of communication to optimize radio, teletype or telegraph interchange in the late 40-s (Shannon, 1948, p. 380). Extended by Warren Weaver (1894-1978) to embrace other instances of communication, the “mother of models” included an information source, a transmitter or coder, a message, a transmission channel, a decoder, and a receiver (Shannon, Weaver, 1963). Particular attention to the issue of noise was later developed into a search for effective communication in general. The “telephone” terms were later applied metaphorically to other communication systems, including natural and human ones. Shannon’s model lies at the basis of any other communication model, although nowadays it might be regarded as too restricted to give detailed description of human communication.“

Cited Resource: (Shannon, 1948, p. 380.) :'Shannon. C. E., 1948. A Mathematical Theory of Communication.:' The Bell System Technical Journal, July, October, Vol. 27, pp 379-423, 623-656.

Cited Resource: (Shannon, Weaver, 1963.) :'Weaver, W. and Shannon. C. E., 1963. The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Source:'Telementation vs. interaction: Which model suits human communication best?' by Viacheslave B. Kashkin. Journal of Siberian Federal University,12, 1733–1743. See page 1734 - 2.1 Linear Models.

Communication: n. About 1384 communicacioun an imparting or transmitting of something: borrowed from Old French communicacion learned borrowing from Latin commũnicãtiõnem (nominative commũnicãtiõ) from commũnicãre make common to many, share, impart (com- together + a lost adjective *moinicos carrying an obligation, from mũnia, Old Latin moenia duties); for suffix see -ATION. —communicate v. 1526, partake in common, share; probably a back formation from English communication, and borrowed from Latin commũnicãtus, past participle of commũnicãre make common, share, impart; for suffix see -ATE¹. —communicable adj. Before 1398, borrowed probably through Old French communicable and directly as if from Latin *commũnicãbilis, from Latin commũnicãre; for suffix see -ABLE.

Source: The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology / edited by Robert K. Barnhart. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c1995. Page 143.

Communication: Communication covers all means of interaction between two human brains.

Source 'The Evolution of Human Communication and the Information Revolution – A Mathematical Perspective' by A. Benczur. In Mathematical and Computer Modelling. 38 (2003). Pages 691-708.

Communication At its foundation, Communication focuses on how people use messages to generate meanings within and across various contexts, and is the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry.

Source: The National Communication Association. Accessed 2024-06-06 at https://www.natcom.org/about-nca/what-communication.

Communication Channel: The channel, or medium, used to communicate a message affects how accurately the message will be received. Channels vary in their “information-richness.” Information-rich channels convey more nonverbal information. Research shows that effective managers tend to use more information-rich communication channels than less effective managers (Allen & Griffeth, 1997. Yates & Orlikowski, 1992).

Source ‘5.4 Different Types of Communication and Channels” in Organizational Behavior. Accessed online December 16, 2025 at: https://opentext.wsu.edu/organizational-behavior/chapter/8-4-different-types-of-communication-and-channels/

Communication Channel: The channel is the ‘pipe’ along which a message is conveyed, and there are a wide variety of different communication channels available, from basic face-to-face conversation, through to telecommunication channels like the telephone or e-mail, and computational channels like the medical record. Channels have attributes like capacity and noise, which determine their suitability for different tasks. When two parties exchange messages across a channel at the same time, this is known as synchronous communication. Telephones are one of the commonest two-way synchronous channels. It is the nature of synchronous communication that it is interruptive, and these interruptions may have a negative impact on individuals who have high cognitive loads. For example, a busy clinician may forget to carry out a clinical task because they have been interrupted while they are busy. In contrast, when individuals can be separated in time, they may use an asynchronous channel to support their interaction. Since there can be no simultaneous discussion, conversations occur through a series of message exchanges. This can range from Post-it™ notes left on a colleague’s desk, to sophisticated electronic messaging systems. One of the benefits of asynchronous communication is that it is not inherently interruptive, and if a communication is not urgent, asynchronous channels may be a preferred way of communicating with otherwise busy individuals.

Source ‘Communication systems in healthcare’ by Enrico Coiera. Clinical Biochemist Reviews. 2006 May;27(2):89-98. PMID: 17077879; PMCID: PMC1579411.

Communication Channel: To begin transmitting the message, the sender uses some kind of channel (also called a medium). The channel is the means used to convey the message. Most channels are either oral or written, but currently visual channels are becoming more common as technology expands. Common channels include the telephone and a variety of written forms such as memos, letters, and reports. The effectiveness of the various channels fluctuates depending on the characteristics of the communication. For example, when immediate feedback is necessary, oral communication channels are more effective because any uncertainties can be cleared up on the spot. In a situation where the message must be delivered to more than a small group of people, written channels are often more effective. Although in many cases, both oral and written channels should be used because one supplements the other.

Source ‘Communication Process’ by Nick Sanchez. New Jersey Institute of Technology. Accessed December 16, 2025 at: https://web.njit.edu/~lipuma/352comproc/comproc.htm

Communication Channel: 1) The medium or route through which a message is communicated to its recipients, the most common channels being face-to-face communication, telephone, films, Internet, television, radio, and the printed media, including newspapers, books, and magazines. 2) Another name for sensory modality.

Source Oxford Reference. Accessed December 16, 2025, at: https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095627861

Communication Modality: Modality is a notion that is understood in different ways within different approaches to human communication. Modality may be understood as a human sensory and/or motor channel, for example, vision, hearing, touch, voice, or speech. Often, however, modality is investigated in terms of ways of communicating or, alternatively, ways of encoding information. In the latter conceptualization, modalities are subdivided into bodily and material modalities. Whereas the former includes speech, gesture, facial expression, gaze, and body posture, the latter comprises graphic and electronic means.

Source 'Modality' by Gitte Rasmussen. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Human Communication Sciences and Disorders. DOI:https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483380810.n388. Aceessed April 1, 2026 at: https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-human-communication-sciences-and-disorders/chpt/modality

Communicative Competence: “Communicative competence is the ability to achieve communicative goals in a socially appropriate manner. It is organized and goal-oriented, i.e. it includes the ability to select and apply skills that are appropriate and effective in the respective context. It includes verbal and non verbal behaviour. The application of communicative competence is serial, i.e. different processes and activities are coordinated in a typical sequence and require appropriate timing and control of specific behaviour. It is influenced by the behaviour of the other person and by the context and requires the preparedness and willingness to communicate with the other person for the benefit of all.”

Source: "What is communicative competence and how can it be acquired?” by Claudia Kiessling and Götz Fabry. GMS Journal for Medical Education. 2021 Mar 15;38(3):Doc49. doi: 10.3205/zma001445. PMID: 33824885; PMCID: PMC7994879. See page 2 of 8.

Compound Document: A computer-generated document comprising a variety of data formats, such as text and graphics.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 10.

Concordance: “An index of all words or the principal words in any work or in the works of a single author, showing location in the text, generally giving context, and sometimes defining the words.“

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 55

Concordance: “An alphabetical index of words in a document or set of documents, each word present in the text being an index entry.“

Source: John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 102.

Construction Grammar: Construction Grammar (CxG) is the main approach to grammatical description and theory in cognitive linguistics. … The constructional approach to grammatical description can be broadly summarized in terms of the following three main tenets: grammar consists entirely of learned pairings of form with meaning (or function), that is, constructions; a construction can be defined at any level of complexity and generality; and constructions are linked to each other in a vast network. In a usage-based approach to language, the mental representation of grammar in the mind of individual speakers is taken to emerge from actual language use. The view that grammar is shaped by usage opens many avenues to explain and predict aspects of linguistic structure from usage data.

Source 'Construction Grammar and Usage-Based Theory' by Florent Perek. Chapter 12 in The Handbook of Usage‐Based Linguistics, Edited by Manuel Díaz-Campos and Sonia Balasch. First published: 07 July 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119839859.ch12 . Accessed online January 21, 2026 at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119839859.ch12

Construction Grammar: Under the name Construction Grammar (abbreviated as “CxG”), a family of theories is summarized, which is based on the conviction that linguistic form and linguistic meaning do not represent levels independent of each other, but are inseparably interconnected. Construction Grammar assumes that associative form-meaning pairs are not only the basis for words, but that all linguistic knowledge is stored in such symbolic connections.

Source 'Construction Grammar: Basic Principles and Concepts' by Philipp Wasserscheidt. Accessed online January 21, 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334564679_Construction_Grammar_Basic_Principles_and_Concepts

Controlled Vocabulary: "In subject analysis and retrieval, the use of an authorized subset of the language as indexing terms."

Source: Lois Mai Chan. Cataloging and classification : an introduction. New York : 2nd Edition. New York : McGraw-Hill, c1994. Page 483.

Controlled Vocabulary: “Controlled vocabulary is an artificial language, while its vocabulary, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics are limited and defined (Wellisch, 1995). The same word in different controlled vocabularies might have a different meaning given the orientation of the vocabulary. Controlled vocabulary must be constructed and maintained with specific subjects area(s) in mind. Terms to be included in controlled vocabulary are selected by following the principle of either literary warrant or user warrant. Literary warrant means that terms to be included in the controlled vocabulary must be chosen from existing literature. Similarly, user warrant implies that terms to be selected for inclusion in a controlled vocabulary must have been used in the past. Thesauri, subject heading lists, and classification schemes are the three major types of controlled vocabularies.“

Source: Heting Chu. Information representation and retrieval in the digital age. Medford, N.J. : Published for the American Society for Information Science and Technology by Information Today (ASIS&T) (2010). Page 54.

Controlled Vocabulary: "A prescribed set of consistently used and carefully defined terms."

Source: DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo</p>

Controlled Vocabulary: “One way to encourage good names for a given resource domain or task is to establish a controlled vocabulary. A controlled vocabulary can be thought of as a fixed or closed dictionary that includes all the terms that can be used in a particular (link) domain. A controlled vocabulary shrinks the number of words used, reducing synonymy (link) and homonymy (link) and eliminating undesirable associations, leaving behind a set of words with precisely defined meanings and rules governing their use.“

Source: Robert J. Glushko, Editor. The Discipline of Organizing. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 486

Controlled Vocabulary: ”It is controlled in the sense that the meaning of each label is carefully considered, and ambiguous, alternate or less precise terms are excluded.”

Source: Patrick Lambe. Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness. 1st Edition. Oxford, Cambridge, New Delhi : Chandos Publishing, 2007. Page 6.

Controlled Vocabulary: ”A list of terms that have been enumerated explicitly. This list is controlled by and is available from a controlled vocabulary registration authority. All terms in a controlled vocabulary must have an unambiguous, non-redundant definition.”

Source: Darin L. Stewart. Building Enterprise Taxonomies. 2nd Edition. Mokita Press, 2011. Page 207.

Controlled Vocabulary: ” 1. A subset of the vocabulary of a natural language from which certain types of words and syntactic forms have been excluded by rules. 2. A list of terms that may be used for indexing, produced by the operation of vocabulary control. Controlled vocabularies are generally recorded in subject heading lists or thesauri.

See also uncontrolled vocabulary

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 19.

Coordinate Indexing: An indexing scheme by which terms may be correlated or combined to show interrelationships and to facilitate more precise retrieval.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 11.

Corporate Memory: The tangible or intangible organizational information that can be contained in records or held as knowledge by current or former employees.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 11.

Crosswalk: In the management of metadata, a human-generated chart or diagram indicating equivalencies and relationships between the data elements of two or more metadata standards, for example, between FGDC content standards for digital geospatial metadata and USMARC. Crosswalks enable search engines to operate across databases that use dissimilar record formats.

Source: Digitial Initiatives: Definitions, David and Lorraine Cheng Library, William Paterson University.

Crosswalk: "Similar to mapping, a straightforward approach to transformation is the use of crosswalks, which are equivalence tables that relate resource description elements, semantics, and wrting systems from one organizing system to those of another.”

Source: The Discipline of Organizing, Robert J. Glushko, editor. Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, 2013. Page 486.

Crosswalk: "(n.) The relationships between the elements of two or more data structures. A chart or diagram that indicates the correspondence between two systems. (Note: A crosswalk between MARC format and Dublin Core would indicate that a title is entered in MARC field 245 and tagged Title in Dublin Core.)”

Source: Society of American Archivists. Glossary Terms. Copied 2021-12-28 from https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/crosswalk.html.

Cue: n. a stimulus, event, or object that serves to guide behavior, such as a retrieval cue, or that signals the presentation of another stimulus, event, or object, such as an unconditioned stimulus or reinforcement.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online December 27, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/cue

Cued Recall: A type of memory task in which an item to be remembered is presented for study along with a cue and the participant subsequently attempts to recall the item when given the cue.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online December 27, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/cued-recall

Data: Data are symbols that represent properties of objects, events, and their environments. They are products of observation. To observe is to sense. The technology of sensing, instrumentation, is, of course, highly developed. Information, as noted, is extracted from data by analysis in many aspects of which computers are adept.

Data, like metallic ores, are of no value until they are processed into a useable (i.e. relevant) form. Therefore, the difference between data and information is functional, not structural, but data are usually reduced when they are transformed into information.

Source: From Data to Wisdom by Russell L. Ackoff. Journal of Applied Systems Analysis, (1989) 16, 3-9.

Data: "In computational systems data are the coded invariances. In human discourse data are that which is stated, for instance, by informants in an empirical study."

Source: Dr. Hanne Albrechtsen, Institute of Knowledge Sharing, Copenhagen, Denmark. Definition 1 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data “Datum is the representation of concepts or other entities, fixed in or on a medium in a form suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by human beings or by automated systems [Wellisch, H.H. (1996). Abstracting, indexing, classification, thesaurus construction: A glossary. Port Aransas, TX: American Society of Indexers]”

Source: Prof. Elsa Barber, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Definition 2 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “(pl.) (n.) (sing. datum) observations or measurements, usually quantified and obtained in the course of research. For example, a researcher may be interested in collecting data on health-related behaviors such as frequency and amount of exercise, number of calories consumed per day, number of cigarettes smoked per day, number of alcoholic drinks per day, and so forth.“

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/data

Data:: “Datum (n., pl. data) information or fact. 1646, in plural data, borrowing of Latin datum (thing) given, past participle (neuter) of dare give; see DATE¹ time. ”

Source: The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology / edited by Robert K. Barnhart. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c1995. Page 419.

Data: “Data is a symbol set that is quantified and/or qualified.”

Source: Prof. Aldo de Albuquerque Barreto, Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology, Brazil. Definition 3 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.]

Data: “Data are sensory stimuli that we perceive through our senses.”

Prof. Shifra Baruchson–Arbib, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. Definition 4 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.]

Data: “Datum is every thing or every unit that could increase the human knowledge or could allow to enlarge our field of scientific, theoretical or practical knowledge, and that can be recorded, on whichever support, or orally handed. Data can arouse information and knowledge in our mind."

Source: Prof. Maria Teresa Biagetti, University of Rome 1, Italy. Definition 5 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are the basic individual items of numeric or other information, garnered through observation; but in themselves, without context, they are devoid of information.”

Source: Dr. Quentin L. Burrell, Isle of Man International Business School, Isle of Man. Definition 7 on p. 481 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-49

Data: “A representation of facts, concepts, or instructions in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by humans or by automated means.“

Source: California Department of General Services (DGS), State Administrative Manual. DEFINITIONS - 4819.2. Copied 2021-06-05 from https://www.dgs.ca.gov/Resources/SAM/TOC/4800/4819-2

See also: US Marine Corps Information Requirements (Reports) Management Program Definitions. Copied 2021-06-05 from https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/MCO%205214.2F.pdf

Data: Symbolic representations (such as written alphabetic and numeric characters) that have no meaning other than the basic fact that each symbol represents.

Proposed definition

Data: “According to Stonier (1993, 1997), data is a series of disconnected facts and observations. These may be converted to information by analyzing, cross-referring, selecting, sorting, summarizing, or in some way organizing the data. Patterns of information, in turn, can be worked up into a coherent body of knowledge. Knowledge consists of an organized body of information, such information patterns forming the basis of the kinds of insights and judgments which we call wisdom. The above conceptualization may be made concrete by a physical analogy (Stonier, 1993): consider spinning fleece into yarn, and then weaving yarn into cloth. The fleece can be considered analogous to data, the yarn to information and the cloth to knowledge. Cutting and sewing the cloth into a useful garment is analogous to creating insight and judgment (wisdom). This analogy emphasizes two important points: (1) going from fleece to garment involves, at each step, an input of work, and (2) at each step, this input of work leads to an increase in organization, thereby producing a hierarchy of organization.“

Source: Prof. Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Mälardalen University, Västerås/Eskilstuna, Sweden). Definition 12 on p. 482 in Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “The corpus of information....consists of two types of information - non-data and data. Non-data is nonnumeric.... Data, on the other hand, is numeric, highly formatted and results from analysis.”

Source: Dolan, 1969, p. 41.” “The Role of the Information Scientist,” in International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, vol. 1, (1969), pp. 39-50. Cited in The Study of Information, Interdisciplinary Messages, p. 646. “There are writers who insist that data consist entirely of numbers. (FOOTNOTE 6: “The corpus of information....consists of two types of information - non-data and data. Non-data is non-numeric....Data, on the other hand, is numeric, highly formatted and results from analysis.” Dolan, 1969, p. 41.)”

Data: “Datum is a unique piece of content related to an entity.”

Source: Prof. Henri Dou, University of Aix-Marseille III, France. Definition 13 on p. 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: "Data are a set of symbols representing a perception of raw facts (i.e., following Debons, Horne, and Cronenweth (1988), events from which inferences or conclusions can be drawn).“

Source: Prof. Nicolae Dragulanescu, Polytechnics University of Bucharest, Romania. Definition 14 on page 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493. Debons, A., Horne, E., and Cronenweth, S. (1988). Information science: An integrated view. New York: G.K. Hall.

Data: "Here, data typically means the “raw” material obtained from observation (broadly understood, but not necessarily, as “sense impressions,” which is a key notion of empiricist philosophy). Such data is typically quantitative, presented in numbers and figures.“

Source: Prof. Hamid Ekbia, University of Redlands, Redlands, CA. Definition 15 on page 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are a string of symbols.”

Source: Prof. Raya Fidel, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Definition 17 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are representations of facts about the world.”

Source: Dr. H.M. Gladney, HMG Consulting, McDonald, PA. Definition 19 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data is one or more kinds of energy waves or particles (light, heat, sound, force, electromagnetic) selected by a conscious organism or intelligent agent on the basis of a pre- existing frame or inferential mechanism in the organism or agent.”

Source: Prof. Glynn Harmon, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX) Definition 20 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are facts and statistics that can be quantified, measured, counted, and stored.”

Source: Dr. Donald Hawkins, Information Today, Medford, NJ. Definition 21 on p. 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “…that which is recorded as symbols from which other symbols may be produced”

Source: Hayes RM. Information science in librarianship. Libri, v. 19, no. 3, 1969: 216-36.

Data: “Data are dynamic objects of cultural experience having the aspect of being meaning-neutral and a dual nature of description and instruction.”

Source: Mr. Ken Herold, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Definition 23 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are the raw observations about the world collected by scientists and others, with a minimum of contextual interpretation.”

Source: Prof. William Hersh, Oregon Health Science University, Portland, OR. Definition 24 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Data: "The factual invariances.”

Source: Peter Checkland and Sue Holwell. Information, systems, and information systems : making sense of the field. Chichester ; New York : Wiley, c1998. Page 219

Data: “A general term for quantitative or numerically encoded information, particularly used for information stored in a database. The word is, however, frequently used in a casual way with a sense not especially different from ‘information ‘, as, for instance, in a phrase like ‘biological data ‘.“

Source: International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, p. 120.

Data: (pl.): “The representation of information in a formalised manner suitable for communication, interpretation and processing, generally by a computer system. Note: the term ‘raw data’ refers to unprocessed information.“

Source: Glossary by the International Records Management Trust, at http:// www.irmt.org/documents/educ_training/educ_resource/IRMT_ed_rec_glossary.doc

Data: "re-interpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing Note 1 to entry: Data can be processed by human or automatic means"

Note 1 to entry: Data can be processed by humans or by automatic means.

Note 2 to entry: data: term and definition standardized by ISO/IEC [ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993].

Note 3 to entry: 01.01.02 (2382)

ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993, 01.01.02. Copied 2021-05-29 from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:11179:-4:ed-2:v1:en

Data: “Datum (in our sector mainly electronic) is the conventional representation, after coding (using ASCII, for example), of information.”

Prof. Yves François Le Coadic, National Technical University, Lyon, France. Definition 27 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “(/ˈdeɪtə/ DAY-tə, /ˈdætə/ DA-tə, or /ˈdɑːtə/ DAH-tə) is a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables. An example of qualitative data is an anthropologist's handwritten note about his or her interviews with indigenous people. Pieces of data are individual pieces of information. While the concept of data is commonly associated with scientific research, data is collected by a huge range of organizations and institutions, including businesses (e.g., sales data, revenue, profits, stock price), governments (e.g., crime rates, unemployment rates, literacy rates) and non-governmental organizations (e.g., censuses of the number of homeless people by non-profit organizations).“

Source: Glossary of Library & Information Science. Librarianship Studies & Information. Technology. Copied 2021-08-23 from https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2015/04/glossary-of-library-information-science.html

Data: “Data are commonly seen as simple, isolated facts, though products of intellectual activity in their rough shape.”

Source: Dr. Jo Link-Pezet, Urfist, and University of Social Sciences, France. Definition 28 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Data: “reinterpretable representation of information (3.1.1.16) in a formalized manner suitable for communication (3.1.8.04), interpretation, or processing “

Source: ISO. Copied 2022-01-03 from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:5127:ed-2:v1:en.

Data: Data are the pure and simple facts, the basic atoms of information.

Source: Robert K Logan, The Sixth language : learning a living in the Internet age. (2000) Toronto ; New York : Stoddart ; Niagra Falls, N.Y. Page 169.

Data:“…in a computer system, data are what has been fed into the memory of the system and is now available for processing. ”

Source: Fritz Machlup and Una Mansfield, editors. The Study of information : interdisciplinary messages; New York : Wiley, c1983. Page 648.

Data:“The use and misuse of the term data is due, in part, to linguistic ignorance. Many users do not know that this is a Latin word: dare means “to give”; datum, “the given” (singular); and data, “the givens” (plural). Data are the things given to the analyst, investigator, or problem-solver; they may be numbers, words, sentences, records, assumptions—just anything given, no matter in what form and of what origin. This used to be well known to scholars in most fields: Some wanted the word data to refer to facts, especially to instrument-readings; others to assumptions. Scholars with a hypothetico-deductive bent wanted data to mean the given set of assumptions; those with an empirical bent wanted data to mean the records, or protocol statements, representing the findings of observation, qualitative or quantitative.”

Source: Fritz Machlup and Una Mansfield, The Study of information : interdisciplinary messages; New York : Wiley, c1983. Page 646

Data:“Data are formalized parts (i.e., digitalized contents) of sociocultural information potentionally proccessable by technical facilities which disregard the cognitive process and that is why it is necessary to provide them with meanings from outside (i.e., they are objective).”

Source: Mr. Michal Lorenz, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic). Definition 29 on page 484-5 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “"Data", as the plural form of the Latin word "datum", means "things that have been given." It is, therefore, an apt term for the sort of information-as-thing that has been processed in some way for use. Commonly "data" denotes whatever records are stored in a computer. (See Machlup (1983, p. 646-649) for a discussion of the use and mis-use of the term "data".)“

Source: Information as Thing, M. Buckland, 1991

Data: “There have been many kinds of writing, pictographic and syllabic, but there is only one phonetic alphabet in which semantically meaningless letters are used to correspond to semantically meaningless sounds.”

Source: Marshall McLuhan, Understanding media; the extensions of man, New York, McGraw-Hill [1964]. See page 83.

Data: “Data are perceptible or perceived — if and when the signal can be interpreted by the ‘user’—attributes of physical, biological, social or conceptual entities.”

Source: Prof. Michel J. Menou, Knowledge and ICT management consultant, France. Definition 30 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are sets of characters, symbols, numbers, and audio/visual bits that are represented and/or encountered in raw forms. Inherently, knowledge is needed to decipher data and turn them into information.”

Source: Prof. Haidar Moukdad, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Definition 31 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58,479-493.

Data: “A subset of information in an electronic format that allows it to be retrieved or transmitted.“

Source: Committee on National Security Systems Instruction Number 4009, “National Information Assurance Glossary,” April 26, 2010

Data:“Data are raw material of information, typically numeric.”

Source: Prof. Charles Oppenheim, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK. Definition 32 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are sets of symbols representing captured evidence of activities, transactions, and events.“

Source: Miranda Lee Pao, (1989) Concepts of Information Retreival, Englewood, Colorado. Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Page 10.

Data: “Datum is an object or crude fact perceived by the subject, non-constructed nor elaborated in the consciousness, without passing through neither analysis processes nor evaluation for its transfer as information.

Source: Prof. Lena Vania Pinheiro, Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology, Brazil. Definition 33 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are primitive symbolic entities, whose meaning depend on it integration within a context that allow their understanding by an interpreter. Information is the intentional composition of data by a sender with the goal of modifying the knowledge state of an interpreter or receiver. Knowledge is the intelligent information processing by the receiver and it consequent incorporation to the individual or social memory [(Belkin, N.J., and Robertson, S.E. (1976). Information science and the phenomenon of information. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 27, 197–204] [Blair, D.C. (2002). Knowledge management: Hype, hope or help? Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 53(12), 1019–1028)]”

Source: Prof. Maria Pinto, University of Granada, Spain. Definition 34 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data, information, knowledge, message. I am unable to understand why data, information, knowledge and message are placed on the same level of analysis. I would suggest considering message as the “vehicle” carrying either data or information (which can be taken as synonymous).”

Source: Prof. Roberto Poli, University of Trento, Italy. Definition 35 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493]

Data: “Data are a representation of facts or ideas in a formalized manner, and hence capable of being communicated or manipulated by some process. So: data is related to facts and machines. (Holmes, N. (2001). The great term robbery. Computer, 34(5), 94–96.).”

Source: Prof. Ronald Rousseau, KHBO, and University of Antwerp. Definition 36 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Data: “Datum is a quantifiable fact that can be repeatedly measured.”

Source: Mr. Scott Seaman, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. [Definition 37 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are raw evidence, unprocessed, eligible to be processed to produce knowledge.”

Source: Prof. Richard Smiraglia, Long Island University, Brookville, NY. Definition 38 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Data: “A general term used to denote facts, symbols or other information. It connotes basic elements of information which can be processed or produced by a computer. Data is sometimes considered to be expressible only in numerical form, but information is not so limited.“

Source: H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 9.

Data: “Data are discrete items of information that I would call facts on some subject or other, not necessarily set within a fully worked out framework.”

Source: Prof. Paul Sturges, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK) [Definition 39 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Data (Raw Data): “Raw data refers to any data object that hasn’t undergone thorough processing, either manually or through automated computer software. Raw data may be gathered from various processes and IT resources. Raw data is also known as source data, primary data or atomic data. Raw data is primarily unstructured or unformatted repository data. It can be in the form of files, visual images, database records or any other digital data. Raw data is extracted, analyzed, processed and used by humans or purpose-built software applications to draw conclusions, make projections or extract meaningful information. The processed data takes the form of information. Business intelligence, data mining and some artificial intelligence may process raw data to produce meaningful results.”

Source: Techopedia at https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1230/rawdata

Data: “Sometimes a distinction is made between the mechanistic representation of the symbols, which is called data,’ and the meaning attributed to the symbols, which is called ‘information’.

Source: Teichroew, 1978, p. 658.” Footnote 11 on page 648 of The Study of Information, Interdisciplinary Messages, p. 647. Teichroew, D., “Information Systems,” in Encyclopedia of Computer Science (New York: Petrocelli/ Charter, 1978), pp. 657-660.

Data: “Data are facts that are the result of observation or measurement.“

Source: Definition of some basic terms in computer and information science, Landry, B.C., Mathis, B.A., Meara, N.M., Rush, J.E.,and Young, C.E. (1970). Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 24(5), 328–342.” Prof. Carol Tenopir, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. Definition 40 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are unprocessed, unrelated raw facts or artifacts.”

Source: Joanne Twining, Intertwining.org, a virtual information consultancy, USA. Definition 41 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Representations of facts, concepts, or instructions in a manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by humans or by automated means.“

Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Glossary of Computer System Software Development Terminology (8/95). Copied 2021-06-05 from https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/inspection-guides/glossary-computer-system-software-development-terminology-895

Data: “A representation by signs of facts, concepts or instructions in a formalized manner suitable for ‘communication’ interpretation or processing by humans or by automatic means.”

Source: Wersig, G., Neveling U. Terminology of documentation : a selection of 1200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. Paris : The Unesco Press; 1976. Page 72.

Data: “Data are representations of facts and raw material of information.”

Source: Prof. Anna da Soledade Vieira, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Definition 42 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “ Raw data refers to any data object that hasn’t undergone thorough processing, either manually or through automated computer software. Raw data may be gathered from various processes and IT resources. Raw data is also known as source data, primary data or atomic data. “

Source: Techopedia. Copied September 1, 2020 from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1230/raw-data.

Data: “Raw data is unprocessed computer data. This information may be stored in a file, or may just be a collection of numbers and characters stored on somewhere in the computer's hard disk. For example, information entered into a database is often called raw data. The data can either be entered by a user or generated by the computer itself. Because it has not been processed by the computer in any way, it is considered to be “raw data.“ To continue the culinary analogy, data that has been processed by the computer is sometimes referred to as “cooked data.“

Source: TechTerms. Copied September 1, 2020 from https://techterms.com/definition/rawdata

Data: Any symbols or characters that represent raw facts or figures and form the basis of information. See also information.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 12.

Data: “[The plural of datum, but now mostly construed with a singular verb.] The representation of concepts or other entities, fixed in or on a medium in a form suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by human beings or by automated systems.

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 21.

Data: “Data are alphabetic or numeric signs, which without context do not have any meaning.”

Source: Prof. Irene Wormell, Swedish School of Library and Information Science in Boräs, Sweden. Definition 43 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are artifacts that reflect a phenomenon in natural or social world in the form of figures, facts, plots, etc.”

Source: Prof. Yishan Wu, Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC), Beijing, China. Definition 44 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “The symbols or characters of a language which have been selected and combined to convey information.”

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 66

Data: “The word “data” is commonly used to refer to records or recordings encoded for use in computer, but is more widely used to refer to statistical observations and other recordings or collections of evidence.”

Source: Definition 6 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data is the plural of datum, although the singular form is rarely used. Purists who remember their first-year Latin may insist on using a plural verb with data, but they forget that English grammar permits collective nouns. Depending on the context, data can be used in the plural or as a singular word meaning a set or collection of facts. Etymologically, data, as noted, is the plural of datum, a noun formed from the past participle of the Latin verb dare–to give. Originally, data were things that were given (accepted as “true”). A data element, d, is the smallest thing which can be recognized as a discrete element of that class of things named by a specific attribute, for a given unit of measure with a given precision of measurement (Rush and Davis, 2007; Landry and Rush, 1970; Yovits and Ernst, 1970).”

Source: Page 481 in Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Raw data (sometimes called source data or atomic data) is data that has not been processed for use. [In the spirit of Tom Stonier’s definition—Data: a series of disconnected facts and observations] Here “unprocessed” might be understood in a sense that no specific effort has been made to interpret or understand the data. They are the result of some observation or measurement process, which has been recorded as “facts of the world.” The word data is the plural of Latin datum, “something given”, which one also could call “atomic facts. Information is the end product of data processing. Knowledge is the end product of information processing. In much the same way as raw data are used as input, and processed in order to get information, the information itself is used as input for a process that results in knowledge.”

Source: Page 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data can be defined as a class of information objects, made up of units of binary code that are intended to be stored, processed, and transmitted by digital computers. As such, data consists of information in a narrow sense—i.e., as inscribed in binary code, units of data are not likely to be immediately meaningful to a human being. But units of data, as “informational building blocks,” when collected and processed properly, can form information in the broader sense (see below), i.e., that is more likely to be meaningful to a human being (as sense-making beings).”

Source: Cited on p. 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: "It depends on your framework. If you are a Kantian, it is the foundation for the a priori categories of the understanding. If you are a computer programmer it is preprocessed information (data collected according to some algorithm for some purpose) or post-processed information (e.g., tables of such information). In this latter case data cannot be defined apart from information, because it is dependent on it. If you are a biologist, it might be stimuli, but these scientific approaches are built on a faulty understanding of perception (e.g., perception is sensations (i.e., stimuli) glued together—which is false)."

Source: Cited on p. 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data: “Data are observations and measurements you make on objects (artifacts, sites, seeds, bones) and on their contexts. Data are theory-laden. Regarding the theory of knowledge organization we may say that knowledge is not organized by elements called data combined or processed according to some algorithmic procedure. What data are is domain specific and theory-laden. At the most general level what is seen as data is depending of the epistemological view that one subscribes to.”

Source: Cited on p. 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data (Atomic Data): “Lowest level of detail (such as number of goods sold) from which the aggregate data (such as a daily sales summary) is computed.“

Source: Business Dictionary. Copied September 1, 2020 from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/atomic-data.html

Data (Atomic Data): “Atomic data are data elements that represent the lowest level of detail. For example, in a daily sales report, the individual items sold would be atomic data, while rollups such as invoice and summary totals from invoices are aggregate data. The word atomic data is based on the atom where in chemistry and physics is the smallest particle that can characterized a chemical element. In natural philosophy, the atom is the indestructible building blocks of the universe. In the same light, atomic data is the smallest data that has details that come up with a complete meaning. In the field of computer science specifically in computer programming, atomic data refers to a data type whether it is an action or an object that can no longer be broken down into smaller unites. In other words, the data type is no longer divisible, changeable and always whole.”

In the field of computer science specifically in computer programming, atomic data refers to a data type whether it is an action or an object that can no longer be broken down into smaller unites. In other words, the data type is no longer divisible, changeable and always whole.”

Source: GeekInterview.com. copied 2021-05-31 from http://www.learn.geekinterview.com/data-warehouse/data-types/what-is-atomic-data.html

Data (Atomic Data): “Data are atomic facts, basic elements of “truth,” without interpretation or greater context. It is related to things we sense.”

Prof. Donald Kraft, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. Definition 25 on p. 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Data (Atomic Data): “Data transmitted from a computer are “represented by the presence or absence of an electrical impulse (representing a bit ‘on’ or a bit ‘off’)..”

Gary B. Shelly & Thomas J. Cashman. Introduction to computers and data processing. Fullerton, CA : Anaheim Pub. Co., c1980. Page 86.

Data (Atomic Data): “Atomic data is information that can't be broken down into smaller parts. The term is often applied to source data that hasn't been calculated but instead represents a concrete business reality.”

Source: Simplicable at https://simplicable.com/new/atomic-data]

Data (Atomic Data): The world is the totality of facts, not of things, What is the case, the fact, is the existence of atomic facts An atomic fact is a combination of objects (entities, things).

Source: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein. See page 25. Accessed online January 20, 2025 at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5740/5740-pdf.pdf

Data (Atomic Data): “In a data warehouse, atomic data is the lowest level of detail. Atomic data provides the base data for all data transformations.“

Source: WhatIs.com. Copied 2021-05-31 from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/atomic-data

Data Element: “1. A basic unit of information built on standard structures having a unique meaning and distinct units or values. 2. In electronic recordkeeping, a combination of characters or bytes referring to one separate item of information, such as name, address, or age.“

Source: JP 1-0 - DoD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, Department of Defense, at https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/dictionary.pdf

Database: A set of structured data elements consisting of at least one file, or a group of integrated files, usually stored in one location and made available to multiple users simultaneously. Note: Databases are generally classified according to their organizational approach, with the most prevalent being a relational database, which consists of data elements organized in tables that can be reorganized or reported in a variety of ways.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 13.

Datum: "sing. or pl. n. (datum, sing.) ~ Facts, ideas, or discrete pieces of information, especially when in the form originally collected and unanalyzed. Notes: Traditionally a plural noun, data - rather than datum - is now commonly used with a singular verb. Data often is used to refer to information in its most atomized form, as numbers or facts that have not been synthesized or interpreted, such as the initial readings from a gauge or obtained from a survey. In this sense, data is used as the basis of information, the latter distinguished by recognized patterns or meaning in the data. The phrase 'raw data' may be used to distinguish the original data from subsequently 'refined data'. Data is independent of any medium in which it is captured. Data is intangible until it has been recorded in some medium. Even when captured in a document or other form, the content is distinct from the carrier.“

Source: Dictionary of Archives Terminology. Society of American Archivists. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/d/data

Declarative Memory: Declarative memory refers to the acquisition and retrieval of facts, events, and episodes. A nearly synonymous term, explicit memory, emphasizes the fact that these types of memory are available to awareness, that is, we consciously recall these memories during retrieval. The bulk of what is thought of as the ordinary, everyday operation of memory depends on declarative memory.

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763421005601

Declarative Memory: Declarative memory is involved in maintaining information about facts/knowledge or events for a significant period of time (long-term memory) and consciously recalling information. Declarative memory is classically divided into two subtypes: semantic memory and episodic memory.

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34929226/

Deduplication: The process of identifying and designating and/or removing duplicate files and/or records within a system. See also file level binary comparison.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 13.

Deduplication (Data Deduplication): Data deduplication is a technique that minimizes the space required to store data. It is designed to help organizations address the issue of duplicate data. Whether a company accumulates multiple copies of the same exact file or multiple files containing the same data, deduplication replaces extra copies of data with metadata that simply points back to the original.

Source: Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Copied November 2, 2024, from: https://www.hpe.com/emea_europe/en/what-is/data-deduplication.html

Deduplication (Data Deduplication): Data Deduplication, often called Dedup for short, is a feature that can help reduce the impact of redundant data on storage costs. When enabled, Data Deduplication optimizes free space on a volume by examining the data on the volume by looking for duplicated portions on the volume. Duplicated portions of the volume's dataset are stored once and are (optionally) compressed for additional savings. Data Deduplication optimizes redundancies without compromising data fidelity or integrity.

Source: Microsoft. Copied November 2, 2024 from: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/data-deduplication/overview

Deixis: n. in linguistics, the use of a word or phrase whose meaning is dependent on the situation in which it is used. For example, the meaning of The tree on my side of the fence depends on who says it and where that person is standing. Some words, including the personal and demonstrative pronouns and such adverbs as here, there, and now, are always deictic. The psychological interest in deixis stems from the recognition of the different possible perspectives that it entails. —deictic adj.

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed December 21, 2025 at https://dictionary.apa.org/deixis

Deixis: In linguistics, deixis (pronounced dayk-sis) is the use of words or phrases to point to specific entities, times, or places within a conversation. In layman’s terms, deixis refers to how words acquire meaning by pointing to something in a given context. While deictic words have a fixed semantic meaning, their denoted meaning changes based on time and place. The meaning of a deictic word hinges on who is speaking, where, and when. It’s all about context!

Source Microsoft 365 Life Hacks. Accessed December 21, 2025 at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-life-hacks/writing/deictic-words-definition

Deixis: Definition:

Deixis is reference by means of an expression whose interpretation is relative to the (usually) extralinguistic context of the utterance, such as:

•who is speaking

•the time or place of speaking

•the gestures of the speaker

•the current location in the discourse

Kinds:

•Discourse Deixis

•Empathetic Deixis

•Person Deixis

•Place Deixis

•Social Deixis

•Time Deixis

Examples:

(English)

Here are examples of deictic expressions:

•I

•You

•Now

•There

•That

•The following

•Tenses

Source SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms. Accessed December 21, 2025 at: https://glossary.sil.org/term/deixis

Demand Study: "The degree of correspondence of the outputs of an information or documentation system and the needs of the user expressed by the user.”

Terminology of documentation : A selection of 1,200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Compiled by Gernot Wersig and Ulrich Neveling. Paris : The Unesco Press. 1976. p. 171

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 21.

Descriptive Linguistics: Descriptive linguistics (henceforth DL) is the sci#entific endeavor to systematically describe the lan#guages of the world in their diversity, based on the empirical observation of regular patterns in natural speech.

Source(An encyclopedia entry): François, Alexandre & Maïa Ponsonnet. 2013. Descriptive linguistics. In Jon R. McGee and Richard L. Warms (ed.), Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, vol.1, 184-187. SAGE.

Descriptive Metadata: See also "Administrative Metadata" and "Structural Metadata."

Descriptive Metadata: "Metadata that supports the discovery of an object."

Source: DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo

Descriptive Metadata: "Think of all the different ways you might describe this object. How about topic, audience, and format? There should be at least a dozen different ways to describe many of the objects you study. Now's the time to get them all on the table."

Source: Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld. (2007) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Sebastopol, CA : O'Reilly, c2007. Page 243

Descriptive Metadata: “n. Information that refers to the intellectual content of material and aids discovery of such materials. Notes Descriptive metadata allows users to locate, distinguish, and select materials on the basis of the material's subjects or 'aboutness.' It is distinguished from information about the form of the material, or its administration. Citations Puglia, Reed, and Rhodes 2004, p. 7Descriptive metadata refers to information that supports discovery and identification of a resource (the who, what, when and where of a resource). It describes the content of the resource, associates various access points, and describes how the resource is related to other resources intellectually or within a hierarchy. In addition to bibliographic information, it may also describe physical attributes of the resource such as media type, dimension, and condition.“

Source: Society of American Archvists Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology. Copied 2020-12-27 from https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/descriptive-metadata.html

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 16.

Descriptor: (preferred term). A term in an indexing language chosen as the preferred or authorized representation of a concept conveyed by the text of a document or a feature of it.

See also authority file; non-preferred term; subject heading

Dictionary Arrangement: A single alphabetic filing arrangement in which all types of entries (names, subjects, titles, etc.) are interfiled. Also referred to as topical arrangement and topical filing system. See also encyclopedic arrangement.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 14.

Digital Library: "A collection of digital objects, including text, video, and audio, along with methods for access and retrieval, and for selection, organizaation and maintenance of the collection."

Source: David Bainbridge, John Thomson and Ian H. Witten. Assembling and Enriching Digital Library Collections. Downloaded 2021-08-30 from https://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~ihw/papers/03-DB-JT-IHW-Assembling.pdf

Digital Library: "Digital libraries are organizations that provide the resources, including the specialized staff, to select, structure, offer intellectual access to, interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities."

Source: Digital Library Federation (DLF). http://www.diglib.org/

Metadata Standards and Applications Trainee Manual, Cataloging for the 21st Century -- Course 2. For The Library of Congress And the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services. August 2008. Copied 2021-09-01 from https://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/courses/metadatastandards/pdf/MSTraineeManual.pdf

Digital Library: “■ a library in which collections are stored in digital formats and accessed by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. ■ a type of information retrieval system.“

Source: Metadata Standards and Applications Trainee Manual, Cataloging for the 21st Century -- Course 2. For The Library of Congress And the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services. August 2008. Copied 2021-09-01 from https://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/courses/metadatastandards/pdf/MSTraineeManual.pdf

Dirty Text: Output of optical character recognition (OCR) software reflecting text with no clean-up.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 15.

Disambiguation: "action of determining which language construct, of several with the same sequence of lexical tokens, is referred to by a particular occurrence within a program."

Note 1 to entry: disambiguation: term and definition standardized by ISO/IEC [ISO/IEC 2382-15:1999].

Note 2 to entry: 15.01.09 (2382)

Source: ISO-IEC-2382-15 * 1999 * * * . Copied 2021-05-29from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:11179:-4:ed-2:v1:en

Discovery: “ What resources are available that might be added to a collection? New resources are often listed in directories, regristries, or catalogs. Some typse of resources are selected and acquired automatically through subscriptions or, contracts.,“

Source: The Discipline of Organizing. Robert J. Glushko, editor. Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, 2013. Page 488.

Discrete Item of Information: “Discrete item” means an individual object containing or displaying recorded information that is not part of a larger body of material (e.g., a fonds or collection). Examples of discrete items include: a textual record such as a single letter, diary, or logbook; graphic material such as a single photograph, postcard, or drawing; cartographic material such as a map or atlas; or an object such as a sculpture or medal.

Source City of Vancouver Archives Acquisition Policy. Accessed online December 20, 2025, at: https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/archives-aquisition-policy.pdf

Discrete Item of Information: Discrete item means an individual object containing or displaying recorded information that is not part of a larger body of material (e.g., a fonds or collection). Examples of discrete items include: a textual record such as a single letter, diary, or logbook; graphic material such as a single photograph, postcard, or drawing; cartographic material such as a map or atlas; or an object such as a sculpture or medal.

Source Law Insider, accessed online December 20, 2025 at; https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/discrete-item#:~:text=Discrete%20item%20means%20an%20individual,as%20a%20sculpture%20or%20medal.

Discrete Item of Information: “Data are discrete items of information that I would call facts on some subject or other, not necessarily set within a fully worked out framework.”

Source: Prof. Paul Sturges, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK) [Definition 39 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Disposition: For a record, the final action taken per the retention schedule, concluding with destruction, transfer, or permanent preservation. See also destruction, event-based disposition, and principle of disposition.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 16.

Document: “Recorded information regardless of form or medium with three basic elements: base, impression, and message.“

Source: Archives and Records Management Resources, National Archives and Records Administration. Copied 2021-06-01 from https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/archives-resources/terminology.html

Document: Recorded information or object that can be treated as a unit. Source: ISO 15489-1. [13] See also record.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 16.

Document: “A record in any form from which information may be derived, e.g. a page containing data, a graphic representation, a tape recording or a book.“

Source: H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 11.

Document: “ A medium on or in which a message is encoded; thus, the combination of medium and message. The term applies not only to objects written or printed on paper or on microforms (for example, books, periodicals, maps, diagrams, tables, and illustrations) but also to non-print media (for example, artistic works, audio and video recordings, films, machine-readable records, and multimedia) and, by extension, to naturally occurring or humanly made objects intended to convey information (for example, zoo animals, plants in botanical gardens, museum collections of hand tools, etc.)

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 22.

Document: “A unit consisting of a data medium, the data recorded on it, and the meaning assigned to the data.“

Source: Wersig, G., Neveling U. Terminology of documentation : a selection of 1200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. Paris : The Unesco Press; 1976. Page 89.

Document-Like Object (DLO): "Originally defined as an entity that resembles a document from the standpoint that it is substantially text-based and shares other properties of a document; e.g., electronic mail messages or spreadsheets. The definition was expanded at the 3rd DC workshop to refer to any discrete information resource that are characterized by being fixed (i.e., having identical content for each user). Examples include text, images, movies, and performances."

Source: DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo.

Document Retrieval: The operations, methods and procedures for identifying and finding documents or their surrogates in a collection' or an information storage and retrieval system and presenting them to users.

See also information retrieval

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 22.

Documentary Unit: The document, document segment, or collection of documents to which entries in an index refer and on which they are based.

Examples: words, sentences, paragraphs, leaves, pages, articles2, books, complete serial runs, microforms, collections' of archival materials, and complete or partial library collection

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 22.

Electrochemical Cell: An electrochemical cell is defined as a device that generates electrical energy from chemical reactions or uses electrical energy to drive chemical reactions. The simplest possible electrochemical cell consists of two connected electrodes in an electrolyte solution.

Source 'What is an Electrochemical Cell?' Accessed online January 14, 2026 at: https://www.ossila.com/pages/what-is-an-electrochemical-cell

Encoding Specificity: The principle that retrieval of memory is optimal when the retrieval conditions (such as context or cues) duplicate the conditions that were present when the memory was formed. [proposed in 1983 by Endel Tulving]

Cited Resource: Elements of episodic memory by Endel Tulving (1983). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online December 27, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/encoding-specificity

Encyclopedic Arrangement: An arrangement in which records are filed under broad, major headings and then under the specific subheading to which they relate; headings and subheadings are arranged alphabetically. See also dictionary arrangement.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 19.

Engram: n. the hypothetical memory trace that is stored in the brain. The nature of the engram, in terms of the exact physiological changes that occur to encode a memory, is as yet unknown. The term was introduced by German biologist Richard Semon (1859–1918) in the early 1900s and was popularized by Karl S. Lashley in his 1950 paper “In Search of the Engram.” Also called mneme; mnemonic trace; neurogram.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology Copied 2025-10-29 from https://dictionary.apa.org/engram

Engram: The engram can be viewed as the physical change that occurred in the nervous system in response to a learned experience, which can later mediate instantiation of the corresponding memory. As such, engram neurons are typically defined as the neurons that are preferentially involved in the encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of a particular memory.

Source 'Engram neurons: Encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and forgetting of memory' by Axel Guskjolen and Mark S. Cembrowski. Molecular Psychiatry 28, 3207–3219 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02137-5

Engram: The idea that memory is stored as enduring changes in the brain dates back at least to the time of Plato and Aristotle (circa 350 BCE), but its scientific articulation emerged in the 20th century when Richard Semon introduced the term “engram” to describe the neural substrate for storing and recalling memories. Essentially, Semon proposed that an experience activates a population of neurons that undergo persistent chemical and/or physical changes to become an engram. Subsequent reactivation of the engram by cues available at the time of the experience induces memory retrieval.

Source 'Memory engrams: Recalling the past and imagining the future' by Sheena A Josselyn and Susumu Tonegawa. Science 2020 Jan 3;367(6473):eaaw4325. doi: 10.1126/science.aaw4325. PMID: 31896692; PMCID: PMC7577560.

Enterprise Taxonomy: SEE ALSO Taxonomy

Enterprise Taxonomy: “Yes, the more generic “business taxonomy” and “enterprise taxonomy” are terms often used interchangeably. However, I prefer it when the term “enterprise taxonomy” is used to mean specifically a taxonomy (or set of inter-related taxonomies) that is intended for use enterprise-wide. This is an important designation, because within an enterprise, taxonomies are often siloed. Integrating them and designing a unified taxonomy that cuts across all departments to support the broadest sharing of content across the enterprise is an important goal of an "enterprise taxonomy."

Source: Heather Hedden. The Accidental Taxonomist. Medford, New Jersey : Information Today, Inc., [2016] Page 384.

Enterprise Taxonomy: "A custom-developed taxonomy used within a large organization (an enterprise) as a common knowledge organization system for the entire organization, often implemented in an intranet or an enterprise content managemetn system."

Source: Heather Hedden. The Accidental Taxonomist. "Business Taxonomies" February 26, 2012. Copied 2021-03-16 from http://accidental-taxonomist.blogspot.com/2012/02/business-taxonomies.html

Enterprise Taxonomy: Enterprise taxonomy is typically defined as a classification system that spans the enterprise, including the full range of asset types, the business groups within the organization, and the systems and tools that support content management and presentation.

Source: Strategic Content Services, "The Case for EnterpriseTaxonomy" Copied 2021-03-16 from http://strategiccontent.com/enterprise-taxonomy#:~:text=Enterprise%20taxonomy%20is%20typically%20defined,support%20content%20management%20and%20presentation.

Episodic Memory: Episodic memory evokes the memory of personally experienced events associated with a particular time and place (spatiotemporal context), involving a sense of self-awareness (or autonoetic consciousness). In addition to the conscious recall of past events, episodic memory implies a "mental journey through time" (mental time travel, i.e., a projection into the past and/or future).

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Faculty of Language: “...a distinction should be made between the faculty of language in the sensory-motor system, a conceptual-intentional system, and the computational mechanisms for recursion, providing the capacity to generate an infinite range of expressions from a finite set of elements. We hypothesize that FLN only includes recursion and is the only uniquely human component of the faculty of language.We further argue that FLN may have evolved for reasons other than language, hence comparative studies might look for evidence of such computations outside of the domain of communication (for example, number, navigation, and social relations).

The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Marc D. Hauser, Noam Chomsky, W. Tecumseh Fitch. Science. 2002 Nov 22;298(5598):1569-79. doi: 10.1126/science.298.5598.1569. PMID: 12446899.

File Plan: A classification scheme that describes and identifies all files, including indexing and storage of the files, and referencing the disposition schedule for each file.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 21.

File Plan: A plan designating the physical location(s) at which an agency’s files are to be maintained, the specific types of files to be maintained there, and the organizational element(s) having custodial responsibility. Also: A document containing the identifying number, title or description, and disposition authority of files held in an office. See also Filing System

SourceNARA Records Management Key Terms and Acronyms National Archives and Records Administration. Page 6. Copied 2024-11-01 from https://www.archives.gov/files/records-mgmt/rm-glossary-of-terms.pdf

Finding Aid: “A description from any source that provides information about the contents and nature of documentary materials.“

Source: Archives and Records Management Resources, National Archives and Records Administration. Copied 2021-06-01 from https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/archives-resources/terminology.html

Finding Aid: In archives, documents which provide direction to information contained in other documents. Basic finding aids include guides (general or subjective), inventories, local registers, card catalogs and files, shelf and box lists, indexes of various kinds, calendars, and (for machine readable records) software documentation.

Source: The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 95

Generative Grammar: A grammar of a language purports to be a description of the ideal speaker-hearer’s intrinsic competence. If the grammar is, furthermore, perfectly explicit — in other words, if it does not rely on the intelligence of the understanding reader but rather provides and explicit analysis of his contribution — we may (somewhat redundantly) call it a generative grammar.

Source: Aspects of the theory of syntax, by Noam Chomsky. Cambridge, M.I.T. Press [1965] Pages 2-3.

Generative Grammar: … by a generative grammar I mean simply a system of rules that in some explicit and well-defined way assigns structural descriptions to sentences. Obviously, every speaker of a language has mastered and internalized a generative grammar that expresses his knowledge of a language. This is not to say that he is aware of the rules of the grammar or even that he can become aware of them, or that his statements about his intuitive knowledge of the language are necessarily accurate. Any interesting generative grammar will be dealing, for the most part, with mental processes that are far beyond the level of actual or even potential consciousness; furthermore, it is quite apparent that a speaker’s reports and viewpoints about his behavior and his competence may be in error. Thus a generative grammar attempts to specify what the speaker actually knows, not what he may report about his knowledge.

Source: Aspects of the theory of syntax, by Noam Chomsky. Cambridge, M.I.T. Press [1965] Pages 6-7.

Generative Grammar: Chomsky’s approach to syntax has two critical components, both signaled by the most common term for his program, transformational-generative grammar. The most wide-reaching of his innovations is in the second half of the compound. A generative grammar is a formal mechanism which generates structural descriptions of the sentences in a language, in the mathematical sense of generate. A generative grammar is a collection of rules which define the sounds, words, phrases and sentences of a language in the same way that geometry is a collection of rules which define circles and squares. And the point of both systems is also the same — geometry represents knowledge about space; generative grammar represents knowledge about language — which is where the transformation comes in.

Source: The linguistics wars, by Randy Allen Harris. New York : Oxford University Press, 1993. See page 32.

Generativity: "The reason is that there was, and is, a common cognitive adaption underlying human praxis and language: "Generativity" — that is, the "general ability to form multipart representations from elementary canonical parts." Generativity is thus both an analytic and a combinatorial skill."

Source: Origins of the modern mind : three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition / Merlin Donald. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1991. Page 71.

Grammar: A fully adequate grammar must assign to each of an infinite range of sentences a structural description indicating how this sentence is understood by the ideal speaker-hearer. This is the traditional problem of descriptive linguistics, and traditional grammars give a wealth of information concerning structural descriptions of sentences. However, valuable as they obviously are, traditional grammars are deficient in that they leave unexpressed many of the basic regularities of the language with which they are concerned. This fact is particularly clear on the level of syntax, where no traditional or structuralist grammar goes beyond classification of particular examples to the stage of formulation of generative rules on any significant scale.

Source: Aspects of the theory of syntax, by Noam Chomsky. Cambridge, M.I.T. Press [1965] Page 3.

Grammar: A grammar of a language, in the sense in which I will use this term, can be loosely described as a system of rules that expresses the correspondence between sound and meaning in this language. Let us assume given two universal language-independent systems of representation, a phonetic system for the specification of sound and a semantic system for the specification of meaning. As to the former, there are many concrete proposals; for example, the system described in detail in chapter 7 of Chomsky and Halle (1968). In the domain of semantics there are, needless to say, problems of fact and principle that have barely been approached, and there is no reasonably concrete or well-defined “theory of semantic representation” to which one can refer.

Source: Studies on semantics in generative grammar. by Noam Chomsky. The Hague, Mouton, 1972. See page 62.

Grammar: Grammar is the system for organising a language. Grammar allows us to structure our sentences and even our thoughts and ideas. Word level grammar covers verbs and tenses, nouns, adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech. Sentence level grammar covers the order of words in a sentence, phrases, clauses and types of sentences.

Source: British Broadcasting Organiation, Accessed online January 13, 2025.

Grammar: a grammar is the cognitive structure in a speaker’s mind that contains her knowledge of her language.

Source: Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach, by W Croft. (2000) New York: Longman, Linguistic Library. [2000]. Page 26.

Grammar: The structure of a language especially in contrast with vocabulary and pronunciation. A grammatical account is prescriptive or normative when given as correct usage, and descriptive when presented as a reflection of actual usage.

Source: Glossary of Linguistic Terms, Haruko Momma, at Glossary of Linguistic Terms - A Companion to the History of the English Language - Wiley Online Library. Accessed 2024-09-05.

Grammar: A grammar is a 'theory' of a language: it is a finite list of rules that specify the language. A grammar is normally expressed in terms of 'rewrite rules', which are of the form: a certain sstring can be rewritten as another string.

Source: Language Evolution, edited by Morten H. Christiansen, Simon Kirby. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2003. Page 320.

Grammar: Grammar is a system of rules that governs the structure of language. Grammar encompasses several fields of study including morphology (the internal structure of words), phonology (the sound of words), accidence (the inflection of words), and semantics (the meaning and interpretation of words). Grammatical rules determine the proper tense of a sentence as well as the agreement of parts of speech like adverbs and nouns.

Source: MasterClass. Accessed 2025-09-22 at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/grammar-vs-syntax.

Grammar: A grammar is seen here as a system of rules for specifying semantic-syntactic relationships among words in sentences. Grammar, and the structures of syntax and semantics, represent LINUISTIC knowledge. The COGNITIVE underpinnings of language are the organization and representation of perceived reality.

Source One Word at a Time : The use of single word utterances before syntax by Lois Bloom. The Hague: Mouton. (See page 19/footnote 10)

Grammar: Grammar is a collection of structural rules that influence the composition of sentences, words, and terms in any given language. It is the systematic study and description of a language that enables us to comprehend how words combine to form sentences with their constituent parts.

Source: “Spoken Grammar: Meaning, Principles and Characteristics” by Salim Mahmood, Ru’a and Hussein Ali Ahmed. Academic Journal of Nawroz University (2022): 160-168.

Grammar: The area of study concerned with the structure of a language or of languages in general; esp. the study of the structure of sentences and words, that is, syntax and morphology (sometimes specifically inflectional morphology). Sometimes also more generally: the study of the norms or conventions of usage and communication.

Source: Oxford English Dictionary, Accessed online January 11, 2025 at https://www.oed.com/dictionary/grammar_n?tl=true.

Grammar: The study of the way a language is used.

Source: Teaching English grammar, Robert C. Pooley, New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts [1957]. Page 104.

Grammar: ...the systematic description of a language.

Source: The Grammar of Spoken English: Its Relation to What is Called English Grammar., by Karl W. Dykema. American Speech, Feb., 1949, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Feb., 1949), pp. 43-48. See page 43.

Grammar: The system of rules used to create sentences refers to the knowledge of parts of speech, tenses, phrases, clauses and syntactic structures used to create grammatically well-formed sentences in English. The rules for constructing grammatically correct sentences belong to “sentence grammar”. This is the kind of grammar that is the focus of many grammar reference books and grammar practice books for students.

Source: The official website of educator Jack C Richards, Accessed online January 11, 2025 at https://www.oed.com/dictionary/grammar_n?tl=true.

Grammar: Noam Chomsky defined as …a grammar of a language as a theory of that language, subject to the criteria for any theory: simplicity, generality, testability.

Source: The linguistics wars, by Randy Allen Harris. New York : Oxford University Press, 1993. See page 50.

Grammaticalization: The essence of grammaticalization is the evolution of a lexical category to a grammatical one or of a hybrid/functional category to another grammatical category. The first involves changes such as that of the verb have from “possess” to the marker of the perfect tense. The second involves changes such as that of to from a preposition (a hybrid category in English) to an infinitive marker or such as that of a demonstrative (e.g., the Latin ille ‘that’) to a definite article (the Italian il, the Spanish el, and so on). These changes have attracted attention for hundreds of years and are very well known. More recently, additional conditions and stipulations have been placed on this leading idea, but the essence remains the same.

Source Grammaticalization by D. Gary Miller and Elly van Gelderen. . Accessed online February 20, 2026 at: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199772810/obo-9780199772810-0019.xml#:~:text=obo/9780199772810%2D0019-,Introduction,the%20essence%20remains%20the%20same.

Grammaticalization: Grammaticalization is the continuous, gradual, historical process through which languages generate grammatical material like affixes, articles, pronouns, and prepositions. The emergence of grammatical items is not arbitrary or sudden: they are not invented, as terms for new objects and activities often can be, but instead develop from already existing lexical items which are gradually modified to express increasingly grammatical meanings. This entry describes (1) the specific mechanisms of historical language change which underpin grammaticalization, (2) the major competing explanatory accounts of grammaticalization, (3) the pathways of change along which grammaticalization takes place, and (4) current issues and recent developments in grammaticalization research. .

Source 'Grammaticalization Theory' by A.D.M. Smith (2021). In: Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science Edited by T.K. Shackelford and V.A. Weekes-Shackelford. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_3327. Accessed online February 20, 2026 at: https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_3327#citeas

Heading: “A name, word, or phrase placed at the head of a catalogue entry to provide an access point. See also Access point.“

Source: Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition, 2002 Revision, American Library Association. (2004) 2004 Update. Chicago

Hash: A mathematical algorithm that represents a unique value for a given set of data, similar to a digital fingerprint. Source: The Sedona Conference® Glossary. [41]

Source: Glossary of Records` and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 25.

Hash Coding: To create a digital fingerprint that represents the binary content of a file unique to every electronically-generated document; assists in subsequently ensuring that data has not been modified. Source: The Sedona Conference® Glossary. [41] See also data verification, digital fingerprint, and file level binary comparison.

Source: Glossary of Records` and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 26.

Holistic: An utterance is holistic when it is “a complete communicative act” (Arbib, 2008: p.154) exclusively associated with one proposition where that meaning is taken from the whole not the sum of its parts, and “there are no component parts that could be recombined to create a new message” (Wray, 1998, p.51).

Cited Resource: 'Protolanguage as a holistic system for social interaction' by Alison Wray (1998). Language & Communication, 18: 47-67.

Source 'The History of the Holistic Protolanguage Idea' by Jeff Hallam. (2009) The University of Edinburgh. Accessed October 29, 2025.

Holophrase: n. one of the single-word utterances characteristic of children in the early stages of language acquisition, such as dada or yes. These are considered to involve a speech act going beyond the literal meaning of the single word so that, for example, cookie means I want a cookie now. See rich interpretation. —holophrastic adj.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online January 22, 2026 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/holophrase

Holophrasic Speech: Holophrastic speech describes when a single word is used as a phrase, sentence, or complex idea. Developmentally, it is the stage in a child's language acquisition that occurs around the age of one year in which children use single words to convey complex ideas. Sometimes called the one-word stage, children pronounce and use actual words but cannot structure multiple word phrases or sentences. An example would be a child saying the word "Milk!" meaning "I want some milk!" or saying "Toy!" when they want you to give them their favorite toy.

Source 'Psychology Glossary' on AlleyDog.com. Accessed online January 22, 2026 at: https://www.alleydog.com/search-results.php?q=Holophrasic+Speech

Holophrastic: Relating to the use of a single word to express a complex idea, especially by young children when they are learning to talk.

Source Cambridge Dictionary. Accessed online January 21, 2026 at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/holophrastic

Holophrastic : (adj.) Having the force of a whole phrase; expressive of a complex idea," 1837, from holo- "whole" + Latinized form of Greek phrastikos, from phrazein "to indicate, tell, express" (see phrase (n.)).

Source Etymonline. Accessed online January 22, 2026 at: https://www.etymonline.com/word/holophrastic

Holophrastic: Holophrastic speech refers to the early stage of language development where a single word is used to express a complete idea or sentence. This type of speech typically occurs in children around the age of one and is a fundamental step in both first and second language acquisition, as it showcases how young learners convey complex meanings through limited vocabulary.

Source 'intro to cognitive science review' on fiveable. Accessed online January 22, 2026 at: https://fiveable.me/key-terms/introduction-cognitive-science/holophrastic-speech

Holophrastic : The holophrastic stage represents humanity's earliest form of language development and is a necessary primary phase for children’s language acquisition. At this stage, individual words carry complete semantic content equivalent to full sentences in modern languages. This mode of expression showcases typical features found in primitive languages and can still be traced back to certain existing isolating languages.

From a cognitive linguistics perspective, the formation of holophrastic expressions closely relates to early concrete thinking among humans. When primitive people pointed at flames and shouted "fire," that single word encapsulated meanings akin to "there is fire here," "be careful with fire," or "make fire" found in modern languages. Archaeolinguistic studies suggest that such expressions persisted throughout thousands of years during early Proto-Indo-European times.

The main limitation of holophrastic expressions lies in their ambiguity; for instance, “hungry” could mean “I am hungry,” “he is hungry,” or “everyone is hungry.” Such ambiguities drive language towards more complex structures despite their specific uses remaining relevant today—like urgent warnings (“Fire!”), emotional expressions (“Congratulations!”), or everyday responses (“Thanks.”).

Source 'A Study on the Evolution of English Syntax: Seven Developmental Stages from Words to Complex Sentences' on Oreate AI. Accessed online January 22, 2026 at: https://www.oreateai.com/blog/a-study-on-the-evolution-of-english-syntax-seven-developmental-stages-from-words-to-complex-sentences/acc92e87cfdf328b3b99af47a33f8d84#:~:text=The%20holophrastic%20stage%20represents%20humanity's,(%E2%80%9CThanks.%E2%80%9D).

Identifier: “The Dublin Core™ element that is an unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context. Recommended best practice is to identify the resource by means of a string or number conforming to a formal identification system.“

Source: DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/

Index: “1. A systematic guide to the contents of a file, document, or group of documents, consisting of an ordered arrangement of terms or other symbols representing the contents and references, code numbers, etc., for accessing the contents. [ALA page 116]“

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 116

Index: “An organized grouping of terms intended to facilitate access to a document or collection of documents in any medium or format. It is normally alphabetical. The most familiar form is the index to a book or series of books, indicating at what place or places topics, places or persons are mentioned by page number or some other indicator of location. The term is also used to describe a finding aid to the position of material in a library collection, more or less synonymously with catalogue (see CATALOGUES). Although the principles of analysis used are identical, however, an index entry merely locates a subject, whilst a catalogue entry also includes descriptive specification of a document concerned with the subject.“

Source: John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 236.

Index: “An index is a description resource that contains information about the locations and frequencies of terms in a document collection to enable it to be searched efficiently.“

Source: Robert J. Glushko, editor. The Discipline of Organizing. Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, 2013. Page 494.

Index: “An index is a systematic guide to items contained in a collection or concepts derived from a collection. These items or concepts are represented by index terms in a known or searchable order. Therefore, the subject content of a collection may be revealed upon a closer examination of its index.“

Source: Miranda Lee Pao, (1989) Concepts of InformationRetreival, Englewood, Colorado. Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Page 10.

Index: “An ordered reference list of the contents of a file of documents or of a single document, together with keys or reference notations for identification or location of those contents.“

Source: H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 15.

Indexicality: In the study of language, the term indexicality typically refers to a realm of meaning that is not based on the symbolic contents of linguistic signs per se, but on the context-dependent configurations and effects of linguistic signs in use. These effects are at work, for example, when German is used in car advertisements (Volkswagen. Das Auto.) and restaurants all around the globe are named with French looking/sounding names. There is nothing about the structure of German language that makes it especially suitable for selling cars. It is the indexicality of Deutsch that invokes associations with advanced technology, functionality, and reliability, in the same way as français is associated with culinary pleasures and culture (Hornikx et al. 2013).

Source ‘Indexicality’ by Tomi Visakko and Heini Lehtonen, University of Helsinki. Handbook of Pragmatics Volume 27 (2024), pp. 127–152. ISSN 1877-9611. Accessed online December 19, 2025 at: https://benjamins.com/online/hop/articles/ind4?srsltid=AfmBOorLkbekDsUxMxm9X0u-QL52NVagS706VczsNeLRtAQhsSt_sK6R

Indexicality: Let me start with an obvious point: we all have boatloads of resources at our disposal for making meaning. Not just our words — we’ve also got our clothing, our posture, the way we walk — but for now, I’m mostly going to talk about words. All these resources communicate through indexicality. Basically, they point to other meanings. Classically, smoke indexes fire: it doesn’t look like fire, but it points to it by means of long association. Of course, smoke could mean that there’s a smoke machine rather than a fire. But most of the time, it doesn’t. When we talk about indexicality and language, we’re generally talking about different ways of saying the same thing, which carry different meanings.

Source ‘Words have flavors: indexicality, heteroglossia, intertextuality” by Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein. Accessed online December 17, 2025 at: https://jenabl.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/words-have-flavors/

Informatics: “Informatics is the science of how to use data, information and knowledge to improve human health and the delivery of health care services.“

Source: American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). Copied 2021-04-22 from https://www.amia.org/fact-sheets/what-informatics

Informatics: “Informatics is the science of information. It studies the represention, processing and communicaton of information in natural and artificial systems. Since computers, individuals and organizations all process information, informatics has computational, cognitive and social aspects. Used as a compound, in conjunction with the name of a discipline, as in medical informatics, bioinformatics, etc., it denotes the specialization of informatics to the management and processing of data, information, and knowledge in the named discipline.“

Source: John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 3e7.

Informatics: “Informatics harnesses the power and possibility of digital technology to transform data and information into knowledge that people use every day. This strong focus on the human use of computing helps people to interact with technology in the best and most efficient way possible.“

Source: The University of Edinburgh. Copied 2021-04-22 from https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/what20is20informatics.pdf

Informatics: “Informatics studies the representation, processing, and communication of information in natural and engineered systems. It has computational, cognitive and social aspects. The central notion is the transformation of information - whether by computation or communication, whether by organisms or artifacts.“

Indiana University, School of Informatics and Computing. Copied 2021-04-22 from https://soic.iupui.edu/what-is-informatics/

Informatics: “The term “informatics” broadly describes the study, design, and development of information technology for the good of people, organizations, and society.“

Source: The University of Washington. Copied 2021-04-22 from https://ischool.uw.edu/programs/informatics/what-is-informatics

Information: Information is contained in descriptions, answers to questions that begin with such words as who, what, where, when, and how many. Information systems generate, store, retrieve, and process data. In many cases their processing is statistical or arithmetical. In either case, information is inferred from data.

Source: Ackoff, R. L. (1989). From Data to Wisdom. Journal of Applied Systems Analysis, 16, 3-9.

Information: "Information is related to meaning or human intention. In computational systems information is the contents of databases, the web, etc. In human discourse systems information is the meaning of statements as they are intended by the speaker/writer and understood/misunderstood by the listener/reader."

Source: Dr. Hanne Albrechtsen, Institute of Knowledge Sharing, Copenhagen, Denmark. Definition 1 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “In archives, documents which provide direction to information of the mind which have been communicated, recorded, published and/or distributed formerly or informally in any format.”

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 117

Information: “(n.) 1. knowledge about facts or ideas gained through investigation, experience, or practice. 2. in information theory, a message that reduces uncertainty; that is, information tells us something we do not already know. The bit is the common unit of information in information theory.“

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/information

Information: “Information is (1) a 4 by a sender to represent one or more concepts within a communication process, intended to increase knowledge in recipients. (2) A message recorded in the text of a document.”

Source: Prof. Elsa Barber, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Definition 2 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is a set of significant signs that has the ability to create knowledge . . . The essence of the information phenomenon has been characterized as the occurrence of a communication process that takes place between the sender and the recipient of the message. Thus, the various concepts of information tend to concentrate on the origin and the end point of this communication process."

Source: Prof. Aldo de Albuquerque Barreto, Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology, Brazil. Definition 3 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is data that has been processed into a form that is meaningful to the recipient (Davis and Olson, 1985). (Davis, G.B., and Olson, M.H. (1985). Management information systems. New York: McGraw Hill).”

Source: Prof. Shifra Baruchson–Arbib, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. Definition 4 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “In fact, what we mean by information - the elementary unit of information - is a difference which makes a difference, and is able to make a difference because the neural pathways along which it travels and is continuously transformed are themselves provided with energy.”

Source: Steps to an Ecology of Mind. by Gregory Bateson, p. 459.

Information: “From a semiotic viewpoint, information, or more strictly any communication of information, can be seen to have four distinct aspects: empiric, dealing with technical and physical aspects; syntactic, dealing with grammar and language; semantic, dealing with meaning; and pragmatic, dealing with context, use and consequence (see, for example, Libenau and Backhouse [1]).”

Source: Bawden, David. The Shifting Terminologies of Information. Aslib Proceedings, Vol 53, Iss. 3, (Mar 2001): 93.

Information “Information is the change determined in the cognitive heritage of an individual. Information always develops inside of a cognitive system, or a knowing subject. Signs that constitute the words by which a document or a book has made are not information. Information starts when signs are in connection with an interpreter (Morris, C.W. (1938). Foundations of the theory of signs. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.)."

Source: Prof. Maria Teresa Biagetti, University of Rome 1, Italy. Definition 5 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information “My skepticism about a definitive analysis of information acknowledges the infamous versatility of information. The notion of information has been taken to characterize a measure of physical organization (or decrease in entropy), a pattern of communication between source and receiver, a form of control and feedback, the probability of a message being transmitted over a communication channel, the content of a cognitive state, the meaning of a linguistic form, or the reduction of an uncertainty. These concepts of information are defined in various theories such as physics, thermodynamics, communication theory, cybernetics, statistical information theory, psychology, inductive logic, and so on. There seems to be no unique idea of information upon which these various concepts converge and hence no proprietary theory of information.“

Source: Radu J. Bogdan. Grounds for cognition: How goal-guided behavior shapes the mind. Hillsdale, N.J. : L. Erlbaum Associates, 1994.

Information “Information is an entity which pervades all human activity.”

Source: Bertram C. Brookes, The foundations of information science. Part 1. Philosophical aspects Journal of Information Science 2(1980) 125-133. See page 126.

Information “Information is that which is conveyed, and possibly amenable to analysis and interpretation, through data and the context in which the data are assembled.”

Source: Dr. Quentin L. Burrell, Isle of Man International Business School, Isle of Man. Definition 7 on p. 481 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: (1) All conceivable observations that can be detected by human senses. (2) Data in context.

Proposed definition

Information: “Almost every scientific discipline uses the concept of information within its own context and with regard to specific phenomena.”

Source: Rafael Capurro and Birger Hjørland. "The concept of information." Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 37, issue 1, 2003, pps. 343-411

Information: “Information is data that has been processed into a form that is meaningful to the recipient.”

Source: Davis, G.B., and Olson, M.H. (1985). Management information systems. New York: McGraw Hill. Cited on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information Data “may be converted to information by analyzing, cross-referring, selecting, sorting, summarizing, or in some way organizing the data.”

Source: Prof. Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Mälardalen University, Västerås/ Eskilstuna, Sweden. Definition 12 on p. 482 in Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Information “Information is the sum of the data related to an entity.”

Source: Prof. Henri Dou, University of Aix-Marseille III, France. Definition 13 on p. 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Information: “Information is organized data (answering the following basic questions: What? Who? When? Where?).”

Source: Prof. Nicolae Dragulanescu, Polytechnics University of Bucharest, Romania. Cited on page 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is data that is communicated, has meaning, has an effect, has a goal.”

Source: Prof. Raya Fidel, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Definition 17 on p. 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Information: “The meaning of information is given by the processes that interpret it.”

Source: Edward Fredkin. “Informatics and Information Processing versus Mathematics and Physics.” Presentation at the Institute for Creative Technologies, Marina Del Ray, May 25, 2007.

Information: “Information is data organized according to an ontology that defines the relationships between some set of topics. Information can be communicated.”

Source: Dr. H.M. Gladney, HMG Consulting, McDonald, PA. Definition 19 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Informtion: “Information is an organism’s or an agent’s active or latent inferential frame that guides the selection of data for its own further development or construction.”

Source: Prof. Glynn Harmon, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Definition 20 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is data that has been categorized, counted, and thus given meaning, relevance, or purpose.”

Source: Dr. Donald Hawkins, Information Today, Medford, NJ. Definition 21 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is dynamic objects of cultural experience having the aspect of being belief-neutral and a dual nature of content and medium.”

Source: Mr. Ken Herold, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Definition 23 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is the aggregation of data to make coherent observations about the world.”

Source: Prof. William Hersh, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR. Definition 24 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Information: “data (3.1.1.15) that are processed, organized and correlated to produce meaning (3.1.8.03). [SOURCE:ISO 22320:2011, definition 3.9] (Note 1 to entry: Information concerns facts, concepts, objects, events, ideas, processes, etc. See also ISO 2382-16:1993, definition 16.01.03.)“

Source: ISO 5127:2017(en) Information and documentation. Copied 2022-01-03 from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:5127:ed-2:v1:en.

Information: “Collection of structured data. In its broad meaning it includes knowledge as well as simple meaningful data.“

Source: Nikola K. Kasabov, Foundations of Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems, and Knowledge Engineering. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England. A Bradford Book. The MIT Press Page 543

Information: “Information is a set of facts with processing capability added, such as context, relationships to other facts about the same or related objects, implying an increased usefulness. Information provides meaning to data.”

Source: Prof. Donald Kraft, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LO. Definition 26 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is knowledge recorded on a spatiotemporal support.”

Source: Prof. Yves François Le Coadic, National Technical University, Lyon, France. Definition 27 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is that which informs. In other words, it is the answer to a question of some kind. It is thus related to data and knowledge, as data represents values attributed to parameters, and knowledge signifies understanding of real things or abstract concepts. As it regards data, the information's existence is not necessarily coupled to an observer (it exists beyond an event horizon, for example), while in the case of knowledge, the information requires a cognitive observer. Information is conveyed either as the content of a message or through direct or indirect observation of anything. That which is perceived can be construed as a message in its own right, and in that sense, information is always conveyed as the content of a message. Information can be encoded into various forms for transmission and interpretation (for example, information may be encoded into a sequence of signs, or transmitted via a sequence of signals). It can also be encrypted for safe storage and communication.“

Source: Glossary of Library & Information Science. Librarianship Studies & Information. Technology.Copied 2021-08-23 from https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2015/04/glossary-of-library-information-science.html

Information: Data that has been given value through analysis, interpreta tion, or compilation in a meaningful form. See also data.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 28.

Information: “Perhaps we should emphasize, at this point, the fact that such a measure of information relates only to the signs themselves and does not relate to what they "mean." In his original work, Hartley defined information as the successive selection of signs, rejecting all meaning as a mere subjective factor. He was not concerned with the meaning or truth of messages; semantics does not enter into the theory at this stage.“

Source: Colin Cherry. On human communication: a review, a survey, and a criticism. [Cambridge] Technology Press of Massachusetts Institute of Technology [1957] Page 43.

Information:: Information is data that has been processed into a meaningful form. In this way, information is an assemblage of data in a comprehensible form capable of communication and use; the essence of it is that a meaning has been attached to the raw facts. The conceptual distinction between information and knowledge is therefore rather unclear, although the two terms tend to be used in somewhat different contexts. Increasingly, information is the word that is applied in the broad professional and technical context represented in such phrases as 'information technology' or 'information retrieval' or 'information management'. It is thus used in a general sense to encompass all the different ways of representing facts, events and concepts in both digital and analog systems, and in all media and formats.

Source: John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 244.

Information: “any operator, which changes the distribution of probabilities in a given set of events.”

Source: Andrey N. Kolmogorov, cited in What is Information?: Propagating Organization in the Biosphere, Symbolosphere, Technosphere and Econosphere, by Dr. Robert K. Logan. (2014) First edition published by DEMO Publishing, Toronto, Canada. See Chapter 2. Available online at: https://slab.ocadu.ca/publication/what-is-information-by-robert-k-logan.

Information: Information is data that is structured, adding meaning and context.

Source: Robert K Logan, The Sixth language : learning a living in the Internet age. (2000) Toronto ; New York : Stoddart ; Niagra Falls, N.Y. Page 169.

Information: Information is not an invariant like the speed of light, but depends on the frame of reference or context in which it is used.

Source: What is Information?: Propagating Organization in the Biosphere, Symbolosphere, Technosphere and Econosphere, by Dr. Robert K. Logan. (2014) First edition published by DEMO Publishing, Toronto, Canada. See Chapter 2. Available online at: https://slab.ocadu.ca/publication/what-is-information-by-robert-k-logan.

Information: “Information is a relationship between an inner arrangement (i.e., a priori set structure (Sˇmajs and Krob, 2003), implicate order [FOOTNOTE 3: The concepts of implicate and explicate orders are explained in Bohm (1980).] of a system and its present embodiment in reality (explicate order) including mediating memory processes (i.e., historically dependent processes) releasing the meaning.”

Source: Mr. Michal Lorenz, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Definition 29 on pages 484-5 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “The original meaning of the word “information” in several modern languages comes from Latin, where informare means “to put into form”; thus, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the verb “to inform” means “to form (the mind, character, etc.) esp. by imparting learning or instruction”; but more frequently, “to impart knowledge of some particular fact or occurrence to;¹ to tell (one) of something.” The noun “information” has essentially two traditional meanings: (1) “the action of informing; the action of telling or [the] fact of being told of something,” and (2) “That of which one is apprised or told; intelligence, news.” Any meanings other than (1) the telling of something or (2) that which is being told are either analogies and metaphors or concoctions resulting from the condoned appropriation of a word for something that had not been meant by earlier users..”

(Footnote 1: “ Lest the slightly archaic word “to impart” is misunderstood, its definition is “to give a part or share of; to bestow, communicate as knowledge or information; to make known, tell, relate . . . .” Hence, it always refers to an activity, not just an opportunity of being observed. Learning about something by looking should not be confused with learning by being told.“

Source: Fritz Machlup and Una Mansfield, The Study of information : interdisciplinary messages; New York : Wiley, c1983. Page 642.

Information: “Information is recorded and organized data that can be communicated (Porat, M.V., and Rubin, M. (1977). The information economy: Definition and measurement (OT Special publication, Vol. 1, pp. 77–120). Washington DC: Office of Telecommunications, U.S. Department of Commerce.) However, it is advisable to distinguish between the various states or conditions of information (e.g. information-as an object [(Buckland, M. (1991b). Information as thing. Journal of the American Society of Information Science, 42(5), 351–360.)], or semantic, syntactic and paradigmatic states [(Menou, M.J. (1995). The impact of information (Part 2): Concepts of information and its value. Information Processing and Management, 31(4), 479–490).”

Source: Prof. Michel J. Menou, Knowledge and ICT management consultant, France. Definition 30 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is the patterning of matter-energy in systems.”

Source: James Grier Miller. Living systems. New York : McGraw-Hill, c1978. Quoted in Fritz Machlup and Una Mansfield, editors. The Studyof information : interdisciplinary messages; New York : Wiley, c1983. Page 655.

Information: “Information is facts, figures, and other forms of meaningful representations that when encountered by or presented to a human being are used to enhance his/her understanding of a subject or related topics.”

Source: Prof. Haidar Moukdad, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Definition 31 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58,479-493.

Information: “Information is data which is collected together with commentary, context and analysis so as to be meaningful to others.”

Source: Prof. Charles Oppenheim, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK. Definition 32 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Information: “Information can be viewed as that which carries ideas, or as selected and manipulated data..”

Source: Miranda Lee Pao, (1989) Concepts of InformationRetreival, Englewood, Colorado. Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Page 10.

Information: “Information is a phenomenon generated from knowledge and integrated therein, analyzed and interpreted to achieve the transfer process of message (i.e., meaningful content) and the cognitive transformations of people and communities, in a historical, cultural and social context.”

Source: Prof. Lena Vania Pinheiro, Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology, Brazil. Definition 33 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is the intentional composition of data by a sender with the goal of modifying the knowledge state of an interpreter or receiver.”

Source: Prof. Maria Pinto, University of Granada, Spain. Definition 34 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Data, information, knowledge, message. I am unable to understand why data, information, knowledge and message are placed on the same level of analysis. I would suggest considering message as the “vehicle” carrying either data or information (which can be taken as synonymous).“

Source: Prof. Roberto Poli, University of Trento, Italy. Definition 35 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is the meaning that a human assigns to data by means of the known conventions used in its representation. Information is related to meaning and humans (Holmes, N. (2001). The great term robbery. Computer, 34(5), 94–96.)”

Source: Prof. Ronald Rousseau, KHBO, and University of Antwerp. Definition 36 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is an organized collection of disparate datum.”

Source: Mr. Scott Seaman, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. Definition 37 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is the process of becoming informed; it is dependent on knowledge, which is processed data. Knowledge perceived, becomes information.”

Source: Prof. Richard Smiraglia, Long Island University, Brookville, NY. Definition 38 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: "Knowledge concerning some particular fact, subject or event in any communicable form; for the purpose of documentation it has three basic criteria: existence, availability and semantic content."

Source: H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 16.

Information: “Information is facts and ideas communicated (or made available for communication).”

Source: Prof. Paul Sturges, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK. Definition 39 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Sometimes a distinction is made between the mechanistic representation of the symbols, which is called ’data,’ and the meaning attributed to the symbols, which is called ‘information’.

Source: Teichroew, 1978, p. 658.” Footnote 11 on page 648 of The Study of Information, Interdisciplinary Messages, p. 647. Teichroew, D., “Information Systems,” in Encyclopedia of Computer Science (New York: Petrocelli/ Charter, 1978), pp. 657-660.

Information: “Information is meaningful data. Or data arranged or interpreted in a way to provide meaning.”

Source: Prof. Carol Tenopir, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. Definition 40 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is data or knowledge processed into relations (between data and recipient).”

Source: Joanne Twining, Intertwining.org, a virtual information consultancy, USA. Definition 41 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is data organized to produce meaning.”

Source: Prof. Anna da Soledade Vieira, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Definition 42 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “The physicist and philosopher Carl-Friedrich von Weizsacker conceives of information as a twofoldcategory: (1)information is only that which is understood; (2) information is only that which generatesinformation (Weizsacker, 1974” - [Weizsacker, C. F. von (1974).Die Einheit der Natur [The unity of nature].Munich, Germany: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.“

Source: The Concept of Information, Rafael Capurro P. 362.

Information: “. 1. A message used by a sender to represent one or more concepts within a communication process, intended to increase knowledge in recipients. 2. A message recorded in the text of a document. What constitutes an informative message and successful information within a communication process is subjective. Preferably, the term document, message, or text should be used when referring to an informative entity in order to avoid ambiguity.

See also recorded information

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 37.

Information: “Information is a set of significant signs that has the ability to create knowledge . . . The essence of the information phenomenon has been characterized as the occurrence of a communication process that takes place between the sender and the recipient of the message. Thus, the various concepts of information tend to concentrate on the origin and the end point of this communication process."

Source: Wersig, G., Neveling U. Terminology of documentation : a selection of 1200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. Paris : The Unesco Press; 1976. Page 72.

Definition on page 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493]

Information: “Information is a set of symbols that represent knowledge. Information is what context creates/gives to data. It is cognitive. Normally it is understood as a new and additional element in collecting data and information for planned action.”

Source: Prof. Irene Wormell, Swedish School of Library and Information Science in Boräs, Sweden. Definition 43 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is anything communicated among living things. It is one of the three mainstays supporting the survival and evolution of life, along with energy and materials.”

Source: Prof. Yishan Wu, Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC), Beijing, China. Definition 44 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “…information is data of value in decision-making and leads to the establishment of quantitative relationships between information and the value of a decision state.”

Source: M. C. Yovits, and Judith G. Abilock, (1974). A Semiotic Framework for Information Science Leading to the Development of a Quantitative Measure of Information. Page 2.

Information: “The word “information” is used to refer to a number of different phenomena. These phenomena have been classified into three groupings: (1) Anything perceived as potentially signifying something (e.g. printed books); (2) The process of informing; and (3) That which is learned from some evidence or communication. All three are valid uses (in English) of the term “information.” I personally am most comfortable with no. 1, then with no. 3, but acknowledge that others have used and may use no 2.”</p>

Source: Definition 6 on pp. 480-1 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “The verb ‘inform’ normally is used in the sense to communicate (i.e., to report, relate, or tell) and comes from the Latin verb informare, which meant to shape (form) an idea. Data is persistent while information is transient, depending on context and the interpretation of the recipient. Information is data received through a communication process that proves of value in making decisions.”

Source: Cited on page 481 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information represents a state of awareness (consciousness) and the physical manifestations they form. Information, as a phenomena, represents both a process and a product; a cognitive/affective state, and the physical counterpart (product of) the cognitive/affective state. The counterpart could range from a scratch of a surface, movement (placement)of a rock; a gesture(movement) speech(sound), written document, etc. (requirement). Information answers questions of what, where, when and who and permutations thereof.“

Source: Cited on page 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Collocations of data (information in the narrow sense — see above) that thereby become meaningful to human beings—e.g., as otherwise opaque units of binary code are collected and processed into numbers, artificial and natural languages, graphic objects that convey significance and meaning, etc. Such collocations of data can be made meaningful by human beings (as sense-making beings) especially as such data collocations/information connect with, illuminate, and are illuminated by still larger cognitive frameworks—most broadly, worldviews that further incorporate knowledge and wisdom (see below). On this definition, information can include but is not restricted to data. On the contrary, especially as Borgmann (1999) argues, there are other forms of information (natural, cultural) that are not fully reducible to data as can be transmitted, processed, and/or produced by computers and affiliated technologies.”

Source: Cited on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is resources useful or relevant or functional for information seekers.”

Source: Cited on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information: “Information is a multi-layered concept with Latin roots (‘informatio’ = to give a form) that go back to Greek ontology and epistemology (Plato’s concept of ‘idea’ and Aristotle’s concepts of ‘morphe’ but also to such concepts as ‘typos’ and ‘prolepsis’) (See Capurro, 1978; Capurro and Hjøerland, 2003). The use of this concept in information science is at the first sight highly controversial but it basically refers to the everyday meaning (since Modernity): “the act of communicating knowledge” (OED). I would suggest to use this definition as far as it points to the phenomenon of message that I consider the basic one in information science.“

Source: Page 481 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Information Architecture: “Abstract patterns of informaiton content or organization are sometimes called architectures, so it is straight-forward from the perspective of the discipline of organizing to define the activity of Information Architecture as designing an abstract and effective organization of information and then exposing that organization to facilitate navigation and information use.“

Source: The Discipline of Organizing. Robert J. Glushko, Editor. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 495.

Information Architecture:The structure and interrelationship of information, especially with an eye toward using business rules, observed user behaviors, and effective interface design to facilitate access to the information. Note: Information architecture is frequently used in the context of websites. It covers how the underlying information is organized and how users gain access to that information. Source: A Glossary ofArchival and Records Terminology. [36]

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 28.

Information Architecture: “(n) 1. The structural design of shared information environments. 2. The combination of organization, labeling, search, and navigation systems within web sites and intranets. 3. The art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support useability and findability. 4. an emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.“

Source: Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld. Information architecture for the World Wide Web. 3rd ed. Sebastopol, CA : O'Reilly, c2007. Page 4.

Information Behavior: “Information Behavior is the totality of human behavior in relation to sources and channels of information, including both active and passive information seeking, and information use. Thus, it includes faceto-face communication with others, as well as the passive reception of information as in, for example, watching TV advertisements, without any intention to act on the information given. “

Source: T.D. Wilson, (2000). Human Information Behavior. Informing Science, 3(2), 49-55.

Information Ecology: The term “information ecology” is used in many areas of research that include studies of animal behavior and human psychology (Dall et al. 2005, Fiedler et al. 2007), comparative studies of human ecosystems and natural ecosystems (Erymonin 1998 Stepp, J. R. 1999. Prospectus for information ecology. Georgia Journal of Ecological Anthropology 3:38-54.)

Source 'An Information Ecology Approach to Science–Policy Integration in Adaptive Management of Social-Ecological Systems' by Brian G. Eddy, Brian Hearn, Joan E. Luther, Michael van Zyll de Jong, Wade Bowers, Reg Parsons, Douglas Piercey, Guy Strickland, and Barry Wheeler. Ecology and Society, vol. 19, no. 3, 2014. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26269643. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.

Information Ecology: Information ecology involves the study of information both within and between human and natural systems in this context. It deals with all aspects of information production, flow, and use, as well as both quantitative and qualitative aspects, and therefore provides a basis for examining the role of different types of information for a variety of purposes.

Source: An information ecology approach to science–policy integration in adaptive management of social-ecological systems by Brian G. Eddy, Brian Hearn, Joan E. Luther, Michael van Zyll de Jong, Wade Bowers, Reg Parsons, Douglas Piercey, Guy Strickland, and Barry Wheeler. Ecology and Society 19(3): 40.

Information Ecology: The term “information ecology” is used in many areas of research that include studies of animal behavior and human psychology (Dall et al. 2005, Fiedler et al. 2007), comparative studies of human ecosystems and natural ecosystems (Erymonin 1998, Stepp et al. 2003), and within the human realm of information systems development, business processes, organizational theory, politics, and culture (Davenport 1997, Rasmussen 1999, Nardi and O’Day 2000, Malhotra 2002, Bekkers and Homburg 2005). Although there is not yet a core body of knowledge or theory associated with the field, it is reasonable to categorize two general areas where the term is applied: (1) information environments within human organizations and (2) information environments that involve the interaction between human and natural systems.

Source: An information ecology approach to science–policy integration in adaptive management of social-ecological systems, by Brian G. Eddy, Brian Hearn, Joan E. Luther, Michael van Zyll de Jong, Wade Bowers, Reg Parsons, Douglas Piercey, Guy Strickland, and Barry Wheeler. Ecology and Society 19(3): 40. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-06752-190340. See page 2 under INFORMATION ECOLOGY, Overview

Information Ecology: We define an information ecology to be a system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment. In information ecologies, the spotlight is not on technology, but on human activities that are served by technology.

A library is an information ecology. It is a place with books, magazines, tapes, films, and librarians who can help you find and use them. A library may have computers, as well as story time for two-year-olds and after-school study halls for teens. In a library, access to information for all clients of the library is a core value. This value shapes the policies around which the library is organized, including those relating to technology. A library is a place where people and technology come together in congenial relations, guided by the values of the library.

Source: Information ecologies : using technology with heart by Bonnie A. Nardi and Vicki L. O'Day. ; Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c1999.

Information Ecology: “By information ecology we refer to the following points. (1) From the viewpoint of subject-object interaction, information alone is not a complete information process. (2) Any completed information process should consist of not only information but also its products, knowledge (the higher product) and intelligence (the highest product). (3) Such information process is also named an information system. (4) Different areas have different information systems. (5) All the information systems together with their environment constitute the information ecosystem. (6) Information ecology as a methodology is to emphasize the study of the interrelations among all information systems and their environment.

Source: Information Ecology by Yixin Zhong. June 2017

Information Ecology: Information ecology is a science which studies the laws governing the influence of information summary on the formation and functioning of bio-systems, including that of individuals, human communities and humanity in general and on the health and psychological, physical and social well-being of the human being; and which undertakes to develop methodologies to improve the information environment.

Source: Information ecology – a viewpoint by Eryomin, A. L. 1998. International Journal of Environmental Studies 54:241-253. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207239808711157. Page 241.

Information Ecology: Information ecology includes a much richer set of tools than that employed to date by information engineers and architects. Information ecologists can mobilize not only architectural designs and IT but also information strategy, politics, behaviour, support staff, and work processes to produce better information environments. … They rely on the disciplines of biology, sociology, psychology, economics, political science, and business strategy – to frame their approach to information use.

Source: Information ecology: mastering the information and knowledge environment. Davenport, T. H. 1997. Oxford University Press, New York, New York, USA. Page 28.

Information Ecology: ...information ecology is the study of the relationship of environmental information (at least physical, biological, social, and cultural environments) to all that comprises collective and individual processes of knowing and decision making (ideology, values, expectations, beliefs, symbolism).

Source: Prospectus for information ecology by John R. Stepp. Georgia Journal of Ecological Anthropology 3:38-54.

Information Ecology: The information ecology is the informational environment from which organizations and individuals acquire their information. The information ecology varies per individual as they interact with different people, have their own preferred sources, and these sources use various methods to customize what information is presented. Everyone uses information ecology to make sense of the world; this is also known as sensemaking. Finally, decision-making is used to attain their personal and organizational goals. Individuals, businesses, governments, universities, and other organizations participate in these complex, chaotic social systems. When the information ecology delivers information that is representative of reality, it is in good condition. If this is no longer the case, it is called damaged.

Source: Sensemaking in conflict: The information ecology as a casualty of war. Yuri Idris, Copied 2023-01-16 from https://jasoninstitute.com/sensemaking-in-conflict-the-information-ecology-as-a-casualty-of-war/.

Information Ecology: “Information ecology is a science which studies the laws governing the influence of information summary on the formation and functioning of bio‐systems, including that of individuals, human communities and humanity in general and on the health and psychological, physical and social well‐being of the human being; and which undertakes to develop methodologies to improve the information environment.“

Source: The IT Law Wiki, at https://itlaw.fandom.com/wiki/Information_ecology.

Information Environment: …environments characterized by the information they contain.

…we examine three types of environments that affect and are affected by organizational communications. In aggregate, these three environments are the overwhelming determinates of the frequency and content of organizational communications… (1) The organization's external environment… (2) The organization's internal information environment… and (3) The organizational members' personal information environments.

Source 'Information Environment' by George P. Huber and Richard L. Daft. Section 1 (pages 10 to 65) in A Study of Organizational Information Search, Acquisition, Storage and Retrieval by George P. Huber. U. S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (1986).

Information Environment: The aggregate of individuals, organizations, and systems that collect, process, disseminate, or act on information. Source(s): CNSSI 4009-2015 from JP 3-13

Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Information Technology Laboratory, Security Resource Center, Glossary, accessed 2022-09-25 at https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/information_environment#:~:text=information%20environment%20Definition%20%28s%29%3A%20The%20aggregate%20of%20individuals%2C,that%20collect%2C%20process%2C%20disseminate%2C%20or%20act%20on%20information.

Information Environment: …the study of the relationship of environmental information (at least physical, biological, social and cultural environments) to all that comprises collective and individual processes of knowing and decision making (ideology, values, expectations, beliefs, symbolism).

Source: 'Prospectus for information ecology' by J. R. Stepp (1999). Georgia Journal of Ecological Anthropology 3:38-54.)

Information Environment: The information environment is a term used frequently to describe the infodemic but with no clear or agreed definition. There are a number of characteristics within the concept, however, that are critical to an understanding of the current crisis. Firstly, information is transferred through communication, which can be understood through answering five questions: Who? Says what? In which channel? To whom? With what effect? (Lasswell 1948). Certainly, the final question is very difficult to measure (as we discuss below) and, as a result, sweeping generalisations are too often made about the impact of different messages. In order to capture these five questions, Neil Postman (1970) used the metaphor of a media ecology, focusing on understanding the relationship between people and their communications technologies through the study of media structures, content, and impact. More recently, Luciano Floridi (2010) attempted to emphasise the ways in which the information environment constitutes ‘all informational processes, services, and entities, thus including informational agents as well as their properties, interactions, and mutual relations’ (p. 9, emphasis in original).

Source 'The Information Environment and Its Influence on Misinformation Effects' by Claire Wardle and AbdelHalim AbdAllah. May 10, 2023. Chapter 3 in Managing Infodemics in the 21st Century: Addressing New Public Health Challenges in the Information Ecosystem [Internet] edited by Tina D. Purnat, Tim Nguyen, and Sylvie Briand. Cham (CH): Springer; 2023. Chapter 4. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK609027/ doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-27789-4_4

Information Environment: The Department of Defense (DOD) defines the information environment as the aggregate of individuals, organizations, and systems that collect, process, disseminate, or act on information — consisting of physical, informational, and cognitive dimensions…

Source: U. S. Government Accountability Office. Highlights of GAO-22-104714, a report to congressional addressees - Information Environment : Opportunities and Threats to DOD’s National Security Mission. Accessed 2025-09-20 at: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104714.pdf.

Information Environment: (Is) …constituted by all informational processes, services, and entities, thus including informational agents as well as their properties, interactions, and mutual relations" (p. 9). Notably, the term agent encompasses individuals as well as organisations. Individuals can process and interact with the information they are exposed to through social transmission or media. They can also shape and contribute to their information environment by generating or sharing information content themselves. They can act alone or as a group, coordinated or uncoordinated. Organisations, on the other hand, include news outlets and other institutions, which compose and disseminate information, as well as digital platforms and social networks in particular, which facilitate the exchange of information among individuals as well as between individuals and organisations.

The information environment is dynamic, changing with technological innovation as well as social and political circumstances (Floridi, 2010). To review the effects of the information environment on individuals and groups means to review the evidence regarding how this environment influences individual and collective behaviour as well as how individuals and groups interact with it and with each other while embedded in it (Steinberg, 1999; Habermas, 2015)…

Cited Source: Luciano Floridi (2010). Information: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Cited Source: Steinberg, Marc W (1999). 'The talk and back talk of collective action: A dialogic analysis of repertoires of discourse among nineteenth-century English cotton spinners' by Marc W Steinberg. In: American Journal of Sociology 105.3, pp. 736–780..

Cited Source: The Theory of Communicative Action: Lifeworld and Systems, a Critique of Functionalist Reason. Volume 2. Jürgen Habermas (2015) John Wiley & Sons.

Source: 'The Information Environment and its Effects on Individuals and Groups : An Interdisciplinary Literature Review' by Paul Röttger and Balazs Vedres (2020). Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.

Information Resource: “Any entity, electronic or otherwise, capable of conveying or supporting intelligence or knowledge; e.g. a book, a letter, a picture, a sculpture, a database, a person. See also DLO“ (Document-Like Object.)

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo

Information Retrieval: “Information Retrieval refers to the process, methods, and procedures of searching, locating, and retrieving recorded data and information from a file or database. In libraries and archives modern information retrieval is done by searching full-text databases, locating items from bibliographic databases, and document supply via a network. Information retrieval (IR) is the activity of obtaining information system resources that are relevant to an information need from a collection of those resources. Searches can be based on full-text or other content-based indexing. Information retrieval is the science of searching for information in a document, searching for documents themselves, and also searching for the metadata that describes data, and for databases of texts, images or sounds. Information retrieval, Recovery of information, especially in a database stored in a computer. Two main approaches are matching words in the query against the database index (keyword searching) and traversing the database using hypertext or hypermedia links. Keyword searching has been the dominant approach to text retrieval since the early 1960s; hypertext has so far been confined largely to personal or corporate information-retrieval applications. Evolving information-retrieval techniques, exemplified by developments with modern Internet search engines, combine natural language, hyperlinks, and keyword searching. Other techniques that seek higher levels of retrieval precision are studied by researchers involved with artificial intelligence.“

Source: Glossary of Library & Information Science. Librarianship Studies & Information. Technology.Copied 2021-08-23 from https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2015/04/glossary-of-library-information-science.html

Information Retrieval: “The process of searching, locating, and retrieving data from a file. Synonymous with data retrieval.“

Source: Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 118

Information Retrieval: “The recovery of specific information from a collection. It includes all the procedures used to identify, search for, find and remove the specific information sought, but excludes the creation and use of that information. The term has now come to be used generically to include the retrieval of references, documents, facts and data as well as information.“

Source: H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 16.

Information Retrieval: “The action of or methods and procedures for recovering specific information from a collection of stored data.“

H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 16.

Information Science: “field of study of functions, structure, and transmission of information (3.1.1.16) and the management of information systems (3.1.8.25)“

ISO. Copied 2021-06-05 from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:5127:ed-2:v1:en.

Information Science: “Information science is an interdisciplinary field primarily concerned with the analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of information. Practitioners within and outside of the field study application and usage of knowledge in organizations along with the interaction between people, organizations, and any existing information systems with the aim of creating, replacing, improving, or understanding information systems. Information science is often (mistakenly) considered a branch of computer science; however, it predates computer science and is a broad, interdisciplinary field, incorporating not only aspects of computer science, but often diverse fields such as archival science, cognitive science, commerce, communications, law, library science, museology, management, mathematics, philosophy, public policy, social sciences, as well as all the fields of study because information exists in all the fields whether it has to do with technology or not. That is why different roles (IT Admin, C.S. engineer, etc.) in Information technology and Computer Science major exist to assist information for all the fields of study. Information science should not be confused with information theory or library science. Information theory is the study of the types of communications we use, such as verbal, signal transmission, encoding, and others. Information science as an academic discipline is often taught in combination with Library science as Library and Information Science. Library science as such is a field related to the dissemination of information through libraries making use of the principles of information science. Information science deals with all the processes and techniques pertaining to the information life cycle, including capture, generation, packaging, dissemination, transformation, refining, repackaging, usage, storage, communication, protection, presentation etc. in any possible manner.“

Glossary of Library & Information Science. Librarianship Studies & Information. Technology.Copied 2021-08-23 from https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2015/04/glossary-of-library-information-science.html

Information Science: “The study of the generating, acquiring, processing, storing, retrieving, disseminating and use of information; it includes the study of the properties, structure and transmission of information and the development of methods for the useful organization of data.“

H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 16.

Information Science: “The study of the properties, structure and transmission of information, and the development of methods for the useful organization of data and dissemination of information.“

Terminology of documentation : a selection of 1200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. WersigG, Neveling U. Paris : The Unesco Press, 1976. Page 54.

Information-Searching Behavior: ”Information Searching Behavior is the ‘micro-level’ of behavior employed by the searcher in interacting with information systems of all kinds. It consists of all the interactions with the system, whether at the level of human computer interaction (for example, use of the mouse and clicks on links) or at the intellectual level (for example, adopting a Boolean search strategy or determining the criteria for deciding which of two books selected from adjacent places on a library shelf is most useful), which will also involve mental acts, such as judging the relevance of data or information retrieved.”

T.D. Wilson, (2000). Human Information Behavior. Informing Science, 3(2), 49-55.

Information-Seeking Behavior: "The behavior of an individual to get some information fulfilling his subjective ‘information needs.”

Terminology of documentation : a selection of 1200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. WersigG, Neveling U. Paris : The Unesco Press, 1976. Page 17.

Information-Seeking Behavior: “Information Seeking Behavior is the purposive seeking for information as a consequence of a need to satisfy some goal. In the course of seeking, the individual may interact with manual information systems (such as a newspaper or a library), or with computer-based systems (such as the World Wide Web).“

T.D. Wilson, (2000). Human Information Behavior. Informing Science, 3(2), 49-55.

Information Use Behavior: “Information Use Behavior consists of the physical and mental acts involved in incorporating the information found into the person's existing knowledge base. It may involve, therefore, physical acts such as marking sections in a text to note their importance or significance, as well as mental acts that involve, for example, comparison of new information with existing knowledge.

T.D. Wilson, (2000). Human Information Behavior. Informing Science, 3(2), 49-55.

Infosphere: Infosphere is a neologism I coined years ago on the basis of “biosphere”, a term referring to that limited region on our planet that supports life. It denotes the whole informational environment constituted by all informational entities (thus including informational agents as well), their properties, interactions, processes and mutual relations. It is an environment comparable to, but different from cyberspace (which is only one of its sub-regions, as it were), since it also includes off-line and analogue spaces of information. We shall see that it is also an environment (and hence a concept) that is rapidly evolving.

Source ‘A look into the future impact of ICT on our lives’ by Luciano Floridi. The Information Society, Volume 23, Issue 1, Pages 59–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972240601059094

Inner Speech: Inner speech is not the interior aspect of external speech – it is a function in itself. It still remains speech, i.e., thought connected with words. But while in external speech thought is embodied in words, in inner speech words die as they bring forth thought. Inner speech is to a large extent thinking in pure meanings. It is a dynamic, shifting, unstable thing, fluttering between word and thought, the two more or less stable, more or less firmly delineated components of verbal thought. Its true nature and place can be understood only after examining the next plane of verbal thought, the one still more inward than inner speech.

Thought and Language, by Lev Vygotsky; edited and translated by Eugenia Hanfmann and Gertrude Vakar; Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing, 2012. See page 149.

Interoperability: “Open programming standards such as the Application Programming Interface (API), object-oriented programming, and Web Services ensure that interoperability is built directly into the core of modern applications."

Content management bible. Bob Boiko. Indianapolis, IN : Wiley Pub., 2005. Page 32.

Interoperability: “The ability of different types of computers, networks, operating systems, and applications to work together effectively, without prior communication, in order to exchange information in a useful and meaningful manner. There are three aspects of interoperability: semantic, structural and syntactical.“

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/

Interoperability: “1. The ability to act together coherently, effectively, and efficiently to achieve tactical, operational, and strategic objectives. (JP 3-0) 2. The condition achieved among communications-electronics systems or items of communicationselectronics equipment when information or services can be exchanged directly and satisfactorily between them and/or their users. (JP 6-0)“

DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. Copied 2020-04-05 from https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/dictionary.pdf?ver=2018-05-02-174746-340

Interoperability: The ability of different systems to use and exchange information through a shared format.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 29.

Interoperability: "Interoperability goes beyond integration to mean that systems, applicatins, or services that exchange information can make sense of what they receive. Interoperability can involve indentifying corresponding components and relatinships in each system, transforming them syntactically to the same format, structurally to the same granularity, and semantically to the same meaning."

The Discipline of Organizing. Robert J. Glushko, Editor. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 496.

Interoperability: "Interoperability is the ability of information systems to exchange metadata and interact in a useful way over communication networks such as the Internet. This is what allows the computers at Amazon.com to talk to your bank or credit card company and receive payment for the book you ordered."

Building Enterprise Taxonomies. Darin L. Stewart. 2nd Edition. Mokita Press, 2011. Page 233.

Interoperability: "The ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and use the exchanged information without special effort on the part of either system."

Building Enterprise Taxonomies. Darin L. Stewart. 2nd Edition. Mokita Press, 2011. Page 210.

Interoperability: “The ability of systems, units, or forces to provide data, information, materiel, and services to, and accept the same from, other systems, units, or forces, and to use the data, information, materiel, and services exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together. IT interoperability includes both the technical exchange of information and the end-to-end operational effectiveness of that exchange of information as required for mission accomplishment. Interoperability is more than just information exchange. It includes systems, processes, procedures, organizations, and missions over the life cycle and must be balanced with cybersecurity.“

Interoperability of Information Technology (IT), Including National SecuritySystems (NSS). Department of Defense INSTRUCTION NUMBER 8330.01, May 21, 2014. Copied 2020-04-05 from https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/833001p.pdf?ver=2017-12-18-131925-793

Keyword: 1. A word occurring in the natural language text of a document or its surrogate that is considered significant for indexing and information retrieval. 2. Any word not on a stop list, occurring in a verbal segment of a document or in a title, abstract orsubject heading assigned to it. Keywords are used as access terms in keyword indexes such as KWAC, KWIC, and KWOC indexes.

See also free-text term; uncontrolled vocabular

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 39.

Knowledge: Knowledge is know-how, for example, how a system works. It is what makes possible the transformation of information into instructions. It makes control of a system possible. To control a system is to make it work efficiently. To increase efficiency is either to increase the probability of producing a desired outcome with fixed resources or to decrease the amount of resources required to produce it with a specified probability. All control systems have knowledge systems embedded in them.

Ackoff, R. L. (1989). From Data to Wisdom. Journal of Applied Systems Analysis, 16, 3-9.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is embodied in humans as the capacity to understand, explain and negotiate concepts, actions and intentions.”

Dr. Hanne Albrechtsen, Institute of Knowledge Sharing, Copenhagen, Denmark. Definition 1 on page 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is knowing, familiarity gained by experience; person’s range of information; a theoretical or practical understanding of; the sum of what is known.”

Prof. Elsa Barber, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Definition 2 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493..

Knowledge: “Knowledge is information that has been appropriate by the user. When information is adequately assimilated, it produces knowledge, modifies the individual’s mental store of information and benefits his development and that of the society in which he lives. Thus, as the mediating agent in the production of knowledge, the information, qualifies itself, in form and substance, as significant structures able to generate knowledge for the individual and his group.”

Prof. Aldo de Albuquerque Barreto, Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology, Brazil. Definition 3 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “(n.) 1. the state of being familiar with something or aware of its existence, usually resulting from experience or study. 2. the range of one’s understanding or information. In some contexts the words knowledge and memory are used synonymously.“

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/knowledge

Knowledge: “Knowledge is what has understood and evaluated by the knower.”

Prof. Shifra Baruchson–Arbib, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. Definition 4 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is structured and organized information that has developed inside of a cognitive system or is part of the cognitive heritage of an individual (based on Peirce, C.S. (1958). Writings of Charles S. Peirce. A chronological edition. A.W. Burke (Ed.) (Vol. VII–VIII). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.; Hartshorne & Weiss, 1931).“

Prof. Maria Teresa Biagetti, University of Rome 1, Italy. Definition 5 on p. 480 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “The word “knowledge” is best used to refer to what someone knows, which is, in effect, what they believe, including belief that some of the beliefs of others should not be believed. By extension the word “knowledge” is used more loosely for (1) what social groups know collectively; and (2) what is in principle knowable because it has been recorded somehow and could be recovered even though, at any given time, no individual knows (or remembers) it.”

Prof. Michael Buckland, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Definition 6 on page 481 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge “Knowledge is the general understanding and awareness garnered from accumulated information, tempered by experience, enabling new contexts to be envisaged.”

Dr. Quentin L. Burrell, Isle of Man International Business School, Isle of Man. Definition 7 on p. 481 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is that which is known, and it exists in the mind of the knower in electrical pulses. Alternatively, it can be disembodied into symbolic representations of that knowledge (at this point becoming a particular kind of information, not knowledge). Strictly speaking, represented knowledge is information. Knowledge — that which is known — is by definition subjective, even when aggregated to the level of social, or public, knowledge — which is the sum, in a sense, of individual “knowings.” Data and information can be studied as perceived by and “embodied” (known) by the person or as found in the world outside the person...”

Prof. Thomas A. Childers, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. Definition 9 on p. 481 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge involves both data and the relationships among data elements or their sets. This organization of data based on relationships is what enables one to draw generalizations from the data so organized, and to formulate questions about which one wishes to acquire more data. That is, knowledge begets the quest for knowledge, and it arises from verified or validated ideas (Sowell, 1996).”

Prof.Charles H. Davis, Indiana University. Definition 10 on page 482 in Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge consists of an organized body of information, such information patterns forming the basis of the kinds of insights and judgments which we call wisdom. The above conceptualization may be made concrete by a physical analogy (Stonier, 1993): consider spinning fleece into yarn, and then weaving yarn into cloth. The fleece can be considered analogous to data, the yarn to information and the cloth to knowledge. Cutting and sewing the cloth into a useful garment is analogous to creating insight and judgment (wisdom). This analogy emphasizes two important points: (1) going from fleece to garment involves, at each step, an input of work, and (2) at each step, this input of work leads to an increase in organization, thereby producing a hierarchy of organization.”

Prof. Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Mälardalen University, Västerås/Eskilstuna, Sweden. Definition 12 on p. 482 in Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is understood information (answering following basic questions: why?, how?, for which purpose?).”

Prof. Nicolae Dragulanescu, Polytechnics University of Bucharest, Romania. Definition 14 on page 482 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493. [Cites Debons, A., Horne, E., and Cronenweth, S. (1988). Information science: An integrated view. New York: G.K. Hall.]

Knowledge “Knowledge is a personal/cognitive framework that makes it possible for humans to use information.”

Prof. Raya Fidel, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Definition 17 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge “Knowledge is a set of conceptual structures held in human brains and only imperfectly represented by information that can be communicated. Knowledge cannot be communicated by speech or any form of writing, but can only be hinted at.”

Dr. H.M. Gladney, HMG Consulting, McDonald, PA. Definition 19 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Knowledge: “Knowledge is one or more sets of relatively stable information. A Message is one or more inferred data sets gleaned from external or internal energetic reactions.”

Prof. Glynn Harmon, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Definition 20 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is information that has been given meaning and taken to a higher level. Knowledge emerges from analysis, reflection upon, and synthesis of information. It is used to make a difference in an enterprise, learn a lesson, or solve a problem.”

Dr. Donald Hawkins, Information Today, Medford, NJ. Definition 21 on page 483 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is dynamic objects of cultural experience having the aspect of being action-neutral and a dual nature of abstracting to and from the world.”

Mr. Ken Herold, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Definition 23 on p. 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is the rules and organizing principles gleaned from data to aggregate it into information.”

Prof. William Hersh, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR. Definition 24 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493

Knowledge: “maintained, processed, and interpreted information (3.1.1.16)“

ISO. Copied 2022-01-03 fromhttps://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:5127:ed-2:v1:en.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is information with more context and understanding, perhaps with the addition of rules to extend definitions and allow inference.”

Prof. Donald Kraft, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. Definition 26 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is the result of forming in mind an idea of something.”

Prof. Yves François Le Coadic, National Technical University, Lyon, France. Definition 27 on p. 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is the appropriation of information in the process of learning, acting, interpreting. Knowledge is in the head of people, yet knowledge can be shared. Knowledge refers to the way information is used during the intellectual process.”

Dr. Jo Link-Pezet, Urfist, and University of Social Sciences, France. Definition 28 on page 484 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: Knowledge is the ability to use information strategically to achieve one's objectives.

Robert K Logan, The Sixth language : learning a living in the Internet age. (2000) Toronto ; New York : Stoddart ; Niagra Falls, N.Y. Page 169.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is tacitly or consciously grasped and interiorized content of information related and meaningfully integrated into a unifying frame of experience among other information contents interiorized in the same way, the complex of which reflects subjective understanding of environment. Mistakes arise from integration of misinformation or from integration of contradictory information into a unifying frame of experience (the second leads to cognitive dissonance and motivates to seek another information).”

Mr. Michal Lorenz, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Definition 29 on page 484-5 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is information that is understood, further to its utilization, stored, retrievable and reusable under appropriate circumstances or conditions.”

Prof. Michel J. Menou, Knowledge and ICT management consultant, France. Definition 30 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is a reservoir of information that is stored in the human mind. It essentially constitutes the information that can be “retrieved” from the human mind without the need to consult external information sources.”

Prof. Haidar Moukdad, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Definition 31 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58,479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is a combination of information and a person’s experience, intuition and expertise.”

Prof. Charles Oppenheim, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK. Definition 32 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is processed information which has produced a change in the intellectual framework of learning within an individual.”

Miranda L. Pao, (1989) Concepts of Information Retreival, Englewood, Colorado. Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Page 10.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is a social and cognitive process formed by the passing or assimilated information to thought and to action.”

Prof. Lena Vania Pinheiro, Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology, Brazil. Definition 33 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is the intelligent information processing by the receiver and it consequent incorporation to the individual or social memory”

Prof. Maria Pinto, University of Granada, Spain. Definition 34 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST>, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge hints to either a systematic framework (e.g., laws, rules or regularities, that is higher-order “abstractions” from data) or what somebody or some community knows (“I know that you are married”). In this latter sense knowledge presents a “subjective” side.”

Prof. Roberto Poli, University of Trento, Italy. Definition 35 on page 485 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is apparently not reducible solely to information and data. The problem is to understand ‘what is lacking’, what must be added to information and data in order to achieve true knowledge. My claim is that the meaning of a sign is given by the position of the sign in a field of signs (in a space). On the other hand, the content of a sign is given by the position of the item (denoted by the sign) in a field of items. Data, information, meanings and contents cover the field of knowledge. This amounts to saying that we have knowledge when we know (1) which item is denoted by which sign, (2) the item’s proximal context, (3) the item’s distal contexts, (4) the sign’s position in the field of signs, (5) the item’s position in the field of items.”

Prof. Roberto Poli, University of Trento, Italy - Poli, R. (2001). ALWIS. Ontology for knowledge engineers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is the summation of information into independent concepts and rules that can explain relationships or predict outcomes.”

Mr. Scott Seaman, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO. Definition 37 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is what is known, more than data, but not yet information. Recorded knowledge may be accessed in formal ways. Unrecorded knowledge is accessible in only chaotic ways.”

Prof. Richard Smiraglia, Long Island University, Brookville, NY. Definition 38 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is the considered product of information. Selection as to what is valid and relevant is a necessary condition of the acquisition of knowledge.”

Prof. Paul f, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK. Definition 39 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is internalized or understood information that can be used to make decisions.”

Prof. Carol Tenopir, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. Definition 40 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is information scripted into relations with recipient experiences.”

Joanne Twining, Intertwining.org, a virtual information consultancy, USA. Definition 41 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is meaningful content assimilated for use. The three entities can be viewed as hierarchical in terms of complexity, data being the simplest and knowledge, the most complex of the three. Knowledge is the product of a synthesis in our mind that can be conveyed by information, as one of many forms of its externalization and socialization.”

Source: Prof. Anna da Soledade Vieira, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Definition 42 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Using tools from information theory, we can assign an information content to any raw data, be it a collection of pixels on a computer screen or numbers on a spreadsheet. Those data need have no meaning to a human observer. When those pixels combine to form the letter C, they take on meaning and become what I call information. The same goes for numbers on a business spreadsheet. They become information when we know that they describe sales figures and inventories.”

Source: The diversity bonus : how great teams pay off in the knowledge economy by Scott E. Page. 2017; Princeton : Princeton University Press. See page 56

Knowledge: “Knowledge is enriched information by a person’s or a system’s own experience. It is cognitive based. Knowledge is not transferable, but through information we can communicate about it. (Note that the highest level of information processing is the generation of wisdom, where various kinds of knowledge are communicated and integrated behind an action.”

Source: Prof. Irene Wormell, Swedish School of Library and Information Science in Boräs, Sweden. Definition 43 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is a human construct, which categorize things, record significant events, and find causal relations among things and/or events, etc. in a systematic way.”

Source: Prof. Yishan Wu, Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC), Beijing, China. Definition 44 on page 486 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge is ‘no-thing’ (contrary to “information-as-thing” as suggested by Michael Buckland, 1991a), i.e., it is the event of meaning selection of a (psychic/social) system from its ‘world’ on the basis of communication. The “act of communicating knowledge” (OED’s definition of information) is then to be understood as the act of making a meaning offer (=message) leading to understanding (and misunderstanding) on the basis of a selection of meaning (=information). To know is then to understand on the basis of making a difference between ‘message’ (or meaning offer) and ‘information’ (or meaning selection). Human knowledge is, as Popper states, basically conjectural. Or, to put it in hermeneutic terms: understanding is always biased, i.e., based on (implicit) pre-understanding. In more classical terms we distinguish following Aristotle between ‘empirical knowledge’ (or ‘know-how’ = ‘empeiria’) and explicit knowledge (or ‘know-that’, for instance, scientific knowledge or ‘episteme’).”

Source: Page 481 of Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge represents a cognitive/affective state that finds definition in meaning and understanding. Knowledge is reflected in the questions of “how” and “why.” Knowledge extends the organism state of awareness (consciousness/ information). Knowledge can be given physical representation (presence) in the material products (technology) thereof (books, film, speech, etc.).”

Source: Cited on page 482 in Zins, C. (2007). Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge. JASIST, 58, 479-493.

Knowledge: “Knowledge structures information … Knowledge also assumes coherence. Knowledge of the Constitution consists of more than memorizing the preamble and the twenty- seven amendments. Knowledge requires an understanding of how the Constitution defines the branches of government, delineates and separates their powers, and describes amendment procedures.”

Source: The diversity bonus : how great teams pay off in the knowledge economy by Scott E. Page. 2017; Princeton : Princeton University Press. See page 57.

Knowledge Management (KM): The strategies and processes designed to identify, capture, structure, value, leverage, and share an organization’s intellectual assets to enhance its performance and competiveness. Note: KM is based on two critical activities: (1) capture and documentation of individual explicit and tacit knowledge, and (2) its dissemination within the organization. See also corporate memory

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 30.

Language: “(n.) 1. a system for expressing or communicating thoughts and feelings through speech sounds or written symbols. See natural language. 2. the specific communicative system used by a particular group of speakers, with its distinctive vocabulary, grammar, and phonological system. 3. any comparable nonverbal means of communication, such as sign language or the languages used in computer programming (see artificial language).“

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/language

Language: “noun About 1280 langage what is said, talk, later language (about 1330); borrowed from Old French langage, from langue tongue, language, from Lating lingua TONGUE; for suffix see - AGE. The sense of speech of a nation, tongue, is first found in Middle English about 1300. The form with u developed through Anglo-French, from assimulation with French langue in middle English.”

The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, Robert K. Barnhart, editor. New York : Harper Collins Publishers, c1995. Page 419.

Language: …a language is the population of utterances in a speech community.

Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach, by William Croft. (2000) New York: Longman, Linguistic Library. [2000]. Page 26.

Language: Language is classically defined as a natural, intrinsic, and universal ability of human beings to construct communication systems using codes (speech sounds or written symbols) and to use these codes. Language cognitively involves a semantic system (vocabulary and lexical access), specialized sensory-motor capacities of perception and production (phonology), as well as capacities for decoding, manipulating (grammar/syntax), and understanding these codes (shared symbolism; comprehension).

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Language: ”A language is a communication system that is capable of transmitting new information.”

On the origins of language; an introduction to the evolution of human speech, by Philip Lieberman. New York, Macmillan [1975]. Page 6.

Language: ”...language is both a medium of communication and an informatics tool, which I have formulated in terms of the equation: language = communications plus informatics (Logan 1995 and 2004b).”

What is Information?, by Robert K. Logan. Chapter 3. Copied 2021-04-18 from https://demopublishing.com/book/what-is-information/chapter-3/

Language: Fully modern language is the composition of words into meaningful utterances by using rules to modify and arrange them into a particular order. The utterances can be either spoken, signed or written as sentences. Because the meaning of an utterance depends on both the meaning of the individual words and how they are arranged, fully modern language is described as having compositionality. It is this which delivers the versatility and power of language, the ability to express an infinite number of meanings from a finite number of words.

The language puzzle: piecing together the six-million-year story of how words evolved, by Steven Mithen. New York : Basic Books, 2024. See page 35.

Language: ”A purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols.”

Language, by Edward Sapir. New York: Harcourt Brace. 1921.

Language: ”Language is how we talk. Culture is how we live. Language includes grammar, stories, sounds, meaning, and signs. Culture is the set of values shared by a group and the relationship between these values along with all the knowledge shared by a community of people, transmitted according to their traditions.”

Language : the cultural tool, by Daniel L. Everett. New York : Pantheon Books, c2012. See page 6.

Language: ”… the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts.”

Definition of language by Henry Sweet, found on page 31 of Language : the cultural tool, by Daniel L. Everett. New York : Pantheon Books, c2012.

Language: ”A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.”

Definition of language by Bernard Block and George L. Trager, found on pages 31-32 of Language : the cultural tool, by Daniel L. Everett. New York : Pantheon Books, c2012.

Language: ”A formal language is a (usually infinite) set of sequences of symbols (such sequences are “strings”) constructed by applying production rules to another sequence of symbols which initially contains just the start symbol.”

Definition of language by Noam Chomsky, found on page 32 of Language : the cultural tool, by Daniel L. Everett. New York : Pantheon Books, c2012.

Language: ”(1) A defined set of characters which are used to form symbols, words, etc., and the rules for combining these into meaningful communication. (2) A combination of a vocabulary and rules of syntax.”

Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD), by H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; North AtlanticTreaty Organization (NATO). London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 18.

Language: ”A language consists of a vocabulary, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics.”

The Intellectual Foundation of Information Organization, by Elaine Svenonius. Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press. 2000. Page 55.

Language: In the context of written or printed records, a system of conventional signs used for communication, consisting of a vocabulary and rules of syntax and orthography.

See also artificial language; indexing language; language community; natural language

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 40.

Language: It has been recognized for thousands of years that language is, fundamentaly, a system of sound-meaning connections; the potential infiniteness of this system has been explicitly recognized by Galileo, Descartes, and the 17th-century “philosophical grammarians” and their successors, notably von Humboldt.

The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Marc D. Hauser, Noam Chomsky, W. Tecumseh Fitch. Science. 2002 Nov 22;298(5598):1569-79. doi: 10.1126/science.298.5598.1569. PMID: 12446899.

Language: The limits of my language are the limits of my world.

Tractatus logico-philosophicus, by Ludwig Wittgenstein with an introduction by Bertrand Russell, F.R.S. New York, Harcourt, Brace & company, inc.; London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., ltd., 1922. See 5.6 on page 74.

Language (Music) : “Because objects of art are expressive, they are a language. Rather they are many languages. For each art has its own medium and that medium is especially fitted for one kind of communication. Each medium says something that cannot be uttered as well or as completely in any other tongue. The needs of daily life have given superior practical importance to one mode of communication, that of speech. This fact has unfortunately given rise to a popular impression that the meanings expressed in architecture, sculpture, painting, and music can be translated into words with little loss. In fact, each art speaks an idiom that conveys what cannot be said in another language and yet remains the same. (Dewey 1994[1934]: 211)”

'Artistic communication as an object of semiotics and linguistic aesthetics' Vladimir Feshchenko (2023) Sign System Studies. 51. 555-603. See page 571.

Language (Music) : ““First rudiments of the communicative approach to what was metaphorically called the ‘language of art’ date back to the German and English Romanticists who sought to clarify the relationship between creator and creation in their interaction. The idea of a common language of art began to soar in Europe’s intellectual environment towards the end of the 18th century, in the works of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing,9 Novalis,10 Wilhelm Wackenroder, William Blake and others. Such new ideas about the “language of art” and “the language of nature” rested on the philosophical postulate of the era of Romanticism, formulated by Friedrich Schlegel (in Chomsky 1966: 17): “everything through which the internal manifests itself in the external can be called language”. The German thinker believed, in a proto-semiotic manner, that poetry and painting are specific languages. According to Noam Chomsky (1966: 17), commenting on Schlegel’s idea, such a conception of language makes it possible to take a short step towards establishing a connection between “the creative aspect of language use and true creativity”."

'Artistic communication as an object of semiotics and linguistic aesthetics' Vladimir Feshchenko (2023) Sign System Studies. 51. 555-603. See page 567.

Language (Spoken): Oral language is typically associated by linguists with conversation that is produced, processed, and then evaluated in the context of face-to-face exchange and grounded in interpersonal relationships that are often clearly established. Oral language is adapted to a specific audience and to sociocultural settings and communities that are presumably present, functioning in a context of here and now.

Comprehending oral and written language, edited by Rosalind Horowitz, S. Jay Samuels. San Diego : Academic Press, c1987. See page 7.

Language Production: Language production can be defined as the physical signal used to transmit language and share thoughts. Speech production would require, among other capacities, syntactic and articulation processes.

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Language (Written): … written language is typically associated with language of books and explanatory prose such as is found in schools. Written language is formal, academic, and planned; it hinges on the past and is reconstructed in such a way that in the future it can be processed by various readerships.

Comprehending oral and written language, edited by Rosalind Horowitz, S. Jay Samuels. San Diego : Academic Press, c1987. See page 7.

Language (Written): Written language is the written form of communication which includes both reading and writing. Although written language may at first be considered to simply be oral language in its written form, the two are quite different in that oral language rules are innate whereas written language is acquired through explicit education.

Written Language by Diana B. Newman. In: Fred R. Volkmar (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders, (2013). Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1 125. Accessed December 13, 2024 at: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1125.

Lexical Density: The lexical density is the proportion of lexical items (content words) to the total discourse. It can be measured in various ways: the ratio of lexical items either to total words or to some higher grammatical unit, most obviously the clause; with or without weighting for relative frequency (in the language) of the lexical items themselves.

Comprehending oral and written language, edited by Rosalind Horowitz, S. Jay Samuels. San Diego : Academic Press, c1987. See page 60.

Lexicon: (n.) the vocabulary of a language and, in psychology, the lexical knowledge of an individual. See mental lexicon. See also productive vocabulary; receptive vocabulary.

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/lexicon

Lexicogrammar: The term lexicogrammar refers to two distinct but related notions: (1) the typical lexical and grammatical environment of a sign as it is habitually used in naturally occurring texts or ‘discourse’, and (2) the core stratum of ‘wording’ in Michael Halliday’s model of language, which serves to mediate between the lower stratum of ‘sounding’ (graphology/phonology) and higher ‘meaning’ (semantics/discourse). As this notion was first developed in the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) (Halliday 1961, Fries et al. 2002, Halliday & Matthiessen 2004), it is important to set out here some of the core features of the SFL approach.

Source 'The lexicogrammar approach to analysing phraseology and collocation in ESP texts' by Christopher Gledhill. ASp (Anglais de Spécialité), 2011, 59, pp.05-23. ⟨hal-01220043⟩.

Lexicon: n. 1603, borrowed probably through Middle French lexicon from Greek lexikón (biblíon) wordbook. from neuter of lexikós pertaining to words, from léxis word, from légein say. —lexical adj. 1836. formed from English lexicon + al ¹

The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology / edited by Robert K. Barnhart. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c1995. Page 430.

Librarian: “A filter interposed between the users of communication and the torrent ofsources of communication content,” but the idea remains the same: the librarian has a role to play in identifying the most effective means for the dissemination of different kinds of messages to serve different purposes for different audiences .... When the book was, to all intents and purposes, the only format that carried intellectual content amenable to wide dissemination, the book was, indeed, the medium of communication, and the librarian was concerned quite literally with finding the right book for the right person at the right time. If the book was not the right medium for some person, then they could not be served by us. But today they can be, for we are able now to see libraries, not as book agencies only, but as agencies of communication: the standards need not be less strict, but the performance of our task can be broader and more varied. Depending on the nature of the needs of the user, and the ways in which the user wants to employ the content, we can provide it in the book form for one purpose, on film for another, on tape recording for a third.“(Asheim, 1975, p. 1)

Asheim, L. (1975). Introduction to differentiating the media. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Libraries, Academic: Academic libraries encompass research libraries, baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degree granting institutions, junior and community colleges, and distance learning programs of higher education. Academic libraries work together with other members of their institutional communities to participate in, support, and achieve the educational mission of their institutions by teaching the core competencies of information literacy—the abilities involved in identifying an information need, accessing needed information, evaluating, managing, and applying information, and understanding the legal, social, and ethical aspects of information use. The systematic delivery of instructional programs and services should be planned in concert with overall strategic library planning, including the library’s budgeting process. Such planning may also involve strategizing with other campus units to deliver collaboratively designed programming. Research has shown that the academic library is a positive influencing factor on students' academic success.

Source The American Library Association Resource Guids. Accessed February 28, 2026 at: https://libguides.ala.org/library-definition

Libraries, Public: Per the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a public library is established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, and provides at least the following:

1) an organized collection of printed or other library materials, or a combination thereof;

2) paid staff;

3) an established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the public;

4) the facilities necessary to support such a collection, staff, and schedule, and

5) is supported in whole or in part with public funds.

Public libraries continue to be places for education and self-help, and offer opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds. They offer opportunity for everyone to learn and to pursue self-improvement. In response to community needs for information, many libraries offer ssuch programs as English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, homework help, after-school programs for children, job information centers, assistance for new immigrants, literacy programs, and much, much more. To serve such community needs, public libraries collect and make available information in many, many formats.

Source The American Library Association Resource Guids. Accessed February 28, 2026 at: https://libguides.ala.org/library-definition

Libraries, School: Per the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a public library is established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, and provides at least the following:

Learning for life…whether the focus is on readiness for the next grade or college and career readiness, the school library program plays a crucial role in preparing students for informed living in the 21st century. The school library program provides learning opportunities that enable students to become efficient and effective in the pursuit of information.

Beyond its curricular role, the school library program gives each individual member of the learning community a venue for exploring questions that arise out of individual curiosity and personal interest. As part of the school library program, the school librarian provides leadership in the use of information technologies and instruction for both students and staff in how to use them constructively, ethically, and safely. The school librarian offers expertise in accessing and evaluating information, using information technologies, and collections of quality physical and virtual resources. In addition, the school librarian possesses dispositions that encourage broad and deep exploration of ideas as well as responsible use of information technologies. These attributes add value to the school community.

The school library represents for students one of our most cherished freedoms--the freedom to speak our minds and hear what others have to say. Students in America have the right to choose what they will read, view, or hear and are expected to develop the ability to think clearly, critically, and creatively about their choices, rather than allowing others to do this for them.

Source The American Library Association Resource Guids. Accessed February 28, 2026 at: https://libguides.ala.org/library-definition

Library: “From the Latin liber, meaning "book." In Greek and the Romance languages, the corresponding term is bibliotheca. A collection or group of collections of books and/or other print or nonprint materials organized and maintained for use (reading, consultation, study, research, etc.). Institutional libraries, organized to facilitate access by a specific clientele, are staffed by librarians and other personnel trained to provide services to meet user needs. By extension, the room, building, or facility that houses such a collection, usually but not necessarily built for that purpose. Directory information on libraries is available alphabetically by country in World Guide to Libraries, a serial published by K.G. Saur. Two comprehensive worldwide online directories of library homepages are Libdex and Libweb. See also the UNESCO Libraries Portal. Abbreviated lib. See also: academic library, government library, monastic library, new library, proto-library, public library, special library, and subscription library.“

“Also, a collective noun used by publishers, particularly during the Victorian period, for certain books published in series (example: Everyman's Library). “

“Also refers to a collection of computer programs or data files, or a set of ready-made reusable routines, sometimes called modules, that can be linked to a program at the time it is compiled, relieving the programmer of the necessity to repeat the code each time the routine is used in a program.”

Copied December 29, 2020, from ABC CLIO at https://products.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx

Library: “Library as a collection of materials organized to provide physical bibliographical and intellectual access to group with a staff that is trained to provide services and program related to information needs of the target group.”

American Library Association : Definition and meaning. Copied February 4, 2014, at: http:// www.lisbdnet.com/library-definition-and-meaning/

Library: “The word "library" seems to be used in so many different aspects now, from the brick-andmortar public library to the digital library. Public libraries—and indeed, all libraries--are changing and dynamic places where librarians help people find the best source of information whether it's a book, a web site, or database entry.“

American Library Association : Definition and meaning. Copied March 10, 2020 from http:// www.lisbdnet.com/library-definition-and-meaning/

Library: “n. About 1380 librarye place containing books; also librarie collection of books (before 1382); borrowed through Anglo-French librarie, from Old French librairie collection of books, and directly from Latin librãium chest for books, from liber (genitive libri) book, paper, parchment, inner bark of a tree (used in early times for writing). The Romance languages now use the word to mean bookstore, derived from that sense in Late Latin. —librarian n. 1670, scribe; later, custodian of a library (1713); formed from English library + -an.“

The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology / edited by Robert K. Barnhart. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c1995. Page 431.

Library :“Library, traditionally, collection of books used for reading or study, or the building or room in which such a collection is kept. The word derives from the Latin liber, “book,” whereas a Latinized Greek word, bibliotheca, is the origin of the word for library in German, Russian, and the Romance languages.“

Encyclopedia Britannica. Copied 2021-06-01 from https://www.britannica.com/search?query=library

Library “(3.2.3.02): Organization (3.1.1.55) or part of an organization, the main aim of which is to facilitate the use of such information resources (3.1.1.44), services (3.1.1.59) and facilities as are required to meet the informational, research, educational, cultural or recreational needs of its users.“

“Note 1 to entry: The supply of the required information resources can be accomplished by building and maintaining a collection and/or by organizing access to information resources.“

“Note 2 to entry: These are the basic requirements for a library and do not exclude any additional resources and services incidental to its main purpose. [SOURCE: ISO 2789:2013, definition 2.1.6]“

“Note 3 to entry: Libraries fulfill the functions of an information and documentation organization (3.2.3.37).“

“Note 4 to entry: For “library” in a data processing sense, see also ISO/TS 13584-35:2010 and ISO/IEC 2382:2015, definition 2122125.“

ISO. Copied 20210605 from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:5127:ed-2:v1:en:term:3.6.4.1.01

Library (Digital Library): “electronic library. Library (3.2.3.02) that provides services (3.1.1.59) associated with digital resources (3.3.3.03) or those aspects of library (3.2.3.02) services that have a large digital component.“

ISO. Copied 20210605 from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:5127:ed-2:v1:en:term:3.6.4.1.01

Library: “A library is a collection of resources in a variety of formats that is (1) organized by information professionals or other experts who (2) provide convenient physical, digital, bibliographic, or intellectual access and (3) offer targeted services and programs (4) with the mission of educating, informing, or entertaining a variety of audiences (5) and the goal of stimulating individual learning and advancing society as a whole. (p.1)“

The librarian's book of lists / edited by George M. Eberhart. Chicago: ALA, 2010. Page 1

Library (Libraries): “In the strict sense of the term a “library” is a ‘collection of materials organized for use’. The word derives from the Latin word’ ‘liber’, a book. The latinized Greek word ‘bibliotheca’ is the origin of the word for ‘library’ in the Greek, Russian and Romance languages. There is a good reason to believe that the root concept of ‘library’ is deeply embedded in our ways of thinking about the world and coping with its problems. In its primary role as guardian of the social memory, there are many parallels with the ways in which human memory orders, stores and retrieves the information necessary for survival. The study of library history and its related disciplines bears witness that the instinct to preserve, the passion to collect, and the desire to control have been dominant influences in the genesis and growth of the library in the history of civilization.”

John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 371.

Library: “Library is an organization, or part of an organization, the main aim of which is to facilitate the use of such information resources, services and facilities as are required to meet the informational, research, educational, cultural or recreational needs of its users.”

International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). Copied April 2, 2020 from https:// librarymap.ifla.org/images/files/librarymapoftheworld_definitions_en.pdf

Library: “1. A collection of materials organized to provide physical, bibliographic, and intellectual access to a target group , with a staff that is trained to provide services and programs related to the information needs of the target group. 2. In computer science, an organized collection of computer programs available to users of the machine.”

Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 130

Library: “A library is a data management system for documents frequently, though not necessarily, organized in a hierarchy of “folders” and “drawers.” Also called a “file cabinet.”

Gartner, Inc. Copied March 11, 2020 from https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/library

Library: “For purposes of this work it is assumed that a library is a collection of graphic materials arranged for relatively easy use, cared for by an individual or individuals familiar with that arrangement, and accessible to at least a limited number of persons.“

Michael H. Harris. History of Libraries in the Western World. Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1995. Page 3.

Library: “1) A collection of books and other literary material kept for reading, study and consultation. 2) A place, building, rooms, set apart for the keeping and use of a collection of books etc.”

Harrods librarian’s glossary and reference book. Copied March 11, 2020, from http://www.lisbdnet.com/library-definition-and-meaning/

Library: “Library is an organization, or part of an organization, the main aim of which is to facilitate the use of such information resources, services and facilities as are required to meet the informational, research, educational, cultural or recreational needs of its users.“

International Federation of Library Associations, LIBRARY MAP OF THE WORLD DEFINITIONS, copied March 11, 2020, from https://librarymap.ifla.org/images/files/librarymapoftheworld_definitions_en.pdf

Library: “In Latin and Greek, the idea of a bookcase is represented by Bibliotheca and Bibliothēkē (Greek: βιβλιοθήκη): derivatives of these mean library in many modern languages, e.g. French bibliothèque.“

“The first libraries consisted of archives of the earliest form of writing—the clay tablets in cuneiform script discovered in Sumer, some dating back to 2600 BC. Private or personal libraries made up of written books appeared in classical Greece in the 5th century BC. In the 6th century, at the very close of the Classical period, the great libraries of the Mediterranean world remained those of Constantinople and Alexandria.“

“A library is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, a corporation, or a private individual. Public and institutional collections and services may be intended for use by people who choose not to—or cannot afford to—purchase an extensive collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research. In addition to providing materials, libraries also provide the services of librarians who are experts at finding and organizing information and at interpreting information needs. Libraries often provide quiet areas for studying, and they also often offer common areas to facilitate group study and collaboration. Libraries often provide public facilities for access to their electronic resources and the Internet. Modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources. They are extending services beyond the physical walls of a building, by providing material accessible by electronic means, and by providing the assistance of librarians in navigating and analyzing very large amounts of information with a variety of digital tools.“

Librarianship Studies & Information Technology. Copied March 11, 2020 from https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2017/07/library.html

Library: A library is an information ecology. It is a place with books, magazines, tapes, films, and librarians who can help you find and use them. A library may have computers, as well as story time for two-year-olds and after-school study halls for teens. In a library, access to information for all clients of the library is a core value. This value shapes the policies around which the library is organized, including those relating to technology. A library is a place where people and technology come together in congenial relations, guided by the values of the library.

Bonnie A. Nardi and Vicki L. O'Day, Information ecologies : using technology with heart. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c1999.

Library: “A library is a public institution or establishment charged with the care of books, the duty of making them accessible those who require the use of them.”

Ranganathan, S.R. Copied March 11, 2020, from American Library Association (ALA), "Library :: Definition and meaning glossary of library and information science" from http://www.lisbdnet.com/library-definition-and-meaning/

Library: ”Library is thus the common modern word in English for a certain something which the German calls Bibliothek, the Frenchman bibliotheque and the Itlian, Spaniard, Scandinavian and Slav call by some similar name. This something in its last analysis is a book or books kept for use rather than kept for sale or for the paper mill. A library is thus a book or books kept for use.

Ernest Cushing Richardson. The beginnings of libraries, Princeton, Princeton University Press; 1914.

Library: ”From the Latin liber meaning "book" (in Greek and the Romance languages the corresponding term is bibliotheca). A collection or group of collections of books and/or other materials organized and maintained for use (reading, consultation, study, research, etc.). Institutional libraries, organized to facilitate access by a specific clientele, are staffed by librarians and other personnel trained to provide services to meet user needs. By extension, the room, building, or facility that houses such a collection, usually but not necessarily built for that purpose. Directory information on libraries is available alphabetically by country in World Guide to Libraries, a serial published by K. G. Saur. Two comprehensive worldwide online directories of library homepages are LibDex and Libweb. Abbreviated lib. See also: academic library, government library, public library, and special library. Also, a collective noun used by publishers, particularly during the Victorian period, for certain books published in series (example: Everyman’s Library). Also refers to a collection of computer programs or data files, or a set of ready-made reusable routines, sometimes called modules, that can be linked to a program at the time it is compiled, relieving the programmer of the necessity to repeat the code each time the routine is used in a program.”

ODLIS: Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science. Copied March 11, 2020 from http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/data/dic/odlis/odlis.pdf

Library: ”n. ~ 1. A collection of published materials, including books, magazines, sound and video recordings, and other formats. - 2. A building used to house such a collection. - 3. Computing · Commonly used subroutines or functions collected for use in different programs.”

Society of American Archivists. A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology, Copied March 11, 2020 from https://www2.archivists.org/glossary

Library: ”Organisation, or part of an organisation, whose main aims are to build and maintain a collection and to facilitate the use of such information resources and facilities as are required to meet the informational, research, educational, cultural or recreational needs of its users; these are the basic requirements for a library and do not exclude any additional resources and services incidental to its main purpose (ISO, 2006). It includes any organized collection of books and periodicals in electronic or in printed form or of any other graphic or audio-visual materials (based on ’UNESCO, 1970). It includes virtual libraries, digital catalogues.”

Source definition: UIS adapted from International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ISO 2789, Information and documentation – International library statistics, 2006 and; UNESCO, Recommendation concerning the International Standardization of Library Statistics, 1970.

UNESCO. Copied 2021-04-14 from http://uis.unesco.org/en/glossary

Library: ”Any organized collection of printed books and periodicals or of any other graphic or audio-visual materials and the service of a staff to provide and facilitate the use of such materials as are required to meet the informational, research, educational or recreational needs of its users.”

Wersig, G., Neveling U. Terminology of documentation : a selection of1200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian, andSpanish. Paris : The Unesco Press; 1976. Page 178.

Library Science: ”The knowledge and skill by which recorded information is selected, acquired, organizeed and utilized in meeting the information demands and needs of a community of users.”

Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 132.

Library Science: ”The discipine focused on gathering and making available the accumulated memory of mankind.”

NOTE: Proposed definition

Lifecycle (of a record)s: The major milestones of a record’s existence, subject to changing requirements: creation/receipt, classification, use, retention, and disposition.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 31.

Linguistic Repertoire: The linguistic repertoire, says Gumperz (1964: 138), ‘contains all the accepted ways of formulating messages. It provides the weapons of everyday communication. Speakers choose among this arsenal in accordance with the meanings they wish to convey’. The repertoire is understood as a whole, comprising those languages, dialects, styles, registers, codes, and routines that characterize interaction in everyday life. According to Gumperz, it is up to the individual speakers to make decisions about the use of linguistic resources, but this freedom to choose is subject to both grammatical and social constraints. It is limited by generally accepted conventions, which serve to classify types of expression as informal, technical, literary, humorous, and so on. ‘The social etiquette of language choice is learned along with grammatical rules and once internalized it becomes a part of our linguistic equipment’ (ibid.). Gumperz’s concept moves away from the assumption made in earlier sociolinguistic studies that particular ways of speaking indicate membership of particular regional or social groups—just as the signifier indicates the signified. Although the linguistic repertoire is internalized and is by no means random, it is understood as fundamentally open, as a means of positioning which speakers use in situated interactions. And it is seen as forming a whole, across individual languages or dialects, which speakers draw from as the situation demands.

Source: ‘Expanding the Notion of the Linguistic Repertoire: On the Concept of Spracherleben—The Lived Experience of Language’ by Brigitta Busch. Applied Linguistics, Volume 38, Issue 3, June 2017, Pages 340–358, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amv030.

Logogen: A representation of a word or other verbal unit in long-term memory, activated by speech sounds, writing, or an object or event to which it refers. In tachistoscopic word recognition, for which the concept was originally devised, each logogen has a resting activation level, and if it receives evidence that it corresponds to the stimulus presented, its activation level increases: for example, if the observer recognizes the first letter of the display as a p, then in the observer's long-term memory all the logogens beginning with p are slightly activated, and as further evidence accumulates, if the activation level of a logogen exceeds a certain threshold level (threshold levels being lower for more common verbal expressions), then the logogen ‘fires’ and the corresponding verbal unit is recognized. The term was introduced by the English cognitive psychologist John Morton (born 1933) in an article in the journal Psychological Review in 1969, and the theory has been modified several times since then by Morton and others. Compare imagen. [From Greek logos a word + genes born]

Source Oxford Reference, by Oxford University Press. Accessed online May 1, 2025, at: https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100112762

Long-Term Memory (LTM): A relatively permanent information storage system that enables one to retain, retrieve, and make use of skills and knowledge hours, weeks, or even years after they were originally learned. Various theories have been proposed to explain the biological processes by which this occurs (e.g., the perseveration–consolidation hypothesis), and a major distinction is made between LTM and short-term memory. Additionally, LTM is divided into several categories, including declarative memory and procedural memory. See also secondary memory.

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed October 14, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/long-term-memory

Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating items over and over to maintain them in short-term memory, as in repeating a telephone number until it has been dialed (see rehearsal). According to the levels-of-processing model of memory, maintenance rehearsal does not effectively promote long-term retention because it involves little elaboration of the information to be remembered. Also called rote rehearsal.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed October 21, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/maintenance-rehearsal

Manuscript: 1. A document written or copied by hand. 2. A document created by an author prior to its publication in the form of a book or other type of document.

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 44.

Meaning: The interpretation of a concept associated with a sign.

Source: Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 44.

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU): Mean length of utterance (MLU) is the average number of morphemes per utterance. It is an index of expressive language development used beyond the stage of single words, when a child uses two or more words together in an utterance. It is calculated in 100 spontaneous utterances by counting the number of morphemes in each utterance divided by the total number of utterances. MLU is used as a benchmark to assess individual differences and developmental changes in grammatical development in children in the early stages of language acquisition. Children with autism frequently demonstrate differences in MLU compared to non-autistic developmentally delayed children and typically developing children by producing shorter utterances with fewer grammatical morphemes. Recent research has acknowledged the use and utility of using MLU as an index for language development in children with autism (Condouris, Meyer, & Tager-Flusberg, 2003; Tager-Flusberg et al., 2009).... .

Source: Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) by Gabig, C.S. (2013). In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1110Springer Nature Link. Accessed 2025-02-20 at: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1110#:~: text=Mean%20length%20of%20utterance%20(MLU)%20is%20the%20average%20number%20of,identified%20(Brown%2C%201973).

Media Ecology: The line of research on the origin and evolution of language led me to the conclusion that a media ecology approach connects all aspects of communication and informatics and embraces not only the study of media but also the study of technology and language and the interaction of these three domains all of which form an ecosystem. Traditionally an ecological system or ecosystem refers to a biological system consisting of a natural physical environment and the living organisms inhabiting that physical environment as well as the interactions of all the constituents of the system. A media ecosystem is defined in analogy with a traditional biological ecosystem as a system consisting of human beings and the media and technology through which they interact and communicate with each other. It also includes the languages with which they express and code their communication.

Source: 'The five ages of communication' by Robert K. Logan, (2002) Explorations in Media Ecology, 1 (1). pp. 13-20. ISSN 15397785 Available at http://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/891/

Memory: The storage of learned information. Memory exists in at least two stages, short-term (minutes to hours) and long-term (days to weeks). It also has two forms: explicit and implicit. (See explicit memory; implicit memory.)

Source: In search of memory : the emergence of a new science of mind by Eric R. Kandel. New York : W. W. Norton & Company, c2006. See page 441

Memory: Usually, “memories” tends to refer to events recalled from the past, which are seen as more representational and subjective. In contrast, “memory” now is used to refer to storage of information in general, including in DNA, digital information storage, and neuro-chemical processes. Today, science has moved far beyond a popular understanding of memory as fixed, subjective, and personal. In the extended definition, it is simply the capacity to store and retrieve information.

Source 'Memory: An Extended Definition' by Gregorio Zlotnik and Aaron Vansintjan. Frontiers in Psychology. 10:2523. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02523

Memory: Memory represents the ability to maintain information or representations of past experience or knowledge, arguing to be based on mental processes of encoding, retention and retrieval, or reactivation. Several forms of memory have been proposed depending, for example, on the degree of consciousness or attention given to the process (implicit versus explicit memorization) and/or the duration of retention (short-term versus long-term memorization).

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Memory: Memory can be defined as the capacity of an organism to acquire and store information, ideas, or experiences at one time, maintaining them available for recollection (recall, recovery) at a subsequent time.

Source 'The memory engram: beginning the search' by Eliasz Engelhardt and Gilberto Levy. Dementia & Neuropsychologia 2023 Feb 6;17:e20220059. doi: 10.1590/1980-5764-DN-2022-0059. PMID: 37223839; PMCID: PMC10202315.

Memory - Explicit: The storage of information about people, places, and things that requires conscious attention for recall. Such memories can be described in words. Explicit memory is what most people refer to when they speak of memory. Also known as declarative memory. (Compare implicit memory.)

Eric R. Kandel. In search of memory : the emergence of a new science of mind. New York : W. W. Norton & Company, c2006. Page 437.

Memory - Implicit: The storage of information that does not require conscious attention for recall—usually in the form of habits, perceptual or motor strategies, and associative and nonassociative conditioning. Also called procedural memory. (Compare explicit memory.)

Eric R. Kandel. In search of memory : the emergence of a new science of mind. New York : W. W. Norton & Company, c2006. Pages 439-430.

Memory Trace: Aristotle characterized memory traces as impressions in wax. Experiences are stamped on the mind ‘just as persons do who make an impression with a seal’ (de Memoria et Reminiscentia, 450a). The successful formation, retention, and reanimation of such a trace requires that the mind’s wax be in the right condition: just malleable enough. Too firm and it will fail to leave behind any impression at all. Too soft and it will be easily overridden by subsequent impressions.

Source , 'A Place for the Memory Trace' by Sarah Robins. In Space, Time, and Memory by Lynn Nadel, and Sara Aronowitz (editors). Oxford, 2025; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Aug. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192882547.003.0006, accessed December 25, 2025.

Memory Trace: A hypothetical modification of the nervous system that encodes a representation of information or a learning experience. See engram.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed December 25, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/memory-trace

Memory Trace: Memory trace was originally a philosophical term used to explain the phenomenon of remembering. Once debated by Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno of Citium, the notion seems more recently to have become the exclusive province of cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists.

Source 'The Nature of Memory Traces' by Felipe De Brigard. Philosophy Compass 9 (6):402-414 (2014)

Message: 1. The communication of information from a source to one or more destinations by means of a language. 2. Concepts conveyed by the text of a document.

Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Hans H. Wellisch. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 45.

Metadata: ”Information about a dataset that makes it easier to find, understand and use. Metadata may describe the dataset’s structure, elements, creation, access, format, and content. Metadata may also include the title and description, method of collection, limitations, author, publisher, area and time period covered, license, date and frequency of release.”

California Department of General Services (DGS), State Administrative Manual. DEFINITIONS - 4819.2. Copied 2021-06-05 from https://www.dgs.ca.gov/Resources/SAM/TOC/4800/4819-2

Metadata: ”In general, "data about data;" functionally, "structured data about data." Metadata includes data associated with either an information system or an information object for purposes of description, administration, legal requirements, technical functionality, use and usage, and preservation. . In the case of Dublin Core, information that expresses the intellectual content, intellectual property and/or instantiation characteristics of an information resource. See Section 1.1 of this guide. For a history of the term See Caplan,pp. 1-3.”

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo

Metadata: ”n. a characterization or description documenting the identification, management, nature, use, or location of information resources (data)”

"Notes: Metadata is commonly defined as “data about data.” Metadata is frequently used to locate or manage information resources by abstracting or classifying those resources or by capturing information not inherent in the resource. Typically metadata is organized into distinct categories and relies on conventions to establish the values for each category. For example, administrative metadata may include the date and source of acquisition, disposal date, and disposal method. Descriptive metadata may include information about the content and form of the materials. Preservation metadata may record activities to protect or extend the life of the resource, such as reformatting. Structural metadata may indicate the interrelationships between discrete information resources, such as page numbers. In terms of archives, MARC format and EAD are standards for structuring descriptive metadata about collections. Dublin Core is a standard for structuring metadata that is intended for describing web resources. In terms of information technology, metadata includes the documentation of data architecture, properties, and methods necessary to store, retrieve, and use the data in a meaningful manner. To the extent that data is a record, it may also include administrative, descriptive, preservation, and structural information.”

Dictionary of Archives Terminology. Society of American Archivists. Copied 2021-03-24 from https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/metadata.html

Metadata: ”The best known definition is the easily remembered “Data about Data.” Other definitions, however, are much more descriptive. In the 11th ed. of Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, Joudrey, Taylor, and Miller state that metadata is: “Structured information that describes the attributes of resources for the purposes of identification, discovery, selection, use, access, and management.” In short, metadata is information about a resource. This broad definition includes elements such as titles; edition statements; the names of creators, contributors, and others; subjects; dimensions; location information; contents; and so on. Metadata allows users to find, identify, select, and obtain the resources in our collections.”

Glossary of Library & Information Science. Copied 2021-03-25 from https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2015/04/glossary-of-library-information-science.html.

Metadata: The structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage information resources. Note: Metadata is typically broken down into broad types that include, but are not limited, to administrative metadata, content metadata, descriptive metadata, preser vation metadata, and structural metadata. See also audit trail metadata, contextual information, embedded metadata, and vendor-added metadata.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 33.

Metadata: ”Metadata nowadays can be defined in two different ways: One is narrower in scope, implying descriptions provided for networked information and digital resources by following a standard or framework (e.g., Dublin Core) that is specifically created for this purpose. The other definition is broader in coverage, including cataloging and indexing data created for any kind of documents through the use of traditional methods for describing and organizing information. In this sense, for example, cataloging data produced with Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and Anglo-American Cataloging Rules/MAchine Readable Cataloging (AACR/MARC) is also regarded as metadata.”

Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age Heting Chu. Medford, New Jersey : Information Today, Inc.; 2010. Page 41.

Metadata: ”Metadata are structured information used to find, access, use and manage information resources, primarily in a digital environment. A metadata scheme consists of a pre-defined set of elements that contain information about a resource. Two major factors influenced the development of metadata schemes: the need for systematic discovery and retrieval of networked resources, and the ability to embed metadata in the digital object. The term 'metadata' is a late entry in the vocabulary of the organization of information, but the concept is not. Librarians, information specialists and archivists used 'bibliogrphic data' to organize and produce a variety of retieval tools, including CATALOGUES, INDEXES, and FINDING AIDS. In the 1980's, computer scientists began to use the term 'metadata' to describe information that documented the characteristics of the data contained in DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (DBMS). This use in DBMS popularized the definition of metadata as 'data about data' and began association of the term with a computer environment. The various methods of information organization converged in the network environment of the 1990's, and 'metadata' became the common term for information about a resource.”

International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Pages 417-418.

Metadata: ”Literally 'data about data', metadata is best understood as short, structured and standardized description of information resources. The term first gained wide use in the 1990's, but the idea had been instantiated in library cataloguing rules in the mid-19th century. For an accessible introduction to metadata principles see Haynes (2004) [Haynes, D. Metadata for information management and retrieval, London: Facet Publishing]; for more detail of specific formats and schemes see Zeng and Qin (2008) [Zeng, M.L. and Qin, J. (2008) Metadata, London: Facet Publishing], Miller (2011 [Miller, S. J. (2011) Metadata for digital collections: a how-to-do-it manual, London: Facet Publishing] and Hider (2012) [Hider, P. (2012) Information resource description: creating and managing metadata, London: Facet Publishing].”

”Metadata records are surrogates for the original items, used in its place. The main purposes for metadata are as means to identify, retrieve, use and manage information resources. This includes retrieval, finding required items by searching or browsing, display, deciding whether an item is likely to be useful; legal issues, noting the rights status of items; and records management noting who has responsibility for the document, and when they should be reviewed, archived, etc. It is also desirable that metadata can be shared and exchanged, hence the requirement for standardization.”

Introduction to Information Science. David Bawden and Lyn Robinson. Chicago : Neal-Schuman, 2012. Page 108.

Metadata: ”Metadata is data associated with objects which relieves their potential users of having to have full advance knowledge of their existence or characteristics. A user might be a program or a person.”

Metadata: a current view of practice and issue. Lorcan Dempsey and Rachel Heery. Journal of Documentation, 54(2), March 1998. pp. 145-172. Available online at http://ukln.ac.uk/metadata/publications/jdmetadata/

Metadata: ”Literally, "data about data." Structured information describing information resources/objects for a variety of purposes. Although AACR2/MARC cataloging is formally metadata, the term is generally used in the library community for nontraditional schemes such as the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, the VRA Core Categories, and the Encoded Archival Description (EAD). Metadata has been categorized as descriptive, structural, and administrative. Descriptive metadata facilitates indexing, discovery, identification, and selection. Structural metadata describes the internal structure of complex information resources. Administrative metadata aids in the management of resources and may include rights management metadata, preservation metadata, and technical metadata describing the physical characteristics of a resource. For an introduction to metadata, please see Priscilla Caplan's Metadata Fundamentals for All Librarians (American Library Association, 2003). Also spelled meta-data. See also: Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard and Metadata Object Description Schema.”

Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Joan M. Reitz. Copied 2021-03-24 from https://products.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_m.aspx.

Metadata: ”Metadata is often defined as "data about data," a definition that is nearly as ubiquitous as it is unhelpful. A more content-full definition of metadata is that it is structured description for information resources of any kind, which makes it a superset of bibliographic description.”

The Discipline of Organizing. Robert J. Glushko, Editor. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 498.

Metadata Record: ”A syntactically correct representation of the descriptive information (metadata) for an information resource. In the case of Dublin Core, a representation of the Dublin Core™ elements that has been defined for the resource. The majority of metadata records and record fragments in this document are presented in HTML syntax.”

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/

Mimetic Communication: Pantomime is volitional and representational, in that it relies on intentionally producing bodily forms that represent (stand for something other than themselves) in an imitative way. So conceived, pantomime is at the heart of what Donald (1991) and Zlatev (2008) have influentially called mimetic communication. Accordingly, it involves ‘‘the invention of intentional representation’’: body movements are devised to stand for an event either by a performance of a duplicate of what originally happened (mimicry sensu Donald) or by a less literal, more selective re-enactment (imitation sensu Donald). Hence, although pantomime incorporates both mimicry and imitation, it is the representational, i.e. mimetic, dimension that constitutes its defining feature.

Żywiczyński, Przemysław & Wacewicz, Slawomir & Sibierska, Marta. (2018). Defining Pantomime for Language Evolution Research. Topoi. 37. 10.1007/s11245-016-9425-9.

Mimetic Communication: It consisted of pre-verbal vocalizations (grunts, cries, laughs, screams and moans), hand signals, facial gestures and body language. Donald (1998, pp. 60-62) … We can therefore define the mimetic era as the time of pre-verbal communication which very well may have been a purely pre-human hominid phenomenon, but it is the form of communication from which human speech evolved.

Robert K. Logan, The Five Ages of Communication. Explorations in Media Ecology 1.1 (2002): 13–20.

Mimetic Schemas: …body-based, prelinguistic, consciously accessible representations that serve as the child’s first concepts (Zlatev 2005). Furthermore, mimetic schemas possess a basic intersubjectivity which can serve as the foundation for developing a coventional symbolic system, i.e. language.

Source 'Embodiment, language and mimesis' by Jordan Zlatev. In Body, Language, Mind. Vol 1: Embodiment (pp. 297-337). Mouton de Gruyter.

Mimetic Schema: …fairly specific, cross-modal, consciously accessible representations based on imitation, and largely shared within a (sub)culture.

Source: 'Intersubjectivity, mimetic schemas and the emergence of language' by Jordan Zlatev. Intellectica, 46/47, 123–152.

Mimetic Schema: …dynamic, concrete and preverbal representations, involving the body image, which are accessible to consciousness, and pre-reflectively shared in a community. Mimetic schemas derive from a uniquely human capacity for bodily mimesis (Donald 1991; Zlatev, Persson and Gärdenfors 2005) and are argued to play a key role in language acquisition, language evolution and the linking of phenomenal experience and shared meaning. In this sense they are suggested to provide a grounding of language which is more adequate than that of image schemas. By comparing the two concepts along six different dimensions: representation, accessibility to consciousness, level of abstractness, dynamicity, sensory modality and (inter)subjectivity the term ÿimage schemaþ is shown to be highly polysemous, which is problematic for a concept that purports to be foundational within Cognitive Linguistics.

Cited Resource: Origins of the Modern Mind. Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition by Merlin Donald. 1991. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Cited Resource: Bodily Mimesis as the Missing Link in Human Cognitive Evolution by Jordan Zlatev, Tomas Persson, and Peter Gärdenfors. 2005. LUCS 121. Lund: Lund University Cognitive Studies.

Source: 'What's in a schema? Bodily mimesis and the grounding of language' by Jordan Zlatev. In From perception to meaning : image schemas in cognitive linguistics edited by Beate Hampe in cooperation with Joseph E. Grady. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin ; New York, c2005. Pages 313 to 342.

Mimetic Schema: …dynamic, concrete and preverbal representations, involving the body image, which are accessible to consciousness, and pre-reflectively shared in a community. Mimetic schemas derive from a uniquely human capacity for bodily mimesis (Donald 1991; Zlatev, Persson and Gärdenfors 2005) and are argued to play a key role in language acquisition, language evolution and the linking of phenomenal experience and shared meaning. In this sense they are suggested to provide a grounding of language which is more adequate than that of image schemas.

Cited Resource: Origins of the Modern Mind. Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition by Merlin Donald (1991). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Cited Resource: Bodily Mimesis as the Missing Link by Jordan Zlatev, Tomas Persson, and Peter Gärdenfors (2005). In LUCS 121. Lund: Lund University Cognitive Studies

Cited Resource: 'Triadic bodily mimesis is the difference. Commentary to Tomas ello et al.' (2005) Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28: 720-721

Source:'What's in a schema? Bodily mimesis and the grounding of language' by Jordan Zlatev. Pages 313-342 in From Perception To Meaning: Image Schemas In Cognitive Linguistics. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197532.

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 47.

Morphology: “Morphology – the internal structure of words. Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words and forms a core part of linguistic study today. The term morphology is Greek and is a makeup of morph- meaning ‘shape, form’, and -ology which means ‘the study of something’. Morphology as a sub-discipline of linguistics was named for the first time in 1859 by the German linguist August Schleicher who used the term for the study of the form of words.”

Source: https://sheffield.ac.uk/linguistics/home/all-about-linguistics/about-website/branches-linguistics/morphology/what-morphology

Natural Language: A language that has evolved naturally among humans, as opposed to an artificial language, such as that used in computer programming.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online January 14, 2026 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/natural-language

Natural Language: A language used by human beings for verbal communication, using structured sounds. Natural language can be embodied in other media, such as writing, print, or electronic displays, and may also be expressed by movements and gestures.

See also artificial language; free-text term; keywor

Natural Language Search A manner of searching that permits the use of plain language without special connectors or precise terminology. Source: The Sedona Conference® Glossary. [41] See also Boolean search.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 35.

Needed Source Records: A source record after conversion that, instead of being destroyed, is returned to storage as a semiactive record. Source: The InterPares Glossary. [24]

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 35.

Neural: (adj.) adj. pertaining to the nervous system, its parts, and its functions.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed January 3, 2026 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/neural

Neural: (adj.) pertaining to a nerve or nerves, pertaining to the nervous system generally," 1830, from Greek neuron "nerve" (see neuro-) + adjectival suffix -al (1). Related: Neurally.

Source Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed January 3, 2026 at: https://www.etymonline.com/word/neural

Neural : Having to do with nerves or the nervous system, including the brain and the spinal cord..

Source National Cancer Institute. Accessed January 3, 2026 at: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/neural

Neural Circuit: an arrangement of neurons and their interconnections. Neural circuits, such as negative feedback circuits, positive feedback circuits, and oscillator circuits, often perform particular limited functions. In a local circuit, the neurons are all contained within a level of brain organization of a particular region.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed January 3, 2026 at:https://dictionary.apa.org/neural-circuit

Neural Circuit: Neural circuits govern the interface between the external environment, internal cues and outwardly directed behaviours. To process multiple environmental stimuli and integrate these with internal state requires considerable neural computation. Expansion in neural network size, most readily represented by whole brain size, has historically been linked to behavioural complexity, or the predominance of cognitive behaviours.

Source 'Evolution of neural circuitry and cognition' by Max S Farnworth and Stephen H Montgomery. Biology Letters. 2024 May;20(5):20230576. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0576. Epub 2024 May 15. PMID: 38747685; PMCID: PMC11285921.

Neural Circuit: Neurons never function in isolation; they are organized into ensembles or circuits that process specific kinds of information. Although the arrangement of neural circuits varies greatly according to the intended function, some features are characteristic of all such ensembles. The synaptic connections that define a circuit are typically made in a dense tangle of dendrites, axons terminals, and glial cell processes that together constitute neuropil (the suffix -pil comes from the Greek word pilos, meaning “felt”). Thus, the neuropil between nerve cell bodies is the region where most synaptic connectivity occurs.

Source Neuroscience. 2nd edition edited by Dale Purves ... [et al.]. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Mass.: Sinauer Associates; 2001. Accessed January 3, 2026 at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11154/

Neural Network: "1. a technique for modeling the neural changes in the brain that underlie cognition and perception in which a large number of simple hypothetical neural units are connected to one another.

"2. an artificial intelligence system used for learning and classifying data and applied in research on pattern recognition, speech recognition, machine translation of languages, and financial prediction, among other areas. Neural networks are usually abstract structures modeled on a computer and consist of a number of interconnected processing elements (nodes), each with a finite number of inputs and outputs. The elements in a network can have a “weight” determining how they process data, which can be adjusted according to experience. In this way, the network can be trained to recognize patterns in input data by optimizing the output of the network. The analogy is with the supposed action of neurons in the brain. In addition, neural networks are often structured into layers, including an input layer (in which properties of input parameters are encoded), possibly multiple hidden layers (in which generalizations of the input parameters are reflected), and an output layer (in which the response of the neural network system is reported to the environment). The connectivity of these layers often differs, usually reflecting the algorithms the neural network uses for learning. There are multiple families of algorithms used for learning patterns in data, including Hebbian learning and back-propagation learning. See also perceptron."

Source ‘Neural Network’ APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online January 7, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/neural-network

Neural Network: "A neural network is a method in artificial intelligence (AI) that teaches computers to process data in a way that is inspired by the human brain. It is a type of machine learning (ML) process, called deep learning, that uses interconnected nodes or neurons in a layered structure that resembles the human brain. It creates an adaptive system that computers use to learn from their mistakes and improve continuously. Thus, artificial neural networks attempt to solve complicated problems, like summarizing documents or recognizing faces, with greater accuracy."

Source ‘What is a neural network?’ AWS. Accessed online January 7, 2025 at: https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/neural-network/

Neural Network: A neural network is a type of machine learning algorithm inspired by the human brain. It’s a powerful tool that excels at solving complex problems more difficult for traditional computer algorithms to handle, such as image recognition and natural language processing. Composed of interconnected nodes called neurons, neural networks arrange these units in layers. Each neuron receives input from others, processes it, and transmits an output to other neurons. Connections between neurons have associated weights, signifying the connection strength. During training, the network adjusts these weights to refine its performance on a given task. This learning process allows them to make predictions and recognize patterns, driving their wide adoption in diverse applications like image recognition, natural language processing, and machine translation.

Source ‘What is a neural network?’ Google Cloud. Accessed online January 7, 2025 at: https://cloud.google.com/discover/what-is-a-neural-network

Neural Network: A neural network is a machine learning model that stacks simple "neurons" in layers and learns pattern-recognizing weights and biases from data to map inputs to outputs. Neural networks are among the most influential algorithms in modern machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). They underpin breakthroughs in computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), speech recognition and countless real-world applications ranging from forecasting to facial recognition. While today’s deep neural networks (DNNs) power systems as complex as transformers and convolutional neural networks (CNNs), the origins of neural networks trace back to simple models such as linear regression and how the human brain digests, processes and decides on the information presented to it.

Source ‘What is a neural network?’ IBM. Accessed January 7, 2026 at: https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/neural-networks#:~:text=A%20neural%20network%20is%20a,from%20forecasting%20to%20facial%20recognition

Neural Network: Modeled loosely on the human brain, a neural net consists of thousands or even millions of simple processing nodes that are densely interconnected. Most of today’s neural nets are organized into layers of nodes, and they’re “feed-forward,” meaning that data moves through them in only one direction. An individual node might be connected to several nodes in the layer beneath it, from which it receives data, and several nodes in the layer above it, to which it sends data.

Source 'Explained: Neural networks' 'Ballyhooed artificial-intelligence technique known as “deep learning” revives 70-year-old idea.' by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office. April 14, 2017. Accessed online January 7, 2025 at: https://news.mit.edu/2017/explained-neural-networks-deep-learning-0414

Neural Network: Neural Networks are one particular type of Machine Learning technique. They are a type of artificial intelligence modeled on the brain. There are nodes or artificial neurons that are each responsible for a simple computation. These nodes are networked together with connections of varying strengths, and learning is reflected in changes to those connections. An important characteristic of neural networks is the relationship between nodes. Often, there is an input layer, an output layer, and one or more in between layers (called “hidden layers”), which can result in a model that has a lot of complexity, but may be difficult to interpret.

Source Data Glossary, Neural Networks, National Library of Medicine. US Department of Health and Human Services. Accessed online January 7, 2025 at: https://www.nnlm.gov/guides/data-glossary/neural-networks

Neuron (Neurone): n. the basic cellular unit of the nervous system. Each neuron is composed of a cell body; fine, branching extensions (dendrites) that receive incoming nerve signals; and a single, long extension (axon) that conducts nerve impulses to its branching terminal. The axon terminal transmits impulses to other neurons or to effector organs (e.g., muscles and glands) via junctions called synapses or neuromuscular junctions. Neurons can be classified according to their function as motor neurons, sensory neurons, or interneurons. There are various structural types, including unipolar neurons, bipolar neurons, and multipolar neurons. The axons of vertebrate neurons are often surrounded by a myelin sheath. In contrast to other cell types, neurons possess the capacity to modify their structure and function based on the receipt of information and stimuli from their immediate environment (see neural plasticity). Also called nerve cell. [term coined by German physician Heinrich Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz (1836–1921)] —neuronal adj.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed January 3, 2026 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/neuron

Neuron: A type of cell that receives and sends messages from the body to the brain and back to the body. The messages are sent by a weak electrical current. Also called nerve cell.

Source: National Cancer Institute. Accessed January 3, 2026 at: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/neuron

Neuron: Neurons (also called neurones or nerve cells) are the fundamental units of the brain and nervous system, the cells responsible for receiving sensory input from the external world, for sending motor commands to our muscles, and for transforming and relaying the electrical signals at every step in between. More than that, their interactions define who we are as people. Having said that, our roughly 100 billion neurons do interact closely with other cell types, broadly classified as glia (these may actually outnumber neurons, although it’s not really known). The creation of new neurons in the brain is called neurogenesis, and this can happen even in adults.

Source 'What is a neuron?' Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland. Accessed January 3, 2026 at: https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-anatomy/what-neuron

Neuroplasticity: Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or brain plasticity, is a process that involves adaptive structural and functional changes to the brain. It is defined as the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections after injuries, such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Source'Neuroplasticity' in StatPearls [Internet]. Accessed December 31, 2025, at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557811//

Neurotransmitter: n. any of a large number of chemicals that can be released by neurons to mediate transmission of nerve signals across the junctions (synapses) between neurons. When triggered by a nerve impulse, the neurotransmitter is released from the terminal button (see axon), travels across the synaptic cleft, and binds to and reacts with receptor molecules in the postsynaptic membrane. Neurotransmitters include amines (e.g., norepinephrine, serotonin) and amino acids (e.g., glutamate, glycine). Some neurotransmitters can be categorized as generally excitatory (e.g., glutamate, glysine) or generally inhibitory (e.g. gamma-aminobutyric acid). Excitatory neurotransmitters exert a facilitatory or activating downstream effect on postsynaptic neurons. That is, they depolarize the postsynaptic neurons, resulting in a greater likelihood of an action potential. Inhibitory neurotransmitters hyperpolarize the postsynaptic neurons—thereby making the intracellular space more negative, and hence, requiring a greater positive charge to overcome—resulting in a smaller likelihood of an action potential. However, some neurotransmitters have both excitatory and inhibitory receptors; these include acetylcholine and dopamine. Also called chemical transmitter; synaptic transmitter.

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed December 31, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitter: Neurotransmitters Neurotransmitters are your body’s chemical messengers. They carry messages from one nerve cell across a space to the next nerve, muscle or gland cell. These messages help you move your limbs, feel sensations, keep your heart beating, and take in and respond to all information your body receives from other internal parts of your body and your environment.

Source: Cleveland Clinic. Accessed December 31, 2025 at: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22513-neurotransmitters

Office of Origin: The organizational unit that creates or originally receives a record. Also referred to as originating department.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 36.

Office of Record: An organizational unit designated to maintain the record or its official copy.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 36.

Ontology: ”(n.) the branch of philosophy that deals with the question of existence itself. From some philosophical perspectives, ontology is synonymous with metaphysics, in that both ask fundamental questions about what reality is. However, from the perspective of contemporary existentialism and hermeneutics, ontology implies a concern with the meaning of existence that is largely lacking in traditional metaphysics. Whereas metaphysics asks “What is there?” or “What is fundamental?,” the question of ontology is often posed as “What does it mean to ‘be’ at all?” For example, to say that Smith is a professor is to rely on a very different sense of the verb be than is present in a statement that Smith is hungry. Likewise, Smith is not a professor in the same way that a painting is beautiful. Contemporary approaches to ontology often take their analytical point of departure from the work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). In this tradition, psychology is the pursuit of an adequate understanding of the ontology of human beings. It asks, or ought to ask, “What does it mean to be a human being?” See being-in-the-world; Dasein; existential phenomenology. —ontological adj.”

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/ontology

Ontology: ”A hierarchical structure that formally defines the semantic relationship of a set of concepts. Used to create structured / controlled vocabularies for the discovery or exchange of information. A thesaurus, like the AAT is an example.”

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/

Ontology: A formal representation of the concepts within a domain and their relationship to one another.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 37.

Ontology: ”A term from the discipline of philosophy appropriated by the ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) community. Whilst in philosophy it signifies a systematic account of existence, in AI it is used in a more limited sense as a specification, or a set of definitions, of a conceptualization. A knowledge-based system, or AI agent, is necessarily committed to some conceptualization of the domain within which it is to operate. In practice an ontology sets out the concepts and relationships that make up the formal vocabulary used in building an AI agent. Ontologies are an essential component of the SEMANTIC WEB.”

Introduction to Information Science. David Bawden and Lyn Robinson. Chicago : Neal-Schuman, 2012. Page 108.

Ontology: ”Ontology is a branch of philosophy concerned with what exists in reality and the general features and relations of whatever that may be. Computer science has adopted ontology to refer to any computer-processable resource that represents the relationships among words and meanings in some knowledge domain.”

The Discipline of Organizing. Robert J. Glushko, Editor. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 502.

Pantology: All human knowledge. As stated in the book cited below: The present work is offered, as a guide book, to those who are seeking to explore the vast expanse of human knowledge. It aspires to be to Pantology, or knowledge in general, what a map of the world is to Geography : an outline, and nothing more : but such an out line as may be serviceable to all who are seeking to acquire general views of this wide region ; by showing, however imperfectly, the relations of its parts, and their comparative extent and importance. And as the emigrant, who proposes to settle in a new country, first travels over it, and examines its different regions, before selecting a location ; so, it is believed, may the student, before choosing a profession, derive benefit from a general survey of all the regions of knowledge, such as is here attempted to be presented. Or, as the traveller, in pursuit of health and pleasure, does not rest satisfied with his native state, rich and fruitful though it be ; so may the philosopher derive strength and relaxation from an occasional excursion beyond his own immediate pursuits, or a systematic tour around the whole intellectual world.

Source: Pantology; or, A systematic survey of human knowledge; proposing a classification of all its branches, and illustrating their history, relations, uses, and objects; with a synopsis of their leading facts and principles; and a select catalogue of books on all subjects, suitable for a cabinet library ... by Roswell Park. By: Park, Roswell, 1807-1869 Published: Hogan & Thompson, Philadelphia, 1841.

Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP): “Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) models are a class of neurally inspired information processing models that attempt to model information processing the way it actually takes place in the brain. This model was developed because of findings that a system of neural connections appeared to be distributed in a parallel array in addition to serial pathways. As such, different types of mental processing are considered to be distributed throughout a highly complex neuronetwork. The PDP model has 3 basic principles: 1) the representation of information is distributed (not local); 2) memory and knowledge for specific things are not stored explicitly, but stored in the connections between units; and 3) learning can occur with gradual changes in connection strength by experience. ””

Source: Dictionary of Cognitive Science by Dr. Michael Dawson and Dr. David A. Medler. Accessed 2025-08-30 at: http://www.bcp.psych.ualberta.ca/~mike/Pearl_Street/Dictionary/contents/P/paralleldp.html

Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP): “A computational modelling framework in which cognitive and other mental processes arise from the interactions of simple, neuron-like units through their weighted connections. PDP models are a subset of connectionist or artificial neural network models that use distributed representations (a scheme in which the representation of an item is distributed as a pattern of activity across a pool of units also used for the representation of other items) and that treat any act of information processing as involving the simultaneous participation of many units.”

Source: 'The parallel distributed processing approach to semantic cognition' by James L. McClelland and Timothy T. Rogers. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 2003-04, Vol.4 (4), p.310-322; London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Passage Retrieval: ”Passage retrieval (also called information retrieval) denotes finding the very information or document passage (e.g., a paragraph or an arbitrary length of document segments) the end user needs. In contrast, document retrieval implies getting a full document for the end user, even if only one short passage is needed.”

Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age Chu, H., Medford, New Jersey : Information Today, INc.; 2010. Page 14.

Passage Retrieval: ”Passage Retrieval systems return the precise piece of text where it is supposed to find the answer to the query, a fact that is especially important when large documents are returned.”

Fernando Llopis, José Luis Vicedo and Antonio Ferrández, Using a Passage Retrieval System to Support Question Answering Process. Page 62. Downloaded November 30, 2020, from file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Llopis2002_Chapter_UsingAPassageRetrievalSystemTo.pdf

Passage Retrieval: ”A passage retrieval system can be defined as a specialized type of IR application that retrieves relevant passages (pieces of texts) rather than providing a whole ranked set of documents.”

Mourad Sarrouti, and Said Ouatik El Alaoui. A passage retrieval method based on probabilistic information retrievalmodel and UMLS concepts in biomedical question answering. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 68 (2017) 96–103.

Passage Retrieval: ”Passage retrieval ... is the task of retrieving only the portions of a document that are relevant to a particular information need. It could be useful for limiting the amount of non-relevant material presented to a searcher, or for helping the searcher locate the relevant portions of documents more quickly.”

Courtney Wade and James Allan. Passage Retrieval and Evaluation Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval, Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. Downloaded November 30, 2020, from http://maroo.cs.umass.edu/getpdf.php?id=541.

Philology: n. About 1395 philologie the personification of knowledge pertaining to language and literature; borrowed from Latin philologa, learned borrowing from Latin philoogia love of learning or literature, from Greek philologíã love of discussion, learning, and literature, from philólogos fond of discussion studious of words (philo- loving + lógos word, speech); for suffix see -Y³. Philology as the study or science of language (1716) is alluded to earlier in philologer a linguistic scholar (1660), philological (1659), and philologue a linguist (1594). —philologist n. 1648, literary person, classical scholar; formed from English philology + -ist. The meaning of a student language, (1716), replaced philologer and philologue.

The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology / edited by Robert K. Barnhart. New York : Harper Collins Publishers, c1995. Page 563.

Phonology: Phonology is the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages. Put more formally, phonology is the study of the categorical organisation of speech sounds in languages; how speech sounds are organised in the mind and used to convey meaning. In this section of the website, we will describe the most common phonological processes and introduce the concepts of underlying representations for sounds versus what is actually produced, the surface form.

Phonology can be related to many linguistic disciplines, including psycholinguistics, cognitive science, sociolinguistics and language acquisition. Principles of phonology can also be applied to treatments of speech pathologies and innovations in technology. In terms of speech recognition, systems can be designed to translate spoken data into text. In this way, computers process the language like our brains do. The same processes that occur in the mind of a human when producing and receiving language occur in machines. One example of machines decoding language is the popular intelligence system, Siri.

Source Centre for Linguistic Research, The University of Sheffield. Accessed December 12, 2025, at: https://sheffield.ac.uk/linguistics/home/all-about-linguistics/about-website/branches-linguistics/phonology

Polysemiotic: Human communication is by default polysemiotic: it involves the spontaneous combination of two or more semiotic systems, the most important ones being language, gesture, and depiction. We formulate an original cognitive-semiotic framework for the analysis of polysemiosis, contrasting this with more familiar systems based on the ambiguous term “multimodality.”

Source 'Analyzing polysemiosis: language, gesture, and depiction in two cultural practices with sand drawing' by Jordan Zlatev, Simon Devylder, Rebecca Defina, Kalina Moskaluk, and Linea Brink Andersen. Semiotica, vol. 2023, no. 253, 2023, pp. 81-116. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2022-0102

Pragmatics: When using language, many aspects of our messages are left implicit in what we say. While grammar is responsible for what we express explicitly, pragmatics explains how we infer additional meanings. The problem is that it is not always a trivial matter to decide which of the meanings conveyed is explicit (grammatical) and which implicit (pragmatic). Pragmatics and Grammar lays out a methodology for students and scholars to distinguish between the two. It explains how and why grammar and pragmatics combine together in natural discourse, and how pragmatic uses become grammatical in time.

Source Description of the book Pragmatics and Grammar by the author, Mira Ariel.

Pragmatics: ...the directive function of speech through which speakers affect the behaviour of others in trying to carry out their intentions.

Source From communication to language—a psychological perspective. Cognition 3 (3):255-287. See page 283.

Pragmatics:

• The study of language use and its relation to language structure and context of utterance.

• The study of how meaning is related to context and situation.

• The study of the effect of context on meaning.

• Speakers’ and addressees’ background attitudes and beliefs, their understanding of the context of an utterance, and their knowledge of how language can be used for a variety of purposes.

• The beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge of the world that speakers and listeners assume in communication.

• The study of how language is used to communicate within its situational context.

• The branch of linguistics that studies language use, in particular the relationship among syntax, semantics, and interpretation in light of the context of the situation.

What these various definitions of pragmatics tell us is that pragmatics deals with meaning and context. They all underscore that users of the language and their attitudes and knowledge matter in determining meaning.

Source: Glossary - Teaching English as a Second Language, Minnesota State University Moorhead. Copied November 1, 2024 from https://web.mnstate.edu/houtsli/tesl551/Pragmatics/page1.htm

Pragmatics: The term "pragmatics" is commonly used in two quite different senses. In linguistic discourse, "pragmatics" refers to the strategies (exploitation of shared knowledge, assumptions about communicative intent, etc.), by which language users relate the dictionary/grammar meaning of utterances to their communicative value in context. "Pragmatics" in this sense deals with what is not encoded in language, and applies to all language use. In language teaching, on the other hand, "pragmatics" generally refers to the encoding of particular communicative functions, especially those relevant to interpersonal exchanges, in specific grammatical and lexical elements of a given language. Confusion between the two senses leads to the common and mistaken claim that all the structures of a language encode two levels of meaning, "semantic" and "pragmatic," both of which must be learnt for communicative competence. A further common claim, that earlier language teaching failed to consider pragmatic aspects of language, is equally unfounded.

Source 'Grammar, Meaning and Pragmatics: Sorting Out the Muddle' by Michael Swan. Accessed online December 8, 2025, at: https://tesl-ej.org/ej42/a4.html

Pragmatics: Pragmatics is a field of linguistics dedicated to the study of the connection between linguistic forms and the context of their use. Pragmaticians observe how meaning is produced, understood, and co-constructed among speakers in and across social contexts to achieve specific communicative purposes. For example, when a speaker says “It’s pouring rain”, they might be simply describing the current weather or suggesting that they should cancel a hike they planned. Because of this, utterances like the example above have conventional implicatures, which one can interpret depending on a particular context. The speaker’s meaning and the addressee’s understanding and interpretation of what the speaker says depend on their shared context. Pragmatics therefore also involves the study of how context contributes to evaluations of meaning, and related discrepancies between what both the speaker and the recipient think was said.

Source 'Pragmatics: An Overview' by Naoko Taguchi and Dániel Z. Kádár. In Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics Pragmatics.

Pragmataics: Pragmatics has been notoriously hard to define. Or rather, it has proven quite impossible to reconcile between the patterning of phenomena assumed to be classical pragmatic topics (deixis and reference, speech acts, conversational and conventional implicatures, presuppositions, functional syntax) and the common set of definitions for pragmatics, (most notably, context dependency, inferentiality, nontruth conditionality and others). In order to resolve the delimitation problem of the field we are forced to first abandon the expectation that all the definitional criteria converge on classifying some phenomenon as pragmatic (or as grammatical). In other words, we cannot expect that any given pragmatic phenomenon will simultaneously meet all the critical definitions for pragmatics (and vice versa for grammatical phenomena). For example, while deixis is pragmatic in that it is context-dependent, it cannot meet the nontruth-conditionality criteria (for it contributes a truth-conditional meaning).

Source Pragmatics and Grammar by Mira Ariel. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, c2008. See page 1.

Pragmatics: “Pragmatics in linguistics deals with the study of language in context—how context influences the interpretation of meaning in communication. It focuses on how people use language in social situations, considering factors like implied meaning, context, intentions, and presuppositions to understand communication beyond just the literal words used..“

Source: Pragmatics in Linguistics, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris. Accessed 2025-09-08 at: https://pbi.ftk.uin-alauddin.ac.id/homepage

Pragmatics: “Pragmatics is the study of the aspects of meaning and language use that are dependent on the speaker, the addressee and other features of the context of utterance, such as the following:

•The effect that the following have on the speaker’s choice of expression and the addressee’s interpretation of an utterance:

◦ Context of utterance

◦ Generally observed principles of communication

◦ The goals of the speaker

•Programmatic concerns, such as

◦ the treatment of given versus new information, including presupposition

◦ deixis

◦ speech acts, especially illocutionary acts

◦ implicature, and

◦ the relations of meaning or function between portions of discourse

(see interpropositional relation) or turns of conversation (see conversation analysis).“

Source: SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms, accessed 2025-09-08 at https://glossary.sil.org/term/pragmatics

Pragmatics: Pragmatics deals with utterances, by which we will mean specific events, the intentional acts of speakers at times and places, typically involving language. Logic and semantics traditionally deal with properties of types of expressions, and not with properties that differ from token to token, or use to use, or, as we shall say, from utterance to utterance, and vary with the particular properties that differentiate them. Pragmatics is sometimes characterized as dealing with the effects of context. This is equivalent to saying it deals with utterances, if one collectively refers to all the facts that can vary from utterance to utterance as ‘context.’ One must be careful, however, for the term is often used with more limited meanings.

Source Pragmatics’ in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy See first sentence in '1. Introduction.' Accessed online December 8, 2025, at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pragmatics/

Pragmatics: Syntax studies sentences, semantics studies propositions. Pragmatics is the study of linguistic acts and the contexts in which they are performed. There are two major types of problems to be solved within pragmatics: first, to define interesting types of speech acts and speech products; second, to characterize the features of the speech context which help determine which proposition is expressed by a given sentence. … It is a semantic problem to specify the rules for matching up sentences of a natural language with the propositions that they express. In most cases, however, the rules will not match sentences directly with propositions, but will match sentences with propositions relative to features of the context in which the sentence is used. Those contextual features are part of the subject matter of pragmatics.

Source ‘Pragmatics’ in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. See paragraph 4 in ‘5. Some Definitions of Pragmatics.’ Accessed January 5, 2026 at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pragmatics/

Pramatics: • The Study of the practical aspects of human action and thought, • The study of the use of linguistic sign, words, and sentences, in actual situations.

Pragmatics outlines the study of meaning in the interactional context. It looks beyond the literal meaning of an utterance and considers how meaning is constructed as well as focusing on implied meanings. It considers language as an instrument of interaction, what people mean when they use language and how we communicate and understand each other.

University of Sheffield, Centre for Linguistic Research. Accessed 2024-06-07 at https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/linguistics/home/all-about-linguistics/about-website/branches-linguistics/pragmatics/what-pragmatics

Protolanguage: (n.) in genetic linguistics, a posited common ancestor of the members of a language family. Most protolanguages have been partially reconstructed through comparison among different members of a language family. The most celebrated protolanguage is Proto-Indo-European, the unrecorded prehistoric language that is presumed to be the ancestor of all Indo-European languages. See sound change.

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/

Protolanguage: For the sake of clarity, the term protolanguage as used in this essay will refer exclusively to the hypothesised, intermediate communicative stage(s) between a non-linguistic forebear and a language-using (in the modern sense) human.

Source 'The History of the Holistic Protolanguage Idea' by Jeff Hallam. (2009) The University of Edinburgh.

Public Library: Per the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a public library is established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, and provides at least the following:

1) an organized collection of printed or other library materials, or a combination thereof;

2) paid staff;

3) an established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the public;

4) the facilities necessary to support such a collection, staff, and schedule, and

5) is supported in whole or in part with public funds.

Public libraries continue to be places for education and self-help, and offer opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds. They offer opportunity for everyone to learn and to pursue self-improvement. In response to community needs for information, many libraries offer such programs as English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, homework help, after-school programs for children, job information centers, assistance for new immigrants, literacy programs, and much, much more. To serve such community needs, public libraries collect and make available information in many, many formats.

Source The American Library Association Resource Guids. Accessed February 28, 2026 at: https://libguides.ala.org/library-definition

Reading: “...the ability to decode written words into spoken words.”

Source: Language and Literacy: The Sociolinguistics of Reading and Writing by Michael Stubbs. London ; Boston : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.

Rehearsal: n. 1) preparation for a forthcoming event or confrontation that is anticipated with some level of discomfort or anxiety. By practicing what is to be said or done in a future event the individual may lessen the stress of the event itself. Rehearsal may be carried out in psychotherapy with the therapist coaching or role-playing to help the individual practice for the event. See also behavior rehearsal; mental rehearsal; role play.

2) the repetition of information in an attempt to maintain it longer in memory. According to the dual-store model of memory, rehearsal occurs in short-term memory and may allow a stronger trace to then be stored in long-term memory. Although rehearsal implies a verbal process, it is hypothesized to occur in other modalities as well. See also depth-of-processing hypothesis..

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed October 21, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/rehearsal

Rehearsal: People often engage in a behavior known as rehearsal in an attempt to improve their memory. Rehearsal can be carried out by: (1) the repetition of verbal information to oneself known as articulatory rehearsal; (2) the enrichment of (verbal and non-verbal) memory traces through associations with other contents in long-term memory, i.e., elaborative rehearsal; or, (3) the use of attention to reactivate memory traces (of any type), known as attentional refreshing. In this project, our aim is to assess if and under which conditions these different forms of rehearsal improve the retention of information over the short-term (i.e., in working memory).

Source ‘The Role of Rehearsal in Working Memory” Department of Psychology, University of Zurich. Accessed online January 5, 2026 at: https://www.psychology.uzh.ch/en/areas/nec/allgpsy/research/past-projects/rehearsal-working-memory.html

Repertoire: ;n. the sum total of potential behavior or responses that a person or nonhuman animal is capable of performing. It usually refers to behavior that has been learned and is generally quantified through the study of past behavior. Also called behavioral repertoire.

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed October 14, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/repertoire

Resource Description Framework (RDF): ”The basic language for writing metadata; a foundation which provides a robust flexible architecture for processing metadata on the Internet. RDF will retain the capability to exchange metadata between application communities, while allowing each community to define and use the metadata that best serves their needs. For more information see http://www.w3.org/RDF/”

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/

Resource Discovery: ”The process through which one searches and retrieves an information resource.”

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/

Retrieval: ”Retrieval … is communication in time, and can only with difficulty be forced into … a general scheme. The information source is here a document in which information is recorded for later use. The writer hopes and expects that others will at a later date read what he has written. In selecting the document for store, we echo his hope. But the 'source' in Retrieval is not the active, transmitting agent that it is in telecommunication. It is the 'receiver' who sends the message, a request for documents on a certain subject, and this message is not simply encoded and transmitted, it is transformed from descriptors to addresses and thence into documents, and sent back to the sender. … The 'transformer' is the selector which searches the descriptor file, and the 'decoder' is the locator which searches and extracts items from the document store, the only source of new information for the 'destination'.”

Source: Vickery, B. C. (Brian Campbell), On retrieval system theory. London: Archon Books, 1965. Page 6.

Retrieval Cue: A prompt or stimulus used to guide memory recall. See cue-dependent forgetting; ecphory; encoding specificity.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online December 27, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/retrieval-cue

Sandboxing: An isolated environment within a computer that allows for testing or running software while preventing the application or its data from affecting the production system. Note: Used as a security mechanism to protect an unknown or untested program from compromising the rest of a computer system

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 47.

Sapiential Paradigm: 1) the repertoire of dominant images, image relationships, symbols, and metaphors used as constitutive elements in the prevailing world view of a society; and 2) the array of structures of description, inference and persuasion used by a society to make decisions, solve problems, and generate conscensus.

Source: Sapience and scarce resources : Communication systems of the !Kung and other foragers; by Megan Biesele. Social Science Information. 17 (1978): 17; 921-947.

Schema (Schemata - plural): A schema (usual plural : schemata) is a mental representation of a situation, topic, text etc which creates expectations and aids (or may aid) interpretation of similar contexts. Different writers divide schemata in different ways and use different terms, but some of the most common categories, and most relevant to language teaching include Social Schemata, Content Schemata, Formal Schemata, Linguistic Schemata, and Ideological Schemata.

Source: An ELT Notebook - A collection of articles on EFL methodology for teachers at all levels of experience.. Accessed online December 1, 2025, at: https://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/10/an-elt-glossary-schema.html

Schema: 1. Logical plan showing the relationships between metadata elements, normally through establishing rules for the use and management of metadata specifically as regards the semantics, the syntax and the optionality (obligation level) of values. Source: ISO 23081-1. [14] 2. In XML, a language used to express the constraints of an XML document.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 47.

Schema: A schema (plural: schemata, or schemas), also known as a scheme (plural: schemes), is a linguistic “template”, “frame”, or “pattern” together with a rule for using it to specify a potentially infinite multitude of phrases, sentences, or arguments, which are called instances of the schema. Schemas are used in logic to specify rules of inference, in mathematics to describe theories with infinitely many axioms, and in semantics to give adequacy conditions for definitions of truth.

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed online December 1, 2025, at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schema/

Schema: A schema (or model, or metadata standard) specifies the set of descriptions that apply to the entire resource type.

Source: The Discipline of Organizing by Robert J. Glushko. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. See page 506.

Schema (Schemata - plural): Schemata are cognitive structures representing generic knowledge, i.e. structures which do not contain information about particular entities, instances or events, but rather about their general form. Readers use schemata to make sense of events and descriptions by providing default background information for comprehension, as it is rare and often unnecessary for texts to contain all the detail required for them to be fully understood. Usually, many or even most of the details are omitted, and readers’ schemata compensate for any gaps in the text. As schemata represent the knowledge base of individuals, they are often culturally and temporally specific, and are ordinarily discussed as collective stores of knowledge shared by prototypical members of a given or assumed community. The term was used in the 1930s in both psychology and literary theory, but entered wider currency in the 1970s in Artificial Intelligence research, later being re-incorporated into psychology and thence into linguistics, within the general area of cognitive science.

Source 'The Living Handbook of Narratology' Interdisciplinary Center for Narratology, University of HamburgHamburg University Press. Accessed online December 1, 2025, at: http://lhn.sub.uni-hamburg.de/index.php/Schemata.html

Schema Theory: Schema Theory is a cognitive framework that explains how individuals organize and integrate new information with their existing knowledge stored in long-term memory. According to this theory, learning occurs when learners activate relevant schemata—mental structures that represent related concepts and experiences—allowing them to make sense of new texts or situations. Schemata function like "slots" in the brain, where each slot holds interconnected information, guiding learners' expectations and interpretations when they encounter new material.

Source EBSCO Knowledge Advantage, Schema Theory. Accessed online December 1, 2025, at: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/psychology/schema-theory

School Libraries: Per the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a public library is established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, and provides at least the following:

Learning for life…whether the focus is on readiness for the next grade or college and career readiness, the school library program plays a crucial role in preparing students for informed living in the 21st century. The school library program provides learning opportunities that enable students to become efficient and effective in the pursuit of information.

Beyond its curricular role, the school library program gives each individual member of the learning community a venue for exploring questions that arise out of individual curiosity and personal interest. As part of the school library program, the school librarian provides leadership in the use of information technologies and instruction for both students and staff in how to use them constructively, ethically, and safely. The school librarian offers expertise in accessing and evaluating information, using information technologies, and collections of quality physical and virtual resources. In addition, the school librarian possesses dispositions that encourage broad and deep exploration of ideas as well as responsible use of information technologies. These attributes add value to the school community.

The school library represents for students one of our most cherished freedoms--the freedom to speak our minds and hear what others have to say. Students in America have the right to choose what they will read, view, or hear and are expected to develop the ability to think clearly, critically, and creatively about their choices, rather than allowing others to do this for them.

Source The American Library Association Resource Guids. Accessed February 28, 2026 at: https://libguides.ala.org/library-definition

Schematicity: “The notion of schematicity pertains to levels of specificity, i.e. the fineness of detail with which something is characterized; … A schema is thus abstract relative to its … elaborations in the sense of providing less information and being compatible with a broader range of options…”

Source: Foundations of cognitive grammar, Volume 1 by R. Langacker (1987). Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Search: ”The act if a user, an information worker on the user's behalf, or an automated system activated by the user or the intermediary, in making a systematic investigation to obtain data or information. Information professionals will be expected to devise a coherent search strategy for this purpose. In database software, the process of seeking out an entry, keyword or phrase the search and may, for instance, use several keywords strung together and qualified by BOOLEAN LOGIC operators such as "AND", "OR" and "NOT".”

Source: John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 569.

Search: ”A systematic examination of records in a file for the purpose of locating specific data or records.”

Heartsill Young, Editor. The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 200.

Semantic: ”(adj.) of or pertaining to meaning, particularly that of words and other symbols. For example, semantic analysis is a computational process for examining in detail the language used within a text so as to extract and analyze its stated and often implied meanings; the method utilizes statistical manipulations of word usage frequencies to clarify relationships among elements or identify thematic patterns.”

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/semantic

Semantic Knowledge: “Knowledge about objects and their properties, and of relationships between and among them, including knowledge of word meanings. General encyclopaedic knowledge is sometimes also included.”

Source: 'The parallel distributed processing approach to semantic cognition' by James L. McClelland and Timothy T. Rogers. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 2003-04, Vol.4 (4), p.310-322; London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Semantics: ”The branch of linguistics concerned with the meaning of the words, signs, and symbols that constitute the elements of change and evolution in a spoken or written language. Also, the branch of semiotics that deals with relationships of meaning between signs, and between signs and their referents, within a system of communication. See also: semantic relation.”

Source: Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Joan M. Reitz,ABC-CLIO, LLC. At: https://products.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_s.aspx

Semantic Gap: ”The semantic gap is the difference in perspective in naming and description when resources are described by automated processes rather than by people.”

Source: Robert J. Glushko, Editor. The Discipline of Organizing. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 506.

Semantic Interoperability: ”Ability to search for digital information across heterogeneous distributed databases whose metadata schemas have been mapped to one another. It is achieved through agreements about content description standards; for example, Dublin Core, Anglo-American Cataloging Rules.”

Source: DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/

Semantic Memory: Semantic memory includes general and factual knowledge about the world and abstract concepts (noetic consciousness). It allows individuals to make sense of information and/or to engage in cognitive processes such as object recognition or appropriate language use.

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Semantic Space: Most efforts to explain the mysteries of meaning have begun by looking at the meanings of individual words. We tend to regard the lexicon of a language as a list of items, and indeed this is how dictionaries traditionally present it. In a thesaurus, true, words are grouped according to meaning, but they are still atomic entities, sharply demarcated from their neighbors. Neither thesaurus nor dictionary conveys any suggestion that, perhaps, the range of meaning of a word can be defined only through the ranges of meaning of its neighbors. Yet for some time in the backwaters of linguistics there has been floating around the idea that there exists something called semantic space, an area of meaning that the lexicon simply carves into convenient chunks, according to principles yet to be fully understood. To some, these principles are quite arbitrary; to others, they directly reflect the perceptual equipment of our species. If we translate ‘arbitrary’ as ‘following only the logic of the map’, then perhaps both viewpoints are partly right.

Source: Language & species, Derek Bickerton. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c1990. See pages 36-37.

Semiotic Resources: “In social semiotics resources are signifiers, observable actions and objects that have been drawn into the domain of social communication and that have a theoretical semiotic potential constituted by all their past uses and all their potential uses and an actual semiotic potential constituted by those past uses that are known to and considered relevant by the users of the resource, and by such potential uses as might be uncovered by the users on the basis of their specific needs and interests. Such uses take place in a social context, and this context may either have rules or best practices that regulate how specific semiotic resources can be used, or leave the users relatively free in their use of the resource.”

Source: 'Refining concepts for empirical multimodal research: defining semiotic modes and semiotic resources' by Jacopo Castaldi. Frontiers in communication 2024-03, Vol.9; Frontiers Media S.A

Semiotics: “(n.) the study of verbal and nonverbal signs and of the ways in which they communicate meaning within particular sign systems. Unlike semantics, which restricts itself to the meanings expressed in language, semiotics is concerned with human symbolic activity generally. As an academic discipline, semiotics developed within the general framework of 20th-century structuralism, taking as its premise the view that signs can only generate meanings within a pattern of relationships to other signs. Also called semiology. [introduced by Charles S. Peirce]“

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/semiotics

Semiotics: “The discipline […] of semiology addresses every imaginable environment and system of signs. It states that language is just one of the many communication mechanisms – graphic, acoustic, olfactory, tactile, symbolic; […] The life of the individual and of the species depends on the rapid and / or correct reading and interpretation of a range of vital information. There is a vocabulary, a grammar, maybe even a semantics of colors, sounds, smells, tissues and gestures, as complicated as those of language, and the problems of deciphering and translating them can be as difficult as those that I met [in the linguistic field, our note, DSS]“

Source: After Babel : aspects of language and translation by George Steiner (1929-2020). 1975; New York : Oxford University Press.

SemioticsL: “The science of signs and sign systems; it is built round the distinction between the signifier, the sign and the signified. The discipline is often divided into three main subdivisions: semantics, syntactics and pragmatics, each of which can be pure, descriptive or applied. The significance of semiotics for INFORMATION THEORY is its abiity to provide an analytic framework for forms of documentation and modes of COMMUNICATION..“

International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. Edited by John Feather and Paul Sturges.London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 574.

Semiotics: “n. 1880, borrowed from Greek sémeiótikós observant of signs, adjective to sémeíõsis indication (earlier ★ sēmeíōtis), from sēmeioûn to signal, from sēmeioûn sign, from sêma sign; for suffix see –ICS. A form of the word closer to Greek is found in English semiotics that branch of medicine dealing with the interpretation of symptoms (1670), and is referred to even earlier in the adjective semeiotical (1588). In the general sense of signs or symbols and the study of their use in conveying meaning, the word is recorded as early as 1641.“

The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology edited by Robert K. Barnhart. New York : Harper Collins Publishers, c1995. Page 702.

Semi-Structured Data: Semi-structured data describe their own data model (self-describing). Semi-structured data are expressed in formats like the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) for sharing proprietary data sets, sensitive configurations parameters, and other information.

Source 'Data Classification Concepts and Considerations for Improving Data Protection' by William Newhouse, Murugiah Souppaya, John Kent, Ken Sandlin, and Karen Scarfone. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, NIST Interagency Report (IR) 8496.

Sensory Memory: brief storage of information from each of the senses, in a relatively unprocessed form beyond the duration of a stimulus, for recoding into another memory (such as short-term memory) or for comprehension. For instance, sensory memory for visual stimuli, called iconic memory, holds a visual image for less than a second, whereas that for auditory stimuli, called echoic memory, retains sounds for a little longer. Also called sensory-information store (SIS); sensory register.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed online January 5, 2026, at: https://dictionary.apa.org/sensory-memory

Sensory Memory: Sensory memory (sensory register) is a quick collection of information from your senses. It’s highly detailed and has a large capacity. It only lasts for a couple of seconds. Information moves from your sensory memory to your short-term memory. Different parts of your brain help your sensory memory function.

Source Cleveland Clinic. Accessed online January 5, 2026, at: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/sensory-memory

Sensory Memory: Sensory memory refers to very short-term memories about perceptions of the world through the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. A fraction of the information captured in sensory memory immediately after perception is thought to be transferred to short-term memory, some of which ultimately persists in some form in long-term memory.

Source Psychology Today. Accessed January 5, 2026 at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/subpage/sensory-memory’

Sensory Memory: Sensory memory refers to the brief retention of a sensory stimulus after it has ended, with a fade time of approximately 0.5 seconds. It is a system that exists for each of our sensory systems, including iconic memory for visual images and echoic memory for sounds, with storage times of approximately half a second and up to two seconds, respectively.

Source From: Understanding Psychology for Medicine and Nursing [2019], Revision Notes in Psychiatry [2019], Psychiatry: An evidence-based text [2019]. Accessed January 5, 2026 at: https://taylorandfrancis.com/knowledge/Medicine_and_healthcare/Neurology/Sensory_memory/

Short-Term Memory (STM): The reproduction, recognition, or recall of a limited amount of material after a period of about 10 to 30 seconds. STM is often theorized to be separate from long-term memory, and the two are the components of the dual-store model of memory. STM is frequently tested in intelligence or neuropsychological examinations. See also immediate memory; modal model of memory; multistore model of memory; primary memory; working memory.

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed October 14, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/short-term-memory

Sign: Any physical phenomenon that conveys a conventional or subjective meaning, usually depending on the environment.

Examples: events; gestures; images; marks; movements; objects; patterns; sounds

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 63.

Signaling Cascades: Signal transduction is the process through which cells communicate with the external environment, interpret stimuli and respond to them. This mechanism is controlled by signaling cascades, which play the role of intracellular transmitter, being able to transmit biochemical information between cell membrane and nucleus. In theory as well as in practice, it has been shown that a perturbation can propagate upstream (and not only downstream) a cascade, by a mechanism known as retroactivity. (Underlining Added)

Source 'Signaling cascades transmit information downstream and upstream but unlikely simultaneously' by Simona Catozzi, Juan Pablo Di-Bella, Alejandra C Ventura, and Jacques-Alexandre Sepulchre. BioMed Central Systems Biology. 2016 Aug 25;10(1):84. doi: 10.1186/s12918-016-0303-2. PMID: 27561377; PMCID: PMC5000522.

Signaling Cascades: Signaling cascades, series of molecules that sequentially activate each other, are ubiquitous in cellular systems. They have long been thought to amplify input signals as each molecule in the cascade can serially activate multiple molecules of a downstream component of the cascade. However, doubts have been raised about whether cellular conditions actually allow for this. Cascades have also been considered to modulate the duration and timing of signals, filter noise, and otherwise regulate cellular decisions.

Source 'Signaling Cascades Modulate the Speed of Signal Propagation through Space' by Christopher C. Govern and Arup K. Chakraborty. Published: February 27, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0004639. Accessed online December 25, 2025 at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0004639

Source Document: 1. The document with the highest resolution from which lower resolution copies can be made. 2. The document first created and from which others may derive.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 49.

Speech, Inner: See Inner Speech

Spoken Language: Oral language is typically associated by linguists with conversation that is produced, processed, and then evaluated in the context of face-to-face exchange and grounded in interpersonal relationships that are often clearly established. Oral language is adapted to a specific audience and to sociocultural settings and communities that are presumably present, functioning in a context of here and now.

Comprehending oral and written language, edited by Rosalind Horowitz, S. Jay Samuels. San Diego : Academic Press, c1987. See page 7.

Stop List: A list of words not to be used as descriptors in automatic indexing. Words in a stop list are generally articles1, conjunctions, and prepositions, but also terms which occur so frequently in a particular collection' of documents that they have little or no value as descriptors; for example, the term “car” in documents of a car.manufacturer may be put on a stop list. The elimination of stop words from searchable terms may, however, occasionally cause false drops

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 64.

Structural Metadata: See also "Administraative Metadata" and "Descriptive Metadata."

Structural Metadata: “Structural metadata defines the digital object's internal organization and is needed for display and navigation of that object.“

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo

Structured Data: See also: Unstructured Data

Structured Data: Structured data in a common sense, are complex data, constructed by atomic data residing in fixed fields within a definite structure.

Source ‘A Formal Representation for Structured Data’ by Janos Demetrovics, Hua Nam Son. And Akos Guban. January 2016. Acta Polytechnica Hungarica Vol. 13, No. 2, 2016.

Structured Data Structured data is data that has a standardized format for efficient access by software and humans alike. It is typically tabular with rows and columns that clearly define data attributes. Computers can effectively process structured data for insights due to its quantitative nature. For example, a structured customer data table containing columns—name, address, and phone number—can provide insights like the total number of customers and the locality with the maximum number of customers. In contrast, unstructured data, like a list of social media posts, is more challenging to analyze.

Source Amazon Web Services. Accessed 2024-06-07 at https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/structured-data/#:~:text=Structured%20data%20is%20data%20that,due%20to%20its%20quantitative%20nature.

Structured data: Structured data is typically quantitative data that is organized and easily searchable. The programming language Structured Query Language (SQL) is used in a relational database to “query” to input and search within structured data. Common types of structured data include names, addresses, credit card numbers, telephone numbers, star ratings from customers, bank information, and other data that can be easily searched using SQL.

Source Coursera. Accessed 2024-06-07 at https://www.coursera.org/articles/structured-vs-unstructured-data.

Structured Data: Structured data refers to data that have been organized into a structured format, such as a table or a spreadsheet, with a clear schema or data model that defines the relationships between different data elements. Structured data can be easily analyzed since such data follows a predefined data model. A data model, such as relational, object-oriented, or hierarchical, defines how data can be stored, processed, and accessed. For instance, in the relational data model, data are usually stored in row-column or tabular format. Excel files and relational databases are common examples of structured data. Structured data can easily be arranged in a specific order for effective searching. Every data field in distinct and can be accessed independently or in conjunction with information from other fields.

Source ‘Data, sources, and generation’ by Jugal K. Kalita, Dhruba K. Bhattacharyya, and Swarup. Pages 15-30 in Fundamentals of Data Science (2024).

Structured Data: Structured data—typically categorized as quantitative data—is highly organized and easily decipherable by machine learning algorithms.

Source IBM. Accessed 2024-06-07 at https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/structured-vs-unstructured-data#:~:text=What%20is%20structured%20data%3F,used%20to%20manage%20structured%20data.

Structured Data: Structured data is data that uses a predefined and expected format. This can come from many different sources, but the common factor is that the fields are fixed, as is the way that it is stored (hence , structured). This predetermined data model enables easy entry, querying, and analysis.

Source Oracle. Accessed 2024-06-07 at https://www.oracle.com/big-data/structured-vs-unstructured-data/

Structured Data: Structured data follow a physical data model that describes in detail how the data are to be represented and how a representation should be interpreted. Structured data may be found in a database or other mechanism that clearly indicates what type of information each data field contains, like customer ID or part number. Structured data can be validated against the data model to ensure their meaningfulness.

Source 'Data Classification Concepts and Considerations for Improving Data Protection' by William Newhouse, Murugiah Souppaya, John Kent, Ken Sandlin, and Karen Scarfone. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, NIST Interagency Report (IR) 8496.

Structured Information: Any information ordered in a defined and previously known format so humans and/or applications handling that information know exactly where to find it. Note: An example is a relational database with tables, data fields, and relations among fields in different tables. See also semistructured information and unstructured information.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 50.

Surrogate: “Surrogates, or substitutes, are used for various purposes in LIS. In PRESERVATION, a surrogate can be a copy of a document created to protect the original, created by photography or DIGITIZATION, which is offered to all users other than those for whom direct examination of the original is unavoidable. In special librarianship and information science, it could be an ABSTRACT or other summary of a document, which is capable of satisfying user requirements in a proportion of cases.“

John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 625.

Surrogate: “A library catalog is a surrogate for the actual collection. It is made up of brief representations of items in the library collection. A library catalog entry is a surrogate for the item, with key information that describes the item such as author, title, publication information and physical characteristics. The catalog also places items in a topical representation of knowledge using subject headings and classification numbers. These topical entities add another layer of indirection: libraries build artificial knowledge organization systems for the purposes of description, which are considered to be first-order objects by themselves. In Semantic Web terms [1], http://libris.kb.se/resource/bib/9800324 identifies "real-world object" book: its dc:creator value refers to the author of the book, not the Swedish Library which curates the bibliographic data. But http://viaf.org/viaf/95152561, an authority item, does not identify a real person directly. It identifies a name authority cluster created by VIAF, which eventually leads to a resource standing for the person itself (http://viaf.org/viaf/24604287/#foaf:Person). See [2] for a short discussion on this.“

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/cooluris/#semweb

[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-swbp-skos-core-guide-20051102/#secmodellingrdf

Library terminology informally explained. W3C Semantic Web. Copied 2022-01-04 from https://www.w3.org/2001/sw/wiki/Library_terminology_informally_explained

Surrogate: A representation of a document in a bibliography, catalog, index, or information storage and retrieval system, such as a bibliographic description (which may be accompanied by an abstract).

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 66.

SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) A particular method for presenting information in the form of an assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that serves as an aid to decision making.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 51.

Symbol: A characterrepresenting something otherthan itself by association, resemblance, or convention.

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 67.

Symbolosphere: The symbolosphere, originally introduced by Schumann (2003a & b), consists of the human mind and all its abstract thoughts and symbolic communication processes such as spoken and written language and the other products of the human mind such as music, art, mathematics, science, and technology. In the neo-dualistic approach of Logan and Schumann (in press) the human brain and the mind are seen as distinct entities with the brain belonging to the physiosphere and the mind to the symbolosphere. This model of neo-dualism grew out of Schumann’s (2003a & b) notion of the symbolosphere and Logan’s notion of the Extended Mind (1997, 2000 & in preparation), which posits that the mind is the product of the human brain plus verbal language.

Cited Resource: Schumann, John H. 2003a. The evolution of language: What evolved? Paper presented at the Colloquium on Derek Bickerton’s Contributions to Creolistics and Related Fields, The Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics Summer Conference, Aug. 14-17, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.

Symbolosphere: As the child masters the linguistic symbols of her culture she thereby acquires the ability to adopt multiple perspective simultaneously on one and the same perceptual situation. As perspectivally based cognitive representations, then, linguistic symbols are based not on the recording of direct sensory or motor experience, as are the cognitive representations of other animal species and human infants, but rather on the way in which individuals choose to construe things out of a number of other ways they might have construed them, as embodied in the other available linguistic symbols that they might have chosen, but did not. Linguistics symbols thus free human cognition from the immediate perceptual situation not simply by enabling reference to things outside this situation but rather by enabling multiple simultaneous representations of each and every, indeed all possible, perceptual situations. (ibid.)

Tomasello’s arguments quoted above support the notion that words and symbols are fuzzy, relativistic and hence multiperspectival. If one regards the symbolosphere as a mathematical set of symbols and the relationships among them and if one applies Gödel's Theorem then the set cannot be both complete and logically consistent. In other words one should expect a certain amount of fuzziness from the symbolosphere, which does not in any way compromise its usefulness as a way of describing human cognition and communication."

Source: Logan, Robert K. and Schumann, John H. (2005) The symbolosphere, conceptualization, language, and neo-dualism. Semiotica, 2005 (155). pp. 201-2014. ISSN 0037-1998 Available at http://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/887/

Cited Resource: Schumann, John H. 2003b. 2003b. The evolution of the symbolosphere. Great Ideas in the Social Sciences Lecture, UCLA Center for Governance, Nov. 21.

Source: 'Neo-dualism and the bifurcation of the symbolosphere into the mediasphere and the human mind' by Robert K. Logan. Semiotica, 2006 (160). pp. 229-242. ISSN 0037-1998.

Symbolosphere: Following Deacon (1997), this paper argues that human symbolic abilities, particularly as manifest in language, create an invisible, nonmaterial domain in which we live. This domain is called the symbolosphere, and it affects our lives as profoundly as do the physiosphere and biosphere. In the course cultural evolution, technologies developed to amplify the symbolosphere (writing, print, radio, television, telephone, telegraph, fax, the Internet, etc.). The symbolosphere has downward causation on the human biological organisms from which it emerged. This causation is illustrated in examples from science, religion, psychotherapy, and linguistic phenomena such as blends . Finally, it is hypothesized that the symbolosphere is actually what has traditionally been thought of as mind.

Cited Resource: The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the brain by Terrence W. Deacon (1997). New York: Norton.

Source 'Evolution of the Symbolosphere', by John H. Schumann. University of California Los Angeles.

Symbolosphere: The symbolosphere, originally introduced by Schumann (2003a & b), consists of the human mind and all its abstract thoughts and symbolic communication processes such as spoken and written language and the other products of the human mind such as music, art, mathematics, science, and technology. In the neo-dualistic approach of Logan and Schumann (in press) the human brain and the mind are seen as distinct entities with the brain belonging to the physiosphere and the mind to the symbolosphere. This model of neo-dualism grew out of Schumann’s (2003a & b) notion of the symbolosphere and Logan’s notion of the Extended Mind (1997, 2000 ' in preparation), which posits that the mind is the product of the human brain plus verbal language.

Source 'Neo-dualism and the bifurcation of the symbolosphere into the mediasphere and the human mind' by Robert K. Logan (2006). Semiotica, 2006 (160). pp. 229-242. ISSN 0037-1998.

Symbolosphere: …As the child masters the linguistic symbols of her culture she thereby acquires the ability to adopt multiple perspective simultaneously on one and the same perceptual situation. As perspectivally based cognitive representations, then, linguistic symbols are based not on the recording of direct sensory or motor experience, as are the cognitive representations of other animal species and human infants, but rather on the way in which individuals choose to construe things out of a number of other ways they might have construed them, as embodied in the other available linguistic symbols that they might have chosen, but did not. Linguistics symbols thus free human cognition from the immediate perceptual situation not simply by enabling reference to things outside this situation but rather by enabling multiple simultaneous representations of each and every, indeed all possible, perceptual situations. (Tomasello 1999: 8-9)

Tomasello’s arguments quoted above support the notion that words and symbols are fuzzy, relativistic and hence multiperspectival. If one regards the symbolosphere as a mathematical set of symbols and the relationships among them and if one applies Gödel's Theorem then the set cannot be both complete and logically consistent. In other words one should expect a certain amount of fuzziness from the symbolosphere, which does not in any way compromise its usefulness as a way of describing human cognition and communication.

Cited Resource: The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition by Michael Tomasello (1999). MA: Harvard University Press.

Source'The Symbolosphere, Conceptualiztion, Language and Neo-Dualism', (Draft) by Robert K. Logan and John H. Schumann. Semiotica, 2005 (155), pp. 201-2014. ISSN 0037-1998.

Symbolosphere: …language is not essentially in the brain or of the brain. Instead, it exists as cultural constructs or artifacts. There are many other artifacts of the same nature. All of them exist and function in social mentality. We call all these artifacts the symbolosphere. The symbolosphere exists through an invisible and nonmaterial technology that functions in our environment and affects our behavior as profoundly as does the biosphere. Language is a part of this system.

Source 'The Symbolosphere and the Structure of the World' by Mark Burgin and John H. Schumann. Semiotica, 2006-01, Vol.2006 (160), p.185-202; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter

Synapse: n. the specialized junction through which neural signals are transmitted from one neuron (the presynaptic neuron) to another (the postsynaptic neuron). In most synapses, the knoblike ending (terminal button) of the axon of a presynaptic neuron faces the dendrite or cell body of the postsynaptic neuron across a narrow gap, the synaptic cleft. The arrival of a neural signal triggers the release of neurotransmitter from synaptic vesicles in the terminal button into the synaptic cleft. Here the molecules of neurotransmitter activate receptors in the postsynaptic membrane and cause the opening of ion channels in the postsynaptic cell. This may lead to excitation or inhibition of the postsynaptic cell, depending on which ion channels are affected. Also called synaptic junction. See also axo-axonal synapse; electrical synapse. —synaptic adj.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed December 31, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/synapse

Synapse: The space between the end of a nerve cell and another cell. Nerve impulses are usually carried to the neighboring cell by chemicals called neurotransmitters, which are released by the nerve cell and are taken up by another cell on the other side of the synapse. The neighboring cell may be another nerve cell, a muscle cell, or a gland cell.

Source National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer Terms. Accessed December 31, 2025 at: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/synapse

Synaptic Consolidation: Synapses can be plastic, which means that their strength can vary. A change in synaptic strength can last for different lengths of time: we speak about short-term plasticity when the change lasts up to a few minutes, early-long-term plasticity when it lasts up to a few hours and late-long-term plasticity when it lasts beyond the experiment’s duration (which is often about 10 h) but is thought to last much longer even, possibly a life-time. This last type of plasticity is also called synaptic consolidation or maintenance. This process allows relevant memories to be consolidated within a single synapse, so that new memories can no longer alter previously consolidated ones.

Source 'Synaptic consolidation: an approach to long-term learning' by Claudia Clopath. Cognitive Neurodynamics. 2012 Jun;6(3):251-7. doi: 10.1007/s11571-011-9177-6. Epub 2011 Oct 22. PMID: 23730356; PMCID: PMC3368062.

Synaptic Plasticity: Synaptic plasticity refers to the adaptive changes that occur at the synapse, resulting in the strengthening or weakening of synaptic connections. It is a fundamental mechanism involved in learning and memory, and it is influenced by factors such as neurotransmitter release and activation of neighboring structures.

Source ScienceDirect. Accessed online December 25, 2025 at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/synaptic-plasticity

Synaptic Plasticity: Both in scientific writing and in the media, it has become commonplace to refer to the brain as “plastic.” The term has been applied to a number of diverse neurologic and psychiatric phenomena, anywhere from explaining the effects of meditation on the brain, to describing the neural changes that take place when a person falls in love. Yet, whereas Plato used “wax” metaphorically, nowadays when we say the brain is plastic we are referring to actual processes occurring in neurons. At its most basic level, plasticity refers to the ability of the brain to physically change. Although this may sound trivial today, the idea is relatively new from a historical perspective and did not come into common use until around the 1950s. Before then, the brain was thought to be completely formed–and static–by the time we reached adolescence. (Underlining Added)

Source 'Synaptic Plasticity: The Role of Learning and Unlearning in Addiction and Beyond' by Alejandro Ramirez and Melissa R Arbuckle. Biological Psychiatry. 2016 Nov 1;80(9):e73-e75. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.09.002. Epub 2016 Sep 8. PMID: 27697156; PMCID: PMC5347979.

Synaptic Plasticity: Synaptic plasticity controls how effectively two neurons communicate with each other. The strength of communication between two synapses can be likened to the volume of a conversation. When neurons talk, they do so at different volumes – some neurons whisper to each other while others shout. The volume setting of the synapse, or the synaptic strength, is not static, but rather can change in both the short term and long term. Synaptic plasticity refers to these changes in synaptic strength.

Source 'What is synaptic plasticity?', Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland. Accessed online December 25, 2025 at: https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-basics/brain/brain-physiology/what-synaptic-plasticity

Synaptic Transmitter – (See: Neurotransmitter): Neurotransmitter - n. any of a large number of chemicals that can be released by neurons to mediate transmission of nerve signals across the junctions (synapses) between neurons. When triggered by a nerve impulse, the neurotransmitter is released from the terminal button (see axon), travels across the synaptic cleft, and binds to and reacts with receptor molecules in the postsynaptic membrane. Neurotransmitters include amines (e.g., norepinephrine, serotonin) and amino acids (e.g., glutamate, glycine). Some neurotransmitters can be categorized as generally excitatory (e.g., glutamate, glysine) or generally inhibitory (e.g. gamma-aminobutyric acid). Excitatory neurotransmitters exert a facilitatory or activating downstream effect on postsynaptic neurons. That is, they depolarize the postsynaptic neurons, resulting in a greater likelihood of an action potential. Inhibitory neurotransmitters hyperpolarize the postsynaptic neurons—thereby making the intracellular space more negative, and hence, requiring a greater positive charge to overcome—resulting in a smaller likelihood of an action potential. However, some neurotransmitters have both excitatory and inhibitory receptors; these include acetylcholine and dopamine. Also called chemical transmitter; synaptic transmitter.

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed December 31, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/neurotransmitter

Syntax: “(n.) the set of rules that describes how words and phrases in a language are arranged into grammatical sentences, or the branch of linguistics that studies such rules. With morphology, syntax is one of the two traditional subdivisions of grammar. —syntactic or syntactical adj.“

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/syntax

Syntax: “Syntax is the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages. Syntactic investigation of a given language has as its goal the construction of a grammar that can be viewed as a device of some sort for producing the sentences of the language under analysis.”

Syntactic structures, by Noam Chomsky. The Hague, Mouton 1968. See page 1.

Syntax: The rules for the indication of relations among terms of an indexing language and for the construction of headings.

Example: Syntactic rules for a pre-coordinated index may state that multiword headings must be listed in natural language order, that is, no inverted headings are allowed as descriptors. The syntactic rules for a post-coordinated index may state that “coal mining” should be split by semanticfactoring into “coal” + “mining.”

See also function word

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 67.

Syntax: Syntax refers to the rules for organizing elements - word segments, words, sentences into a grammatical discourse - to generate combinatorial and hierarchical structures.

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Syntax: "n. 1605, orderly arrangement of parts or elements; borrowed from French syntax, and directly from Late Latin syntaxis, from Greek sýntaxis a putting together or in order, arrangement, syntax, from stem of syntássein put in order (syn- together, syn-¹ + tássein; arrange). The grammatical sense is first recorded in English in 1613. —syntactic adj. 1807, belonging or relating to grammatical syntax; borrowed from New Latin syntacticus, from Greek syntaktikós, a joining together or in order, from syntássein put in order; for suffix see —IC.

The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology / art Concise Dictionary of Etymology / edited by Robert K. Barnhart. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c1995. Pages 789-790.

System: (No part of a system has) An independent effect on the whole. And therefore, the performance of the whole is never the sum of the performance of the parts taken separately, but it's the product of their interactions. And therefore, the basic managerial idea introduced by systems thinking is that to manage a system effectively you must focus on the interactions of the parts rather then their behavior taken separately.

Interviews with Dr. Akoff and Dr. Deming, Tapes #1A through #4A. Copied 2023-01-20 from https://ackoffcenter.blogs.com/files/dr.-ackoff-dr.-deming.pdf

Tachistoscope: n. a device that displays (usually by projecting) visual material on a screen for a specific amount of time, usually at very brief intervals. Words, numbers, pictures, and symbols can be rapidly presented in the right or left visual field. The device is used in experiments concerned with visual perception, recognition speed, and memory. It is also widely used in market research concerned with advertising, logos, branding, and so forth. Also called T-scope.

Source APA Dictionary of Psychology, American Psychological Association. Accessed online May 1, 2025, at: https://dictionary.apa.org/tachistoscope.

Taxonomy: SEE ALSO Enterprise Taxonomy

Taxonomy: “(n.) the science of classification (e.g., biological taxonomy) or any scheme of classification itself. —taxonomic adj. —taxonomist n.“

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Copied 2022-01-07 from https://dictionary.apa.org/taxonomy

Taxonomy: ”A collection of controlled vocabulary terms organized into a hierarchical structure. Each in a taxonomy is in one or more parent/child (broader/narrower) relationships to other terms in the taxonomy.”

Source Building Enterprise Taxonomies. 2nd Edition. Darin L. Stewart. Mokita Press, 2011. Page 216.

Taxonomy: ”In general terms, systematic classification according to principles or general laws. In digital terms, automated classification of documents in a hierarchy based on information gathered by a metacrawler. May refer to a classification of DCMI terms. A classification system such as Library of Congress Classification is an example of a taxonomy.”

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo

Taxonomy: A collection of controlled vocabulary terms organized into a hierarchical structure. See also classification system, file classification system, ontology, subject classification system, thesaurus, and vocabulary control.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 51.

Taxonomy (Taxonomies): ”The word taxonomy is normally understood to mean CLASSIFICATION, and is used mainly in the life sciences. It is not clear where or when the word was given a different slant in the general area of information retrieval and so, perhaps not surprisingly, there is no clearly agreed definition of the term as it is now being used. This has led to some confusion as to whether they are the same as a classification or a THESAURUS; but while they are clearly related to those retrieval tools, they usually display different characteristics, and since they are mostly used on the Internet, intranets or extranets, they may be closely associated with the new generation of information retrieval software.”

International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 629.

Taxonomy: ”A classificatin devised for a particular environment or set of information. They usually reflect the local conditions closely, and are adapted to the local 'culture'. They are usually modified and extended more frequently than other information organization tools.”

Introduction to Information Science. David Bawden and Lyn Robinson. Chicago : Neal-Schuman, 2013. Page 116.

Taxonomy: ”(1) The science of classification. (2) The study of the name and meaning of items in generic assemblies.”

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD). H A Stolk; Arthur Herbert Holloway; London, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, 1974. Page 31.

Taxonomy: ”1) A hierarchically structured system of organizing names of concepts. 2) Any knowledge organizatin system, whether hierarchical or not, involving controlled names of concepts.”

The Accidental Taxonomist. Heather Hedden. Medford, New Jersey : Information Today, Inc., [2016] Page 396.

Taxonomy: ”A taxonomy is a hierarchy that is created by a set of interconnected class inclusion relationships.”

The Discipline of Organizing. Robert J. Glushko, Editor. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 509.

Term: A word, phrase, or symbol used to express a concept, subject, topic, or feature of a documentary unit in an index.

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 68.

Term record: A record providing data or information about a descriptor in a thesaurus. A term record may include the history of the term, its relations to other terms, or the authority from which it is derived.

See also authority file; vocabulary control

Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 67.

Thesaurus: ”A controlled vocabulary arranged in a known order and structured so that the various relationships among terms are displayed clearly and identified by standardized relationship indicators. Relationship indicators should be employed reciprocally. Its purpose is to promote consistency in the indexing of content objects, especially for postcoordinated information storage and retrieval systems, and to facilitate browsing and searching by linking entry terms with terms. Thesauri may also facilitate the retrieval of content objects in free text searching.”

Building Enterprise Taxonomies.2nd Edition. Darin L. Stewart. Mokita Press, 2011. Page 216.

Thesaurus: ”A thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary of semantically and generically related terms covering a specific area of knowledge. Designed specifically for concept coordination, it is a terminological control device which translates both the natural language used in documents by indexers, and topics sought by searchers into a mutually precise language.”

Concepts of InformationRetreival, Miranda Lee Pao, (1989) Englewood, Colorado. Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Page 119.

Thesaurus: ”A structured vocabulary make up of names, words, and other information, typically including synonyms and/or hierarchical relationships for the purpose of cross-referencing in order to organize a collection of concepts for reference and retrieval. See the ANSI/NISO Standard for thesaurus construction Z39.19-2003 (R1998; ISO 2788). A controlled vocabulary of terms or concepts that are structured hierarchically (parent/child relationships) or as equivalences (synonyms), and related terms (associative). See also Subject headings and glossary. A thesaurus is a taxonomy.”

DCMI Glossary. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Copied 2021-04-05 from https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/usageguide/glossary/#dlo

Thesaurus: A controlled vocabulary of terms arranged in a structured order and with relationships between terms indicated with standardized designations; used to aid document indexing and searching See also taxonomy and vocabulary control

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 52.

Thesaurus: [pl. thesauri, also thesauruses].A controlled vocabulary in which equivalent terms and hierarchical and associative relations among terms are displayed and identified by relationship indicators which must be employed reciprocally.

The purposes of a thesaurus are: 1. to promote consisteincy of indexing of documents, predominantly for post-coordinate information storage and retrieval systems, and 2. to facilitate searching by linking access terms with descriptors. A search thesaurus displays vocabulary and term relations for the purpose of enhancing the retrieval of documents in free-text searching or to facilitate retrieval from multiple databases in which different controlled vocabularies are used.

See also authority file; indexing language; macro-thesaurus; minithesaurus; subject heading list

Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. Hans H. Wellisch, 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 69.

Thesaurus: ”A lexicon in which words are grouped by concept, thus providing a grouping or classification of synonyms or near-synonyms, and a set of equivalent classes of terminology. Thesauri of the most commonly used terms in various fields have been published so as to permit a harmonizing of indexing terminology in those fields.”

International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science, second edition. John Feather and Paul Sturges, editors.London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. Page 633.

Thesaurus: ”1. A compilation of terms showing synonymous, hierarchical, and other relationships and dependencies, the function of which is to provide a standardized, controlled vocabulary for information storage and retrieval. It’s component parts are an index vocabulary and a lead-in vocabulary. 2. A lexicon, especially of synonyms and antonyms in classified order.”

The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Heartsill Young, Editor. Chicago : American Library Association (1983). Page 228.

Thesaurus: ”A thesaurus is a reference work that organizes words according to their semantic and lexical relationships. Thesauri are often used by professionals when they describe resources.”

The Discipline of Organizing. Robert J. Glushko, Editor. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Page 510.

Thesaurus: A controlled list of descriptors used to indicate the concepts in a given field, showing relations between conceptually related terms and an alphabetically arranged index if the thesaurus is arranged systematically. A thesaurus usually contains scope notes and information on the system used.

Tracking: The component of a records management system that ensures records can be located when needed. See also audit trail.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 52.

Transactive Memory: An important function of relationships is information sharing. People often look to their interpersonal and work relationships for needed information: the forgotten name of a common acquaintance, an opinion on possible investment strategies, or help with an unfamiliar task such as setting up a wireless network. People in relationships often share the burden for learning and remembering information by dividing responsibility for different knowledge areas; for example, in a work team, one member may be responsible for all information related to Client X while another member may be responsible for all information related to Client Y. When one person needs information in another's area, they can simply ask the person responsible rather than taking the time and energy to learn the information themselves. The knowledge sharing system that often develops in relationships and in groups where people assume responsibility for different knowledge areas and rely on one another for information is called transactive memory.

Source 'Transactive Memory' Edited by: Roy F. Baumeister & Kathleen D. Vohs. In Encyclopedia of Social Psychology DOI:https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412956253.n590

Transactive Memory: A transactive memory system is a set of individual memory systems in combination with the communication that takes place between individuals' (Wegner, Giuliano, & Hertel, 1985).

Cited Resource: 'Cognitive interdependence in close relationships' by D. M. Wegner, T. Giuliano, and P. Hertel. (1985). Pages 253-276 in Compatible and incompatible relationships, edited by W. J. Ickes.

Source 'Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind' by A. B. Hollingshead, N. Gupta, K. Yoon, and D. P. Brandon. Pages 421–455 in Theories of team cognition: Cross-disciplinary perspectives, edited by Michael P. Letsky, Stephen M. Fiore, and Eduardo Salas. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. (2012).

Transactive Memory: Transactive memory systems theory is a theory about how people in relationships, groups or teams (we use these two terms interchangeably), and organizations learn "who knows what" and use that knowledge to decide "who will do what," resulting in more efficient and effective individual and collective performance (Hollingshead, 2010a). Transactive memory explains how people in collectives learn, store, use, and coordinate their knowledge to accomplish individual, group, and organizational goals (Hollingshead, 2009). Transactive memory theory can be used to describe three components of team cognition: (1) its structure and organization; (2) the processes underlying its development and change; and (3) its content.

Source 'Transactive memory theory and teams: Past, present, and future' by A. B. Hollingshead, N. Gupta, K. Yoon, and D. P. Brandon. Pages 421–455 in Theories of team cognition: Cross-disciplinary perspectives, edited by E. Salas, S. M. Fiore, & M. P. Letsky. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Transclusion: ”The inclusion, by hypertext reference, of a resource or part of a resource into another resource is called transclusion. Transclusion is normally performed automatically, without user intervention. The inclusion of images in web documents is an example of transclusion. Transclusion is a frequently used technique in business and legal document processing, where re-use of consistent and up-to-date content is essential to achieve efficiency and consistency.”

Robert J. Glushko, Editor. The Discipline of Organizing. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Pages 510-511.

Translanguaging: “Translanguaging is defined as the act of bilinguals accessing various linguistic features and modes to enhance communicative potential, focusing on the dynamic use of linguistic repertoires for meaning-making and identity negotiation, rather than adhering to fixed language structures. It positions multilingual practices as normative and emphasizes the social context and collaborative nature of communication.”

Source: AI generated definition based on: International Encyclopedia of Education(Fourth Edition), 2023” [Accessed 2025-08-04 - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/

Translanguaging: “Translanguaging is a theoretical lens that offers a different view of bilingualism and multilingualism. The theory posits that rather than possessing two or more autonomous language systems, as has been traditionally thought, bilinguals, multilinguals, and indeed, all users of language, select and deploy particular features from a unitary linguistic repertoire to make meaning and to negotiate particular communicative contexts. Translanguaging also represents an approach to language pedagogy that affirms and leverages students’ diverse and dynamic language practices in teaching and learning.”

Source: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education by Sara Vogel and Ofelia Garcia. Retrieved 4 Aug. 2025, from https://oxfordre.com/education/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/ acrefore-9780190264093-e-181

Trusted Digital Repository: An archival repository designed to provide reliable, long#term access to managed digital resources for its designated user community, now and in the future.

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 53.

Unique Identifier: The tag that is assigned to a record when it is captured in the records system. Source: ISO 15489-1. [13]

Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 53.

Uniqueness Principle: ”The uniqueness principle means the categories in a classification scheme are mutually exclusive. Thus, when a logical concept is assigned to a particular category, it cannot simultaneously be assignd to another category”

Source Robert J. Glushko, Editor. The Discipline of Organizing. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013. Pages 511-512.

Unstructured Data: See also: Structured Data

Unstructured Data: Unstructured data is every other type of data that is not structured. Approximately 80-90% of data is unstructured, meaning it has huge potential for competitive advantage if companies find ways to leverage it. Unstructured data includes a variety of formats such as emails, images, video files, audio files, social media posts, PDFs, and much more. Unstructured data is typically stored in data lakes, NoSQL databases, data warehouses, and applications. Today, this information can be processed by artificial intelligence algorithms and delivers huge value for organizations.

Source Coursera. Accessed 2024-06-07 athttps://www.coursera.org/articles/structured-vs-unstructured-data.

Unstructured Data: Any data lacking a data structure or having a data structure not easily readable by machine. Note: Examples of unstructured data may include audio, video, and unstructured text, such as the body of an e-mail or word processing document. See also unstructured information.

Source: Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms. Cynthia Hodgson (Editor), Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Overland Park, KS, 2012. Page 53.

Unstructured Data: Unstructured data, typically categorized as qualitative data, cannot be processed and analyzed through conventional data tools and methods. Since unstructured data does not have a predefined data model, it is best managed in non-relational (NoSQL) databases. Another way to manage unstructured data is to use data lakes to preserve it in raw form.

The importance of unstructured data is rapidly increasing. Recent projections indicate that unstructured data is over 80% of all enterprise data, while 95% of businesses prioritize unstructured data management.

Source IBM. Accessed Accessed 2024-0607 at https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/structured-vs-unstructured-data#:~:text=What%20is%20structured%20data%3F,used%20to%20manage%20structured%20data.

Unstructured Data: Unstructured data do not follow a detailed data model that is meaningful to a business domain. Examples include documents and videos. Unstructured data might be stored in a specific format, such as a proprietary document format or a standards-based video format. For example, a video could show a patient’s medical procedure, people entering and exiting a facility, or a training course for new employees. A document with unstructured data not only could contain nearly any type of information, but it may also have other types of data embedded within it, such as graphics, videos, and other documents, each containing one or more other instances of data.

Source 'Data Classification Concepts and Considerations for Improving Data Protection' by William Newhouse, Murugiah Souppaya, John Kent, Ken Sandlin, and Karen Scarfone. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, NIST Interagency Report (IR) 8496.

Unstructured Data Just as structured data comes with definition, unstructured data lacks definition. Rather than predefined fields in a purposeful format, unstructured data can come in all shapes and sizes. Though typically text (like an open text field in a form), unstructured data can come in many forms to be stored as objects: images, audio, video, document files, and other file formats. The common thread with all unstructured data is a lack of definition.

Source Oracle. Accessed Accessed 2024-0607 at https://www.oracle.com/big-data/structured-vs-unstructured-data/.

Unstructured Data: Data that is more free-form, such as multimedia files, images, sound files, or unstructured text. Unstructured data does not necessarily follow any format or hierarchical sequence, nor does it follow any relational rules. Unstructured data refers to masses of (usually) computerized information which do not have a data structure which is easily readable by a machine. Examples of unstructured data may include audio, video and unstructured text such as the body of an email or word processor document. Data mining techniques are used to find patterns in, or otherwise interpret, this information. Merrill Lynch estimates that more than 85 percent of all business information exists as unstructured data – commonly appearing in e-mails, memos, notes from call centers and support operations, news, user groups, chats, reports, letters, surveys, white papers, marketing material, research, presentations, and Web pages (“The Problem with Unstructured Data.”)

Source resources.data.gov. Accessed online February 10, 2026 at: https://resources.data.gov/glossary/unstructured-data/#:~:text=Unstructured%20data%20refers%20to%20masses,email%20or%20word%20processor%20document.

Unstructured Data: Unstructured data is information, in many different forms, that doesn't follow conventional data models, making it difficult to store and manage in a mainstream relational database. The majority of new data generated today is unstructured, prompting the emergence of new platforms and tools to manage and analyze this data. These tools let organizations more easily use unstructured data for business intelligence (BI) and analytics applications. Unstructured data has an internal structure but doesn't contain a predetermined data model or schema. It can be textual or nontextual, human-generated or machine-generated. Text is one of the most common types of unstructured data. Unstructured text is generated and collected in a range of forms, including Word documents, email messages, PowerPoint presentations, survey responses, transcripts of call center interactions, and posts from blogs and social media sites. Other types of unstructured data include images, audio and video files. Machine data is another category of unstructured data that's growing fast in many organizations. For example, log files from websites, servers, networks and applications -- particularly mobile ones -- yield a trove of activity and performance data. In addition, companies increasingly capture and analyze data from sensors on manufacturing equipment and other devices connected to the internet of things (IoT).

Source TechTarget. Accessed online February 10, 2026 at: https://www.techtarget.com/searchbusinessanalytics/definition/unstructured-data

User Warrant: The justification for the representation of a concept in an indexing language or forthe selection of a descriptorbecause offrequent requests for the concept or its frequent occurrence in free-text searches performed by users of an information storage and retrieval system.

See also literary warrant

Source Hans H. Wellisch, Glossary of terminology in abstracting, classification, indexing, and thesaurus construction. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ : Information Today, c2000. Page 72.

User Relevance Response: ”The degree of correspondence of the outputs of an information or documentation system and the needs of the user expressed by the user.”

Source Terminology of documentation : A selection of 1,200 basic terms published in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Compiled by Gernot Wersig and Ulrich Neveling. Paris : The Unesco Press. 1976. p. 17”

Verbal Comprehension: Verbal comprehension encompasses various processes helping to construct understandable and meaningful speech productions (expressive language skills up to the pragmatics of language, for instance) and to understand verbal productions (receptive language skills echoing vocabulary or semantics).

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Verbal Repertoire: The totality of linguistic forms regularly employed in the course of socially significant interaction. Since spoken communication of all kinds is describable by a finite set of rules which underlie the formation of all possible sentences, verbal repertoires must have structure. The structure of verbal repertoires, however, differs from ordinary descriptive grammars. It includes a much greater number of alternants, reflecting contextual and social differences in speech. Linguistic interaction, as Bernstein (1964) has pointed out, can be most fruitfully viewed as a process of decision making, in which speakers select from a range of possible expressions. The verbal repertoire then contains all the accepted ways of formulating messages. It provides the weapons of everyday communication. Speakers choose among this arsenal in accordance with the meanings they wish to convey.

Source ‘Linguistic and Social Interaction in Two Communities’ by John J. Gumperz. American Anthropologist 66/6 (Part 2): 137-153.

Verbal Working Memory: Verbal working memory involves a system for programming the utterance, scheduling verbal items at several levels (words, phonemes and articulatory gestures), and maintaining what needs to be produced (phonological loop and rehearsal); and appears conceptually close to the definition of syntax.’

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Vernalization: Vernalization is the promotion of flowering by a period of low temperature. Plants must be exposed to a certain temperature for a given length of time to become and remain vernalized. If the plant is exposed to warm temperatures before the required time has passed then the process may be reversed; this is known as devernalization. Vernalization is perceived by the meristem of a plant.

Source Encyclopedia of applied plant sciences, editors Brian Thomas, Denis J. Murphy, and Brian G. Murray. 2003; Oxford, UK ; San Diego, CA, USA : Elsevier Academic Press. See pages 595-600.

Vernalization: Vernalization is the process by which prolonged exposure to cold temperatures promotes flowering. Over the past century, this process has been studied extensively at the physiological level. Recent studies have provided some insight into the molecular basis of vernalization. The rich history of vernalization research has been discussed in detail in many reviews (Chouard, 1960; Lang, 1965; Bernier et al., 1981).

Cited Resource: 'Vernalization and its relations to dormancy' by P. Chouard, P. (1960). Annual Review of Plant Biology. 11, 191–238.

Cited Resource: 'Physiology of flower initiation' by A. Lang (1965). In Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology W. Ruhland, ed (Berlin: Springer-Verlag), pp. 1371–1536.

Cited Resource: The Physiology of Flowering by Bernier, G., Kinet, J.-M., and Sachs, R.M. (1981). (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press).

Source 'Vernalization, competence, and the epigenetic memory of winter' by Richard Amasino. Plant Cell 2004 Oct;16(10):2553-9. doi: 10.1105/tpc.104.161070. PMID: 15466409; PMCID: PMC520954. Encyclopedia of applied plant sciences, editors Brian Thomas, Denis J. Murphy, and Brian G. Murray. 2003; Oxford, UK ; San Diego, CA, USA : Elsevier Academic Press. See pages 595-600.

Virtual Library: ”A "virtual library" is not a place or a thing; rather it is the capability to provide access to information resources at other institutions across town, or across the world, using digital technologies.”

Source Matt Montgomery. Emory University. Copied 2021-08-21 from https://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/1996/January/ERjan.22/1_22_96virtual_library.html

Virtual Library: ”A virtual school library is an online space, available 24/7, that is an extension of your physical library. Through your virtual library, users can find and access your digital materials. It can bring together content that you've sourced from different places. Your virtual library can also offer online help and support for your school community.”

Source The National Library of New Zealand. Copied 2021-08-21 from https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/school-libraries/library-services-for-teaching-and-learning/your-school-library-online/creating-a-virtual-school-library

Virtual Library: ”The worldwide collection of online books, journals and articles available on the Internet.”

Source PC Magazine. Copied 2021-08-21 from https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/virtual-library.

Visuomotor: Vision guides movement, and movement affects vision. To facilitate the coordination between vision and movement, reciprocal interactions are needed between brain areas involved in visual and motor processing. The use of visual information to influence movement processing, and movement information to influence visual processing, is termed visuomotor integration.

Source 'Visuomotor Integration' by Sooyoon Shin, Trinity B Crapse, J. Patrick Mayo, and Marc A. Sommer (January 2009). Pages 4354-4359 in Encyclopedia of Neuroscience Edited by Marc D. Binder, Nobutaka Hirokawa and Uwe Windhorst. Springer, Berlin ; [New York], c2009. Accessed online February 25, 2026 at: https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/1062de89-e2b3-49be-9374-8eb359e50211/content

Words: Words are the sounds we make that have meanings agreed by those who use the same language – our language community.¹ Spoken words can consist of a single sound, referred to s a phoneme, or sequences of different phonemes, some of which are combined to make larger units of sounds known as syllables, which are the building blocks of words.² Phonemes can be divided into vowels and consonants, these referring to the different ways in which the different sounds are made by the passage of air through the vocal tract.³

The language puzzle : piecing together the six-million-year story of how words evolved, by Steven Mithen. New York : Basic Books. 2024. See page 36.

Working Memory: 1) as originally described in 1960 by U.S. cognitive psychologist George Armitage Miller, U.S. experimental psychologist Eugene Galanter (1924–  ), and Austrian-born U.S. neuropsychologist Karl H. Pribram, any of various hypothetical systems involved in the brief retention of information in a highly accessible state. The term has evolved, however, to refer primarily to the 1974 model of British cognitive psychologists Alan D. Baddeley (1934–  ) and Graham J. Hitch (1946–  ) for the short-term maintenance and manipulation of information necessary for performing complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension. According to their multicomponent conceptualization, working memory comprises a phonological loop for temporarily manipulating and storing speech-based information and a visuospatial sketchpad that performs a similar function for visual and spatial information. Both are supervised by a limited capacity central executive, a control system responsible for the distribution of attention and general coordination of ongoing processes. A fourth component, the episodic buffer, was added to the model in 2000; it binds together information about the same stimulus or event from the different subsidiary systems to form an integrated representation that is essential to long-term memory storage. The Baddeley and Hitch working memory model, which introduced an element of assessment and planning into the memory mechanism, has replaced the idea of a unitary short-term memory system and become one of the most influential and well-known concepts within memory psychology, continuing to stimulate research and debate some 40 years after its introduction. Indeed, the model has proved valuable in accounting for experimental data from a wide range of participants under a rich array of task conditions. Current interest focuses most strongly on the link between working memory and long-term memory and on the processes allowing the integration of information from the component subsystems.

Source: APA Dictionary of Psychology. Accessed October 14, 2025 at: https://dictionary.apa.org/working-memory

Working Memory: Working memory is positioned between short and long-term memory and concerns the ability to explicitly maintain and manipulate (re-)instantiated information to perform complex cognitive tasks of learning, reasoning or comprehension. Working memory is generally considered to be part of executive functioning (or central executive system), covering concepts such as planning, inhibition, and mental flexibility.

Source 'Missing links: The functional unification of language and memory (L∪M)' by Elise Roger, Sonja Banjac, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, and Monica Baciu. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume 133, February 2022, 104489. Accessed online March 16. 2026 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354773395_Missing_links_the_functional_unification_of_language_and_memory_LM

Written Language: … written language is typically associated with language of books and explanatory prose such as is found in schools. Written language is formal, academic, and planned; it hinges on the past and is reconstructed in such a way that in the future it can be processed by various readerships.

Source: Comprehending oral and written language, edited by Rosalind Horowitz, S. Jay Samuels. San Diego : Academic Press, c1987. See page 7.

Written Language: By the term written language we mean, tentatively, the system of graphical means employed for the purpose of producing written utterances acceptable in the given language community. Such means include not only the graphemes (implemented by letters), but also the diacritical marks, sharing with their graphemes their segmental places in the written utterances, as well as the established ways of mutually combining those graphemes (the laws governing this combination of graphemes are sometimes referred to as rules of graphotactics). We speak here deliberately of a system, not a mere inventory, of such means: each grapheme belonging to that system is mainly characterized by being different from the other graphemes of that system. At the same time, the rules governing the use of these graphemes (including the graphotactic rules) in the given language community have clearly a normative character within that community, and any use contrary to these rules is felt as contrary to the norm and evaluated either as a mistake or, in some specific circumstances, as a case of intentional deviation, prompted by some functional motive (see, e.g., the abandonment of punctuation in modern poetry, the use ofsmall letters instead of capitals in modern graphic art, etc.).

Source Old Wives' Tales: the Gossip Hypothesis and the Reliability of Cheap Signals by Camilla Power. In Approaches to the evolution of language : social and cognitive bases, Edited by James R. Hurford, Michael Studdert-Kennedy, and Chris Knight. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1998. See page 9.

The above suggests that in the first place vocal grooming among Homo erectus would have resembled singing rather than speech in its modern syntactical form. Aiello & Dunbar (1993) argue that the rapid encephalization of the late Middle Pleistocene, associated with archaic grade Homo sapiens, evidences further increases in group size. As predicted mean group size in these archaic populations rose above 130 (1993) - more than twice as large as the largest chimpanzee mean group size at 55 - no single individual could gain first-hand social experience with all other members of the group. The pressures on group cohesion in these circumstances led to a new development in vocal communication, whereby spoken language facilitated exchange of information about third parties. This is the ‘gossip’ hypothesis of language origins. Old wives’ tales: the gossip hypothesis and the reliability of cheap signals, page 114.

Reciprocal exchange of interesting items of gossip could be a viable means of bonding coalitions if one outstanding problem is solved. This is the issue of reliability. How does the listener know that the information is valuable? By definition, she is not gaining any benefit from listening unless she is acquiring information she would not otherwise acquire. This implies that the information comes from a source outside the pres­ ent context - the feature of human speech which Hockett (1960) termed 'displaced reference'. If the veracity of a signal cannot be corroborated in the immediate context by the listener, the information has to be taken on trust. Old wives’ tales: the gossip hypothesis and the reliability of cheap signals, pages 114-115.

Writing: “A system of human communication by the mean of arbitrary visual signs.”

Source: "The evolution of writing" by Denise Schmandt-Besserat. In the International encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences (2014): 1-15.

Writing: Writing as defined herein refers to basic skills taught in school: the capacity to sign one’s name (termed by Stone 1969 “alphabetism”) and the ability to produce the written word as a means of communication in short answers and essays. This discussion does not consider writing in “creative writing” classes or in the production of the literary forms of poetry, fiction, and drama.

Source Toward an Ethnohistory of Writing in American Education by Shirley B. Heath (1981). In Writing: The Nature, Development, and Teaching of Written Communication, Marcia F. Whiteman, Editor. Hillsdale, N.J. : L. Erlbaum Associates, 1981.

Online Resources

APA Dictionary of Psychology At https://dictionary.apa.org/

Digital Libraries. William Y. Arms, Cornell University. At: https://www.cs.cornell.edu/wya/DigLib/text/Glossary.html

Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Joan M. Reitz, ABC-CLIO, LLC. At: https://products.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_about.aspx

Dictionary of Archives Terminology. Society of American Archivists. At: https://dictionary.archivists.org/.

ISO 5127:2017(en), Information and documentation — Foundation and vocabulary.At: https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:5127:ed-2:v1:en

Glossary of Library & Information Science. Librarianship Studies & Information Technology. At: https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2015/04/glossary-of-library-information-science.html

Metadata glossary. UKLON. At: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/glossary/index.html