Lonclass
Encyclopedia
The BBC
's Lonclass ("London Classification") is a subject classification system used internally at the BBC throughout its archives
.
Lonclass is derived from the Universal Decimal Classification
(UDC), itself a reworking of the earlier Dewey Decimal Classification
(DDC). Lonclass dates from the 1960s, whereas UDC was created from DDC in the late 19th century. The BBC adaptation of UDC preserves the core features that distinguish UDC from DDC: an emphasis on a compositional semantics that allows new items to be expressed in terms of relationships between known items.
Lonclass and UDC (like DDC) are expressed using codes based on decimal numbers. Unlike DDC, the Lonclass and UDC codes use additional punctuation to express patterns of relationships and re-usable qualifiers. While Lonclass makes a few structural adjustments to the UDC system to support its emphasis on TV and radio content, its main distinction is in the actual set of topics that are recorded within its authority file and within specific BBC catalogue records. Unlike UDC and DDC, which are widely used across the library community, Lonclass has remained a BBC-internal system since its creation in the 1960s.
There are 300,000 subject terms in the Lonclass vocabulary.
Some specific BBC Lonclass examples (with explanatory labels):
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Lonclass ("London Classification") is a subject classification system used internally at the BBC throughout its archives
BBC Archives
The BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history.- Overview :The archives contain 1 million hours of media material dating back to the 1890s, with early material on wax cylinder. With other materials such as photos and written documents the archive contains 11 million...
.
Lonclass is derived from the Universal Decimal Classification
Universal Decimal Classification
The Universal Decimal Classification is a system of library classification developed by the Belgian bibliographers Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine at the end of the 19th century. It is based on the Dewey Decimal Classification, but uses auxiliary signs to indicate various special aspects of a...
(UDC), itself a reworking of the earlier Dewey Decimal Classification
Dewey Decimal Classification
Dewey Decimal Classification, is a proprietary system of library classification developed by Melvil Dewey in 1876.It has been greatly modified and expanded through 23 major revisions, the most recent in 2011...
(DDC). Lonclass dates from the 1960s, whereas UDC was created from DDC in the late 19th century. The BBC adaptation of UDC preserves the core features that distinguish UDC from DDC: an emphasis on a compositional semantics that allows new items to be expressed in terms of relationships between known items.
Lonclass and UDC (like DDC) are expressed using codes based on decimal numbers. Unlike DDC, the Lonclass and UDC codes use additional punctuation to express patterns of relationships and re-usable qualifiers. While Lonclass makes a few structural adjustments to the UDC system to support its emphasis on TV and radio content, its main distinction is in the actual set of topics that are recorded within its authority file and within specific BBC catalogue records. Unlike UDC and DDC, which are widely used across the library community, Lonclass has remained a BBC-internal system since its creation in the 1960s.
There are 300,000 subject terms in the Lonclass vocabulary.
Examples
For example, a Lonclass or UDC code may represent “Report on the environmental impact of the decline of tin mining in Sweden in the 20th century“. This would be represented as a sequence of numbers and punctuation. The complex code can be broken down into primitives such as "Sweden" or "tin mining" (which itself could be broken down to "Tin" and "Mining").Some specific BBC Lonclass examples (with explanatory labels):
- R672:32.007(47)YELTSIN:342.518.1THATCHER “TWO SHOTS OF MARGARET THATCHER AND BORIS YELTSIN”
- [BRITISH AEROSPACE].007.11PEARCE: 656.881:342.518.1THATCHER “LETTER TO MRS THATCHER FROM SIR AUSTIN PEARCE”
- 656.881:301.162.721:32.007THATCHER: 654.192.731TV-AM “MARGARET THATCHER'S LETTER OF APOLOGY TO TV AM”
- 656.881:301.162.721 “LETTERS OF APOLOGY”
- 656.881 “LETTERS (POSTAL SERVICES)”
- 656.881:06.022.6 “RESIGNATION LETTERS”
- 654.192.731TV-AM “TV AM (TELEVISION AM)”
External links
- Using web-scale vocabularies to create user journeys across the BBC, by Silver Oliver, Georgi Kobilarov, Chris Sizemore (Dublin Core conference presentation)
- Investigating Lonclass (NoTube project slides)
- Lonclass and RDF; discussion of relationship to RDFResource Description FrameworkThe Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
- Semantically Enhanced Television News through Web and Video Integration (ACEMedia project report mentioning Lonclass)
- Deathlines - a small peek into the BBC's archive taxonomy
- Building bridges: mapping diverse taxonomies for a seamless user navigation experience (Fran Alexander, Taxonomy Manager, BBC Information and Archives, December 2010)
- experimental ruby/treetop parser