Technology classifications are required for structur mg data on technological innovation for information storage and retrieval and to provide frameworks for the analysis of technological change This paper renews different types of principles used in technology classification and their embodi ment in vaneties of classification schemes. The principles considered are classification according to historical develop ment; natural laws; branch of production: function within branch of production; or by construction principle. The paper briefly discusses four types of classification: bibliographic: patent: product, and analytical. It explores the extent to which such principles and practice deal with technology in terms of ideas and frameworks rooted in the objective or internal structure of technology or the extent to which they rely on "extra-technological" concepts and frameworks. A cunceptual framework is proposed which expresses the tension between approaches which rely on extra-technological principles and approaches based on some notion of the objective or mternal structure of technology. This takes the form of a contrast between "linguistic" and "taxonomic" paradigms.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
J. Aitchison .A. Gomersall and R. Ireland.Thesaurofacet. a Thesaurus and Faceted Classification for Engmeering and Related Subjects, revised ed. ( The English Electric Company. Leicester. 1969).
2.
D. Archibugi .In search of a useful measure of technological innovation (to make economists happy without discontenting technologists) , Technological Forecasting and Social Change34 (1988) 253-257.
3.
H.E. Bliss.The Organisation of Knowledge and the System of the Sciences (Holt, New York. 1929).
4.
H Braverman, Labour and MonopolyCapital the Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century (Monthly Review Press. New York, 1974).
5.
C Beghtol. Semantic validity: concepts of warrant in bibliographic classification systems. Library Resources & Technical Services30 (1986) 109-125.
Central Statistical Office.Standard Industrial Classification (HMSO. London. 1980).
8.
I. Dahlberg, Grundlagen unwersaler Wissenordnung: Probleme und Moglichkeiten eines universalen Klassifikationssytems des Wissens (Verlag Dokumentation . Pullach bei Munchen, 1974).
9.
R. Davies, ed., Intelligent Information Systems. Progress and Prospects (Ellis Horwood . Chichester, 1986).
10.
R. Davies, Classification and rationcination: a perennial quest. In R. Davies, ed. Intelligent Information Systems. Progress and Prospects (Ellis Horwood. Chichester, 1986) 262-289.
11.
J. Dean, Controversy over classification: a case study from the history of botany. In: B. Barnes and S. Shapin. eds. Natural Order Historical Studies of Scientific Culture (Sage, London. 1979).
12.
R.G.A. Dolby , Classification of the sciences: the nineteenth century tradition. In. R.F. Ellen and D. Reason. eds. Classifications in their Social Contexts (Academic Press, London, 1979) 167-193.
13.
M. Finlay, Powermatics: a Discursu e Critique of New Technology ( Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1987).
14.
A.C. Foskett , The Subject Approach to Information, 4th ed (Bingley. London , 1982).
15.
M. Foucault.The Order of Things. an Archaeology of the Human Sciences (Tavistock. London. 1977).
16.
C. Freeman.Recent developments in science and technology indicators . Unpublished report (Science Policy Research Unit. University of Sussex, 1982).
17.
J.C. Gardin .Document analysis and linguistic theory. Journal of Documentation29 (1973 ) 137-249.
18.
E. De Grolier , Synoptic critique [of the Conference on Relational Factors in Classification, University of Maryland June 1966]. In: "Festschrift for Eric de Grolier", special issue of International Classification 18 (1991) 79-86.
19.
C.G. Hempel.Fundamentals of taxonomy. In: C.G. Hempel.Aspects of Scientific Explanation ( Free Press, New York, 1965) 137-154.
20.
D.S. Horner, Measuring innovative activity and technological change. Unpublished working paper (Technology Policy Unit, Aston University. 1989).
21.
W.J. Hutchins , Languages of Indexing and Classification (Peregrinus. Stevenage. 1975).
22.
W.F. Hyde.Improting Producin ty by Classification. Coding and Database Standardization: the Key to Maximizing CAD/CAM and Group Technology (Dekker. New York, 1981 ).
23.
J. King, A review of bibliometric and other science indicators and their role in research evaluation, Journal of Information Science13 (1987) 261-276.
24.
S. Liff, Monitoring technological change and employment. Futures15 (1983) 387-396.
25.
R. Lillienfeld, TheRise of Systems Theory. an Ideological Analysis (Wiley Interscience, New York, 1978).
26.
I. Miles, Mapping and Measuring the Information Economy, Library and Information Research Report77 ( British Library Research and Development Department, Wetherby, 1990).
27.
Oecd, TheMeasurement of Scientific and Technical Acturties — "Frascati Manual " (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development , Paris, 1981).
28.
K. Pavitt , Sectoral patterns of technical change: towards a taxonomy and a theory, ResearchPolicy13 (1984) 343-373.
29.
K. Pavitt .Patent statistics as indicators of innovating activities: possibilities and problems, Scientometrics7 ( 1985) 77-99.
30.
The PatentOffice, Structure of the Classification Key (HMSO, London. 1980).
A Ray-Jones and D. Clegg, CI/SfB Construction Indexing Manual, 3rd revised ed. (RIBA. London. 1976).
33.
F. Rapp, ed., Contributions to a Philosophy of Technology Studies in the Structure of Thinking in the Technological Sciences (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1974)
34.
G. Ropohl, Eine Systemtheorie der Technik (Carl Hauser Verlag, Munich, 1979).
35.
R. Sweeney , Historical studies in documentation: the development ot the Dewey Decimal Classification, Journal of Documentation39 (1983) 192-201.
36.
D. Teichmann , On the classification of the technological sciences . In: F. Rapp, ed. Contributions to a Philosophy of Technology: Studies in the Structure of Thinking in the Technological Sciences (Reidel. Dordrecht, 1974) 134-139
37.
L. Tondl, On the concepts of "Technology" and "Technological Sciences". In: F. Rapp, ed. Contributions to a Philosophy of Technology Studies in the Structure of Thinking in the Technological Sciences (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1974) 1-18.
38.
Unu ersal Decimal Classification. Part I Systematic Tables, BS 1000M FID publication no 571 (British Standards Institution , London, 1985).
39.
R.J Van Wyk, Technological change: a macro perspective, Technological Forecasting and Social Change15 (1979) 281-296.
40.
R.J. Van Wyk, Panoramic scanning and the technological environment, Technotation2 (1984) 101-120.
K.D.C. Vernon and V. Lang.The London Classification of Business Studies (London Graduate School of Business Studies, London, 1970).
43.
B.C. Vickery , Classification and Indexing in Science, 3rd ed. (Butterworths, London, 1975).
44.
E. Wahlin , Classification systems and their subjects. a general analysis of different kinds of classification system characterised by different types of subject, American Documentation17 (1966) 199-215.
45.
E. Wahlin .Principles for a universal system of classification based on certain fundamental concepts and an outline of a variant adopted to technology, Journal of Documentation19 (1963) 173-186.
