We classify things so that we can group an action, activity, event or object that share the same qualities or characteristics. The way we use the concept of our knowledge together with the problems representing knowledge are shown through information systems. However, there is a big distinction between observing, perceiving, or even describing things in comparison with truly knowing them. In order to know requires facts about the object and context in which the object and process exists. Once a concept is understood or if there is a relationship among them a classification is then implied so that there is a representation of what is known and is thus useful in communication and in generating a fresh cycle of exploration, comparison, and theorizing. A good use of classification is, in the same a theory does, connecting concepts in a useful structure. If well imputed, a classification can be like a theory; descriptive, explanatory and maybe even elegant. The construction of our AOK occurs from divergent ways of knowing. Our observations of the world, our emotions, our intuitions and reasoning, our faith, memories, imaginations, and our languages all illustrates how we gain knowledge.
There are many approaches when looking upon the construction of the foundation of classification schemes. Different classification process requires different goals, and each type of classification scheme has different structural properties as well as different strength and weaknesses in terms of knowledge representation and knowledge discovery. I will discuss the representative sample of some common approaches and structures.
When classifying things we can interpret it in two different ways; we assume it’s either by you of for you. A company ‘3M’ has distinct ways of referring to a tape according to the country it sells. In Brazil, it is referred as “durex” which derivatives from “durar”, meaning duration. However, english speakers names it as tape because it is rolled up, also english speakers don’t usually use the word duration since it is more common to say something lasts longer. Another example for which companies might change the name of it’s products is due to the difference in the denotation of the word when literally translated into another language. For example: in English, the word durex is a trademarked name for condoms that are made in the United States, while in portuguese the word durex means scotch tape. Spanish people names it as cinta, while, for brazilians the word cinta, when literally translated means belt. With that being said we can see that the way we name things is based on our language.
Depending on it’s context or culture we classify objects with a different category or meaning. For example: for me a buddha has a function only for decoration. However, for others it might not have a function of decoration due to it’s religion context. With that said we can observe that we have different words because we believe in different systems.
Classification can be based on observations, a great exemplar is Carl Linnaeus; who aimed to classify all the elements of the natural world. His developed the Species Plantarum and Systema Naturae, which classified the elements into kingdom/phylum/class/order/family/genus/species). Every small distinguishing features counted, whether if it was weight, colour, density, texture, shape, symmetry, and even if it consisted of mammary glands. It was due to this classification that Linnaeus came to a conclusion in which he decided to classify whales as mammals instead of fish. In order to create this classification Linnaeus had to use his imagination, it is also likely that intuition leaded him to some of his categories, and that emotion, memory and faith were all involved in the process.
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