INFO 202 MIDTERM EXAM
28 October 2009
Professor Glushko
You need to answer 5 of the 8 questions. If you answer more, we will only grade the first 5, so clearly indicate mark the questions that you want us to grade.
Each question is worth 10 points, so a perfect grade is 50.  That said, we will be giving 1 "bonus point" to everyone who answers the question that the fewest people answer - because this is a determination from your collective intelligence about the most difficult question. (But we will not deduct anything from people who answer the most frequently answered question even though it is presumably the easiest one).

Use bullet points in the questions as guides for each part of your answers.  Please ensure that you answer all the bulleted parts of each question, because we will be grading "by the bullets" to ensure consistency.  Each bullet point is worth a set number of points (out of the 10) so if you do a phenomenal job on the first 2 bullets but don't answer the third, you will still lose the points allotted to the third. 

Cutting and pasting large amounts of text from the readings or notes is NOT necessary, is discouraged, and we will look unfavorably upon it when we grade your answer.  You should put your answers in your own words and synthesize concepts from lectures and readings where possible.  Acceptable answers to the short answer questions should be about one 50-100 word paragraph per bullet.  Reflect rather than regurgitate.

Reminder:  This exam is open book, open notes, but not "open Internet" - your Internet access is limited to the readings, lecture notes, smc and collaboratively-prepared review materials.

Please put your name on every page - this is critical since we will be separating the pages to grade them. 
Please upload an electronic copy of your work as an assignment submission on the smc.  Please title it "MIDTERM - Your Name".  REMEMBER: YOU MUST PUT YOUR NAME ON EVERY PAGE.  

Word and text versions of this exam can be downloaded from:
Word: <LINK>
Text: <LINK>




YOUR NAME ____________________________________

1. del.icio.us and Memex

* Describe the purposes and mechanisms of del.icio.us using specific concepts and terms from Vannevar Bush's Memex. (5 points)

* Compare the del.icio.us mechanisms with the mechanisms for information management in Memex that have the same purpose.  (You don’t need to discuss any aspect of Memex that has no analogue in del.icio.us). (5 points)





YOUR NAME ____________________________________

2. Categorization and Bias
Explain each of the following two parts of a claim about the design of categories:

* "Every system of categories is biased..."  (5 points)

* "...and not every system of categories is equally good"  (5 points)




YOUR NAME ____________________________________

3. The Document Type Spectrum

* Why is it useful to think of document types as points on a Document Type Spectrum? (6 points)

* How does the mixture of presentation, content, and structure rules for document types differ across the Document Type Spectrum?  (4 points)




 
YOUR NAME ____________________________________

4. The "Abstraction Hierarchy of the Work"
An issue long discussed in information science is the "abstraction hierarchy of the work."  

* Briefly explain this abstract challenge.  (4 points)

* Discuss why it remains an important part of the intellectual foundations of information organization, or else argue that it no longer matters very much.  Use specific examples or "use cases" to make your points.    (6 points)




YOUR NAME ____________________________________

5. Single-Sourcing
A company with a large collection of documents in word processing formats like Word or Word Perfect might prefer to have them encoded in XML so that it could employ a "single source publishing strategy."

* Briefly explain "single sourcing."  (2 points)

* What are the benefits of single sourcing? (4 points)

* What are the costs imposed by single sourcing? (4 points)




 
YOUR NAME ____________________________________

6.  Authority Control 
Authority control is a traditional topic in library science and remains an important issue in enterprise and inter-enterprise information management.

* What is authority control? (2 points)

* What problems does authority control attempt to solve? (2 points)

* Compare the methods and effectiveness of authority control in the library setting, inside single enterprise, and in inter-enterprise contexts. (6 points)




 
YOUR NAME ____________________________________

7. The Best Thing and The Worst Thing
Explain both parts of this proverb from a modern philosopher of information organization:

* "the ease with which anyone can create a new vocabulary is the best thing about XML..." (5 points)

* "...and also the worst thing."  (5 points)




 
YOUR NAME ____________________________________

8. The Wisdom of Svenonius
"It has never been easy to explain why colossal labor should be needed to organize information."  

* Why is it hard to design a set of elements for use as metadata or as a descriptive vocabulary? (4 points)

* What is it hard to design a system of categories? (4 points)

* Why is it hard to define the authoritative form of a name? (2 points)