L6. Describing Resources
Many of the design dimensions for organizing systems concern the nature
and extent of the descriptions of the resources being organized. Resource
descriptions are commonly based on easily perceived intrinsic properties such
as size, color, or shape, on intrinsic but intangible properties such as the
author or creator’s name and date or creation, or on extrinsic assigned
properties such as product or personal identifiers.
The words people use to describe things or concepts are "embodied" in
their context and experiences and these naturally-occurring words are an
"uncontrolled vocabulary." As a result, people or enterprises often
use different terms or names for the same thing and the same terms or
names for different things. These mismatches often have serious or even
drastic consequences. It might seem straightforward to control or
standardize terms or names, and much technology exists for attacking the
"vocabulary problem," but technology alone is not a complete solution
because language use constantly evolves and the world being described
does too.