Structural and Multilingual Approaches to Subject Access on the Web

Abstract

As Web resources multiply at a breathtaking rate, there has been a renewed interest in using subject categorization or hierarchical structures to organize directories for more efficient knowledge discovery and retrieval. Such uses include directories based on existing classification schemes, subject hierarchies used by popular Web directories and search engines, and various classificatory structures used by many libraries to organize Web resources selected for local access for their users. To serve multilingual and multicultural populations all over the world, many search engines on the Web have also developed new services including regional editions, search by language/region features, translation of search query or Web pages, etc. This paper provides an overview of the approaches used by major search engines to ensure both compatibility and localization of the regional subject directories. It also includes an analysis of the impact of society and culture on the setup of subject directories such as the order of subject categories, adjustment of hierarchical relationships, and the display interface. There are also efforts in using hierarchical structures to organize Web sites on specific topics or for specific purposes and even for individual users. As an example of the last category, we will present a discussion of a device called Knowledge Class for personalized knowledge organization and access to Web resources.