1. forest·knowledge·know-how·well-being
IUFROandGlobalForestDecimalClassification-Statusandfuture
JarmoSaarikko&BarbaraHolder
FinnishForestResearchInstitute,Vantaa,Finland,jarmo.saarikko@metla.fi&FPInnovations,Vancouver,B.C.,Canada,barbara.holder@fpinnovations.ca
SESSION:227Knowledgeexchangeandcommunicationofforestresearchforhumanandcommunitywell-being
GFDC,anupdateoftheearlierForestDecimalClassification,was
printedandpublishedin2006.
MainfeaturesofGFDC
Globaldistribution
Untiltodaysome600bookshavebeensoldordelivered.Afewbooks
arestillavailable.
Thereislessdirectdemandinlibrariesasthenumberofseparate
forestrydepartmentsandlibrarieshasdecreasedduringthelast20years
TheGFDCtopcategoriesareavailableonlinein51languagesthrough
theUDCSummary
Anabridgedlistofcategoriesisavailablein5languagesintheUDC
MasterReferenceFile(MRF).
FPInnovationshasprovidedtheonlineGFDCdatabase.Thecategories
canbesearchedbyusingthemasternumbersoranywordorphrasein
thedatabase.Itisnotpossibletoprintordownloadthecategories.
http://iufro.forintek.ca/GFDCDefault.aspx
TheGFDCclassificationshouldbepublishedonlinein
user-friendlyformats.Easieraccesshelpscreatingbetter
subjectspecificmetadataandsearchinterfacestoforestrelated
informationresources.
Libraryclassificationsarenotdead.Decimalclassificationsarestill
usedininformationretrievalandinlibraries.Theyhaveanewlifein
orderingandsearchingcontentonline
LinkingGFDCtermsandcategoriestoexistingagriculturalontologies
couldhelpindevelopingaforest(research)ontology.
Customdesignedbyforestresearchers
Hierarchicalsubjectdivisions
Standardfortheindustry
International
Developedover100years
Theclassificationprovidesalanguageindependentnumericsubject
hierarchywith2752categoriesandanalphabeticalsubjectindex
with4579(English)terms
Fromclassificationstoontologies
2Publishonlinewithopenaccess
GFDCproposalsforIUFROTheonlinedatabase
ContactAuthor
JarmoSaarikko
FinnishForestResearchInstitute-Metla
POBOX18,FI-01301VANTAA,FINLAND
Phone:+358053912050E-mail:jarmo.saarikko@metla.fi
PLEASENOTE:
Starting01.01.2015theorganizationnamewillchangeto
NaturalResourcesInstituteFinlandwithdomainname“luke.fi”
EstablishedhistorywithIUFRO
1903Planstocreateauniversaldecimalclassificationforforestry
1933“Flury”systemadoptedbyIUFROCongress
1953OxfordDecimalClassificationforforestryadoptedbyIUFRO
Congress
1954ODCpublishedbyCommonwealthForestryBureaux,nowCABI.
1981IUFROgroupP6.1-00“RevisionoftheOxfordDecimal
Classificationforforestry”
1990IUFROpublished“ForestDecimalClassification:Trilingualshort
version”
1992IUFROpublishedrevisedGermanversionof“FDK”
2000IUFROgroup6.03.03forGFDC
2006IUFROpublishedGlobalForestDecimalClassificationinEnglish
andGerman
Theelectronicdatafileshavebeenrequestedbyafeworganizationsin
GermanyandCanada.
1.NominateanEditorandaneditorialgroup
2.PublishasLinkedOpenData(LOD)
3.Provideabrowsinginterface
4.Collaboratewithotherglobalgroupsfor
mappingandlinkingforestconcepts
5.Startdevelopingaforestresearchontology
Increasefunctionality
TheGFDCcanbefoundeasilywithGoogle.
InformationaboutthebookisavailableonlineandGoogledirects
searcheson“ForestDecimalClassification”tobothtotheIUFROpage
andtoiufro.forintek.cadatabase.
However,weshouldincreasetheavailabilityoftheclassificationand
functionalityofthedatabase.
1TheEditorandaneditorialgroup
Asalong-termsolutionorforthenextinter-congressterm,
IUFROshouldgranttheeditorialdecisionsandmaintenance
responsibilitytoanominatedpersonorgroup:
whoareinterestedinthemaintenance
whorelatetoIUFROSecretariatoraUnit
themaintenanceofSilvaVoccouldbeanotherpossible
model
Tasksfortheeditors:
ContinuecollaborationwiththeUDCConsortium
Gatheranetworkofvolunteers
Publishatleastoneupdateinfiveyears
EstablishanactionplanfordevelopingGFDCintoan
ontology
3Provideaneasyandfunctionalinterface
Aneasybrowsinginterfacewithasimplesearchfacilityis
availableatwww.finto.fi,anontologyservicebytheNational
LibraryofFinland.
4Collaboratewithglobalgroups
Thereareseveralinteroperabilitychallengesinwhichthe
GFDCsubjectindexheadingswouldbeuseful:
LinkingwiththeSilvaVocterms.
LinkingwithconceptsinAGROVOCandNALthesauri,
whicharealreadyprovidedasLinkedOpenData.
LinkingwithLibraryofCongressSubjectHeadingswhich
areactivelymaintained
5Startdevelopingaforest(research)ontology
LinkingGFDCwiththeFinnishAFOontologyattheFinto
serviceprovidespossibilitiesforfurtherontologydevelopment