Free Association

Talk to a librarian, an archivist or anyone responsible for maintaining and promoting a museum of any sort, and you will find curation defined as a process of collection, selection, aggregation, interpretation, promotion and presentation. Of these, interpretation is critically important. Things take meaning within context.

The web, however, has redefined curation to mean simple aggregation. This is unfortunate from the perspective of people who practice “classically defined” curation.

In practice, curation on the web means “list post.”

I think we have lost something here.

Related discussion on Web Pro News (paying for links) and GigaOM (is curation journalism)?

Were I French, I might say I weep for my language. But I’m not, so I won’t.

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.’

Telling words, “which is to be master.”

Here, from Merriam-Webster, we have

Definition of EXCERPT

transitive verb
1: to select (a passage) for quoting : extract
2: to take or publish extracts from (as a book)
— ex·cerp·tor or ex·cerpt·er noun
— ex·cerp·tion noun
See excerpt defined for English-language learners »
See excerpt defined for kids »
Examples of EXCERPT

The fiction that the magazine does publish is too often excerpted from novels or imminently forthcoming collections, making the magazine seem more a flack for publishers than a site of editorial strength and vision. —Vince Passaro, Harper’s, August 1999
[+]more
Origin of EXCERPT

Latin excerptus, past participle of excerpere, from ex- + carpere to gather, pluck — more at harvest
First Known Use: 15th century

What then, is this?

WordPress excerpt

If language by its nature evolves to exclude the “outsider,” simply asking for such a definition marks one as an outsider. “If you have to ask, you could not possibly understand.”

Here’s a question: once meanings have been encoded into algorithmic form, will language evolution slow or stop?

Here’s another question: what’s the best way to extract a context-free definition from a peer group, such that the definition could be used algorithmically?

I do a bit of blogging here and there. One of the more recent, and more interesting, features of WordPress is its capability for defining custom taxonomies. A taxonomy, of course, being a collection of like items called taxa (sing. taxon), arranged in some sensible order.

However, trouble is brewing in paradise…

Taxonomy from Wikipedia:

Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word finds its roots in the Greek τάξις, taxis (meaning ‘order’ or ‘arrangement’) and νόμος, nomos (meaning ‘law’ or ‘science’). Taxonomy uses taxonomic units, known as taxa (singular taxon).

So, what?

So, watch for this:

• “taxonomy” will be used synonymously for taxon
• “taxonomies” will be in lieu of taxa as the plural form

What this means is that when someone says “taxonomy” you are going to have to infer its meaning as an element in a collection of like elements collectively referred to as a taxonomy, or as the collection itself.

Frankly, stupid, pedantic words like “taxon” and “taxa” exist for a reason. Using the correct form of such words eliminates confusion.

Unfortunately, this requires people learning what such words actually mean. Which means either 1. reading, or 2. being instructed.

Which flies in the face of how the vast majority learn anything, which is to copy the accepted usage from peers, and not bother with the difficult details of real meaning.

Consequently, within WordPress, “taxonomy” is going to remain a slippery, confusing topic. If you don’t understand taxonomies, rest assured, that’s not entirely your fault.