Learning geoscience categories in situ: Implications for geographic knowledge representation

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Authors: Brodaric, Boyan; Gahegan, Mark;
Publishing Info: Proceedings of the 9th ACM international symposium on Advances in geographic information systems , --(--), 1-6.
Year: 2001

Everyone's Keywords: situated learning; classification; categorization; category development; information ontology; self-organizing maps; geological fieldwork;

Abstract: This paper explores the development of categories shared in the field logging of a region by a team of geologists. Visualization, neural networks and spatial statistical tools are employed to gain insight into the complex space of attributes observed, and into the categories developed. Background material and a discussion of results examines the findings in the light of research into category development, and specifically how categories are thought to be formed and modified as part of the (geo)scientific process and the situations encountered. Results show that (1) category discrepancy exists between individuals; (2) category development or revision is evident among individuals; and (3) that some categories do not seem to be totally defined by observed data alone. The results imply that contextual factors should also be considered when adopting ontological approaches to information representation.

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