HIVK03313U Classification Studies, Constituent elective A

Classification is a daily human activity. We cannot use language without classifying objects in the world, and whenever we order items into groups, we in effect classify them. Likewise, in the digital world classification is ubiquitous. This goes for most information systems, including websites, as well as our interactions with such systems. We shall in this course study classification both from a conceptual and a digital perspective, and we shall study the close interaction between the two perspectives. The conceptual perspective will involve concepts and methods of classification, including their background in philosophy as well as information science. The digital perspective will involve studying and using methods of developing class structures, following a widespread standard used in many digital companies. In this connection we shall also be using software tools for generating suitable class diagrams. The two perspectives, conceptual and digital, go hand in hand and support each other. But at the same time, we shall also look critically at the limitations which go with the concepts and methods of classification studied.