Testing a Vocabulary Standard
Against Cataloguing Practice in Canadian Museums:
Demonstrating the Validity of the Art & Architecture Thesaurus
as a Vocabulary Source or Search Tool
for the Humanities National Database
of the Canadian Heritage Information Network
Prepared by Heather Dunn
Canadian Heritage Information Network
October 1995
The two sections, “Introduction and Methodology” and “Object Name/Object Type Match Results”,
are taken largely from a University of Toronto Museum Studies Master's Thesis, Testing a
Vocabulary Standard Against Object Naming Practice in Canadian Museums, by Heather (Coates)
Dunn.
The English version of the paper was edited by Merridy Bradley.
This document is available in French under the title, Mise à l'épreuve d'un vocabulaire normalisé
au regard des habitudes de catalogage dans les musées canadiens : Validité du Art & Architecture
Thesaurus en tant que source de vocabulaire et outil de recherche pour le Répertoire national des
sciences humaines du Réseau canadien d'information sur le patrimoine.
iii
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Methodology ....................................................................................................... 1
2. CHIN OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE vs. Entire AAT ...................................................................... 3
2.1 OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE Match Results .......................................................................... 6
2.1.1
2.1.2
2.1.3
Mendel Art Gallery OB/OT Match Results .............................................................. 6
a.
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results (Unique Term Match) ..................... 6
b.
Frequency-weighted Match Results .............................................................. 8
c.
Commonly Used OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE Combination Match Results ... 9
New Brunswick Museum OB/OT Match Results .................................................... 11
a.
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results (Unique Term Match) .................... 11
b.
Frequency-weighted Match Results ............................................................. 12
c.
Commonly Used OT/OB Combination Match Results ................................. 13
UBC Museum of Anthropology OB/OT Match Results ........................................... 16
a.
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results (Unique Term Match) .................... 16
b.
Frequency-weighted Match Results ............................................................. 17
2.2 Mismatches in Sample OB/OT Data: Contextual Errors..................................................... 21
3. CHIN MATERIAL Field vs. AAT Materials Facet .......................................................................... 24
3.1 MATERIAL Field Match Results .......................................................................................... 25
4.
3.1.1
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results .................................................................. 25
3.1.2
Frequency-weighted Match Results ........................................................................ 26
3.1.3
Ewing Vocabulary Match Results (Non-frequency-weighted) .................................. 27
3.1.4
Commonly Used MATERIAL Terms Match Results.................................................... 27
CHIN TECHNIQUE Field vs. AAT Processes/Techniques Hierarchy .......................................... 40
4.1 TECHNIQUE Field Match Results ...................................................................................... 41
4.1.1
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results ................................................................... 41
4.1.2
Frequency-weighted Match Results ........................................................................ 42
4.1.3
Ewing Vocabulary Match Results (Non-frequency-weighted) .................................. 43
iv
4.1.4
Commonly Used TECHNIQUE Terms Match Results ................................................. 44
5. CHIN CULTURE and SCHOOL/STYLE Fields vs. AAT Styles and Periods Facet .......................... 49
5.1 CULTURE Field Match Results ............................................................................................ 51
5.1.1
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results ................................................................... 51
5.1.2
Frequency-weighted Match Results ........................................................................ 52
5.1.3
CHIN CULTURE Thesaurus Match Results (Non-frequency-weighted) ..................... 53
5.1.4
Commonly Used CULTURE Terms Match Results .................................................... 54
5.2 SCHOOL/STYLE Field Match Results ............................................................................... 59
5.2.1
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results .................................................................. 59
5.2.2
Frequency-weighted Match Results ........................................................................ 60
5.2.3
Commonly Used SCHOOL/STYLE Terms Match Results ........................................... 61
6. Summary of Match Results ....................................................................................................... 65
7. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 67
8. Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 68
9. Bibliography and References ..................................................................................................... 69
10. Appendix - Definitions............................................................................................................. 71
10.1 Terminology....................................................................................................................... 71
10.2 Occurrence ....................................................................................................................... 71
10.3 Types of Match Statistical Methods................................................................................... 71
10.4 Match Results .................................................................................................................. 72
v
vi
1. Introduction and Methodology
The intent of this paper is to determine how closely the contents of several fields (OBJECT NAME,
OBJECT TYPE, MATERIAL, TECHNIQUE, CULTURE, and SCHOOL/STYLE) in the Humanities National
Inventory of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) correspond with the terminology of
the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), and to examine the implications of this correspondence.
This study will determine the feasibility of using the AAT as a vocabulary source or a search tool
for users of the CHIN Humanities National Inventory. It may also provide the AAT with candidate
terms, which could broaden its scope and user base and make it a better source for Canadian
museums.
To date, there have been few comprehensive vocabulary sources and no real thesauri for use by
the museum community. The AAT fills this need; it contains a comprehensive vocabulary (including
the Nomenclature terms in a thesaural structure) that can be used for describing as well as naming
objects. The AAT could be used by many of the CHIN contributors to assist them with data entry.
The AAT is available in an electronic version called the Authority Reference Tool (ART) that is
designed to work with computer collections applications. CHIN has recently re-evaluated the need
to manage institutional databases on its Ottawa mainframe. With advances in affordable, powerful
systems and software tailored for collections management, it is now more practical for museums to
handle their collections management databases locally. Many of the new collections applications
may have the ability to use the AAT as an online interactive thesaurus that would provide both a
controlled vocabulary for data entry and a tool for "intelligent" retrieval. Vendors of museum
collections applications are incorporating the AAT into their software to make it easily accessible to
their users.
The AAT could be used as a tool for searching the National Inventories, which will remain
centralized at CHIN. Because the data in the National are contributed by individual museums that
may not follow a common vocabulary standard, there is a very diverse vocabulary.
Problems
currently encountered in a search of the National would be addressed with use of the AAT's
hierarchical, synonymous, and associative relationships through the following:
1
1) use of the AAT's synonymous relationships (Use For terms) to find all variations of a term,
including regional terminology differences and synonyms. Regardless of whether the
variation was a preferred term in the AAT, it would point the user to the appropriate
records.
2) use of the AAT's hierarchical relationships (Broader and Narrower terms) to perform
successful broad searches, which are presently impossible. For example, if the AAT were
used as a search tool, a search for wood would also find occurrences of pine, elm, spruce,
etc. At present, the searcher must know and search for all possible types of wood in order
to find all the appropriate records.
3) use of the AAT's associative relationships (Related Terms) to point out differences between
similar terms, find related terms to help in the search, and to supply appropriate and precise
terminology for a particular search.
Given that the CHIN National Inventory is far too large to be completely standardized in vocabulary,
it becomes essential to focus on developing tools that will make order out of the diverse
vocabularies used by contributing museums and will allow access to the contents regardless of
variations. This issue of access, despite differences in vocabulary and level of user expertise, will
become increasingly significant as CHIN data become available via the Internet, where it will be
encountered by a wide range of people at various levels of museum expertise, from all over the
world.
Another challenge that faces CHIN is that it must make English and French collections data
accessible to both English and French researchers. Although the AAT is currently only in English,
CHIN needs to be able to map the AAT vocabulary to the French language equivalents of terms
most commonly used by Canadian museums. The mapping would be done by:
1) locating the most commonly used CHIN terms in the AAT hierarchies.
2) entering the French translations of these terms into the AAT as language
2
equivalents.
3) creating a search assistant tool (bilingual thesaurus) to retrieve data in the
National,
regardless of whether the query was in French or in English.
The AAT would become an even more essential front-end search tool for CHIN if it could be used
to access both English and French records, and respond to queries in both languages.
The CHIN Humanities National Inventory fields studied were OBJECT NAME (OB), OBJECT TYPE
(OT), MATERIAL (MA), TECHNIQUE (MT), SCHOOL/STYLE (SA), and CULTURE (CU). Due to the
large number of records, the study of the OBJECT NAME, OBJECT TYPE, TECHNIQUE, and MATERIAL
fields was done on a sample of the Humanities National Inventory. The OBJECT NAME/OBJECT
TYPE sample consisted of the data from three institutions. The MATERIAL and TECHNIQUE terms
used in the study were random samples of the Humanities National Inventory. As the number of
records including SCHOOL/STYLE and CULTURE were small, the entire Humanities National Inventory
was studied for these two fields.
The methodology for the OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE Match differed slightly from the technique
used to Match the AAT with the other CHIN fields. Because OBJECT TYPE is meant to be a
qualifier to OBJECT NAME, it was possible to append OBJECT NAME to OBJECT TYPE prior to the
Match, making one "term" to Match with the AAT terms. For example, a record with OB=chair
and OT=rocking would become rocking chair prior to being matched against the AAT. The other
CHIN fields (MATERIALS, TECHNIQUE, CULTURE, and SCHOOL/STYLE) were not combined prior to the
Match.
The OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE data were matched against the entire AAT (not just the
Objects facet); the other CHIN fields were only matched against the AAT hierarchy that held the
majority of their terms (CHIN MATERIAL field matched against the AAT Materials facet, etc.). Also,
the OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE Match was computer-assisted, making it possible to generate more
information about the Match; the other CHIN fields were matched manually against the AAT.
Corrections for some of the structural differences between CHIN and AAT terminology was made
prior to the Match. For instance, punctuation in the CHIN data was disregarded in order to make it
more similar in structure to the AAT terminology. Although CHIN object names are usually singular
(e.g., OB=chair) and the AAT main preferred terms are plural, the CHIN data could usually Match
the AAT Alternate Term, which is in the singular form. Therefore, it was not necessary to change
3
CHIN data from singular to plural to Match the AAT.
The Match between CHIN and AAT terms resulted in four mutually exclusive categories of data:
Exact Phrase Match, Exact Word Match, Partial Match, or Non-Match (see Appendix—Definitions).
2. CHIN OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE vs. Entire AAT
Although it would have been best to base the study on all of the OBJECT NAME and OBJECT TYPE
data in the Humanities National Inventory, this was impossible. The Humanities National Inventory
contains approximately 2 500 000 records, and most of these records have entries in both the OB
and OT fields. Each of these entries would have to be matched with the 106 519 terms in the
AAT. Differing recording practices across CHIN museums would have made it difficult to program
the computer to anticipate all variations of the CHIN data and Match them with the AAT
accordingly. Therefore, in order for the test to be accurate (and not biased by variations of syntax,
etc.), and for the results to be meaningful, the Match was performed in smaller, internally consistent
sections—representing a few of the institutions’ data—each of which would be independently
matched with the AAT.
Another advantage of basing the study on a sample of the Humanities National Inventory was that
in the findings and conclusions of the study, one could distinguish between the Match results and
implications for each institution studied, and between the different disciplines represented by the
museums. Although the Humanities National Inventory also includes data from French institutions,
the sample was selected from among museums with only English records. The AAT is in English
only, and could not be matched against French data.
Criteria for selecting a representative sample from the Humanities National Inventory were as
follows:
1) the sample was to contain only English data;
4
2) the sample was to have a high level of internal consistency within the OBJECT NAME and
OBJECT TYPE fields. The data did not have to conform to the Humanities Data Dictionary,
but had to be internally consistent in terms of format and structure;
3) the sample was to be of a manageable size, yet large enough to be an acceptable
statistical sample;
4) the sample was to be representative of broad collections in the different disciplines found in
the Humanities National Inventory: history, art, and ethnology;
5) the sample was to be representative of different regions of Canada, and
6) the sample was to be representative of different sizes of museum collections.
In order to select the sample, a study of internal consistency in the OBJECT NAME (OB) and OBJECT
TYPE (OT) fields of museums with general history, ethnology, and art collections was undertaken.
One institution of each of the three disciplines was selected for its internal data consistency and its
general collections. The rules that governed data entry for each institution (as became apparent in
the study of their OB and OT fields) were noted for future use in the programming of the computer
Match.
Three institutions, one from each of the disciplines of history, art, and ethnology, and from widely
separated geographical regions, were selected from the Humanities National Inventory.
The
Mendel Art Gallery, located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was the representative of art collections
and of prairie institutions. The New Brunswick Museum, located in Saint John, New Brunswick,
was chosen as representative of history museums and of the east coast institutions. The University
of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, was chosen
to represent ethnology collections and west coast institutions.
The sample OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE data represented 105 165 of 2 452 810 records, or
approximately 4.3% of the Humanities National Inventory. This sample is an adequate indicator of
the makeup of the data and is representative of the whole. Because the sample was, in part,
5
chosen for its internal consistency of format and structure, there is a possibility that the terminology
usage within the sample may be more consistent than the norm. However, the level of consistency
in format and structure of terms should not have affected the level of vocabulary control.
The contents of the sample institutions' OBJECT NAME and OBJECT TYPE fields were sent to the
Getty Art History Information Program (AHIP) to run a computer Match of the AAT vocabulary
against CHIN data. A series of separate matches for each of the three sample institutional data
sets were run against all 33 hierarchies of the AAT, and computer-generated reports were
produced.
It was necessary to combine the terms from the two CHIN fields (OBJECT TYPE and OBJECT NAME)
in a meaningful way prior to the Match.
In general, the OBJECT TYPE (OT) term was prepended to
the OBJECT NAME (OB) term in order to make up a meaningful composite term in natural word
order. This is because the OT field is meant as a qualifier to the OB field. For example,
OB=chair
OT=rocking
Composite term to be matched with the AAT=rocking chair
Although the reports from AAT computer program on the OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE Match were
useful to some extent, some problems caused difficulty in calculating the Match percentages.
Because the frequency of term usage within the CHIN databases was a significant factor in
determining the overall success of the AAT/CHIN Match, it was also important to generate
weighted Match statistics based on the number of occurrences of the CHIN OBJECT NAME/OBJECT
TYPE phrases; this was something that the computer-generated Match had not been able to do.
For example, a term such as photograph, which occurs frequently in the CHIN databases, would be
counted as a Match each time that it occurred, thus giving it more weight in the Match than a term
which occurred infrequently. CHIN terms that are not found in the AAT may have more authority as
candidate terms if they occur frequently in the National Inventory. Also, terms that occur only once
or twice in the data are often spelling or typographical errors.
To rectify the problems with the AAT reports and to generate frequency-weighted Match statistics,
6
frequency lists for each of the unique OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE combinations in each of the three
databases were produced at CHIN, and these were manually coded as belonging to one of four
mutually exclusive categories: Exact Phrase Match, Exact Word Match, Partial Match, or Non-Match
(see Appendix—Definitions). From this analysis, both unique occurrence and frequency-weighted
statistics could be produced on the OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE terms in these four categories, and
on combinations thereof.
AHIP’s reports on the computer Match were manually checked at CHIN. The CHIN terms listed by
the computer as AAT matches were studied to determine whether they were true matches, or
whether the computer Match was incorrect because of a mismatch in context. Incorrectly and
questionably matched terms were noted.
The CHIN terms listed by the computer as non matches
were also studied to determine whether they would have matched with slight alteration (e.g.,
spacing, spelling, etc.), or whether they were potential lead-in or preferred vocabulary to be added
to the AAT.
7
2.1 OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE Match Results
The results reported here are of two sorts, from two different sources, as follows:
1) The Match rate statistics for the entire institutional database—for unique
occurrences
and frequency-weighted matches.
2) The Match rate statistics for the most commonly used terms—for unique
occurrences
and frequency-weighted matches.
2.1.1
Mendel Art Gallery OB/OT Match Results
a. Non-frequency-weighted Match Results (Unique Term Match)
There were 101 unique OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE combinations of the Mendel Art Gallery that
were matched against the AAT. The results of this Match are shown in Table 1.
Table 1
AAT vs. Mendel Art Gallery OB/OT Data:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
30 / 101a,b
29.7%
Exact Word Matches
57 / 101
56.4%
Partial Matches
13 / 101
12.9%
1 / 101
1%
87 / 101
86.1%
Exact Phrase Matches
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
8
a
Of the 30 terms which matched as phrases, the term designation of the AAT term was as follows:
23 / 30 (76.7%) matched (a)
- Alternate Terms (singular form)
2 / 30 (6.7%)
matched
(m)
- main terms (plural form)
3 / 30 (10%)
matched (u,w)
- Use For terms (lead-in term)
2 / 30 (6.7%)
matched
(b)
- Alternative British Equivalents
The CHIN term matched the AAT Alternate Term most often because the CHIN term is usually in singular form.
b
Of the 30 CHIN terms which matched as phrases, most appeared in the Objects Facet:
27 / 30 (90%) found in
Objects Facet
1 / 30 (3.3%) found in
Materials Facet
(stained glass)
1 / 30 (3.3%) found in
Physical Attributes Facet
(crest)
1 / 30 (3.3%) found in
Activities Facet.
(Embroidery)
9
b. Frequency-weighted Match Results
When term frequency was taken into account, 4826 Mendel Art Gallery entries of terms were
matched against the AAT.
Table 2 shows the results of this Match.
Table 2
AAT vs. Mendel Art Gallery OB/OT Data:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Exact Phrase Matches
2105 / 4826
43.6%
Exact Word Matches
1199 / 4826
24.8%
Partial Matches
1501 / 4826
31.1%
1 / 4826
0.02%
3304 / 4826
68.4%
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
The Exact Match rate for the Mendel Art Gallery OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE data was quite low
when the frequency of terms was taken into account. This is because three of the most commonly
used terms in the Mendel Art Gallery data ("b/w negative", 790; "b/w photograph", 474; "b/w
print", 214) did not Match exactly because of an abbreviation of the term "black and white".
When the Mendel Art Gallery’s "b/w" was expanded to "black-and-white" as in the AAT, the
results are a significant increase in percentage matches (Table 3):
Table 3
AAT vs. Mendel Art Gallery OB/OT Data:
Frequency-Weighted Match Results - "b/w" Expanded
10
Match Categories
Exact Phrase Matches
Exact Word Matches
Number of Matches
3583 / 4826
74.2%
1199 / 4826
24.8%
23 / 4826
0.5%
1 / 4826
0.02%
4782 / 4826
99%
Partial Matches
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
Percentage of Total
11
c. Commonly Used OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE Combination Match Results
The 11 most commonly used terms (occurring 100 times or more) in the Mendel Art Gallery OBJECT
NAME/OBJECT TYPE data are listed in Table 4. These terms, when their frequency were taken into
account, total 4144 and made up 85.8% of the Mendel Art Gallery data. Note that none of the
Mendel Art Gallery commonly used OB/OT terms were Non-matches.
Table 4
AAT vs. Mendel Art Gallery OT/OB Combination Phrases Used 100 Times or More
Match Freq
Term
-
790
b/w negative
-
474
b/w photograph
-
214
b/w print

417
colour print

459
drawing

211
intaglio print

608
painting

113
planographic print

186
relief print
O
211
stencil print
O
461
watercolour painting
4144
by frequency
Total
11
by unique occurrence
───────────────────────────────────────
12
Key to Match codes
 = Exact Phrase Match with the AAT
O = Exact Word Match with the AAT
- = Partial Match with the AAT (matching word is underlined)
X = no Match
13
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 11 commonly used, unique OBJECT NAME/OBJECT
TYPE terms from the Mendel Art Gallery. The results of the match are shown in Table 5.
Table 5
AAT vs. Mendel Art Gallery Commonly Used OB/OT Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Exact Phrase Matches
6 / 11
54.5 %
Exact Word Matches
2 / 11
18.1 %
Partial Matches
3 / 11
27.2 %
Non-matches
0 / 11
0 %
Total Exact Matches
8 / 11
72.7 %
A match against the AAT was made on 4144 Mendel Art Gallery OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE entries of
phrases that occurred commonly (100 times or more). The results are shown in Table 6.
Table 6
AAT vs. Mendel Art Gallery Commonly Used OB/OT Terms:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Matches Matches
14
Percentage of Total
Exact Phrase Matches
Exact Word Matches
Partial Matches
1994 / 4144
48.1 %
672 / 4144
16.2 %
1478 / 4144
35.6 %
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
0 / 4144
2666 / 4144
15
0
%
64.3 %
2.1.2
New Brunswick Museum OB/OT Match Results
a. Non-frequency-weighted Match Results (Unique Term Match)
There were 5975 unique OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE combinations of the New Brunswick Museum
that were matched against the AAT. The results of this match are shown in Table 7.
Table 7
AAT vs. New Brunswick Museum OB/OT Data:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
1624 / 5975a,b
27.2%
Exact Word Matches
2699 / 5975
45.2%
Partial Matches
1299 / 5975
21.7%
Non-matches
353 / 5975
5.9%
Total Exact Matches
4323 / 5975
72.4%
Exact Phrase Matches
a
Of the 1624 terms which matched as phrases, the term designation of the AAT term was as
1243 / 1624 (76.5%) matched
(a)
- Alternate Terms (singular form)
264 / 1624 (16.3%) matched
(m)
- main terms (plural form)
91 / 1624
(5.6%) matched
(u,v)
- Use For terms (lead-in term)
20 / 1624
(1.2%) matched
(b)
- Alternative British Equivalent
(k)
- British Equivalents
6 / 1624
(0.4%) matched
follows:
The CHIN term matched the AAT Alternate Term most often because the CHIN term is usually in singular
form.
16
b
Of the 1624 terms which matched as phrases, most matched the AAT's Objects Facet.
1518 / 1624 (93.4%) found in
Objects Facet
80 / 1624 (4.9%) found in
5 / 1624 (0.3%) found in
15 / 1624 (0.9%) found in
Materials Facet
Physical Attributes Facet
Activities Facet.
4 / 1624 (0.2%) found in
Styles and Periods Facet
1 / 1624 (0.1%) found in
Agents Facet
1 / 1624 (0.1%) found in Associated Concepts Facet
17
b. Frequency-weighted Match Results
When term frequency was taken into account, 68 413 entries for New Brunswick Museum OBJECT
NAME/OBJECT TYPE terms were matched against the AAT.
Table 8 shows the results of this
match.
Table 8
AAT vs. New Brunswick Museum OB/OT Data:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Exact Phrase Matches
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
55678 / 68413
81.4%
Exact Word Matches
8441 / 68413
12.3%
Partial Matches
2986 / 68413
4.4%
Non-matches
1308 / 68413
1.9%
Total Exact Matches
64119 / 68413
93.7%
18
c. Commonly Used OT/OB Combination Match Results
The 38 most commonly used OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE terms (occurring 200 times or more) in
the New Brunswick Museum data are listed in Table 9. These terms, when their frequency was
taken into account, totalled 39 928 entries, and made up 58.3% of the 68 413 entries in the New
Brunswick Museum data. Note that none of the New Brunswick Museum OB/OT terms were
Partial Matches.
Table 9
AAT vs. New Brunswick Museum OT/OB Combo Phrases
Used 200 Times or More
Match Freq
Term

368
architectural drawing

472
badge

282
basket

275
bowl

364
box

309
case

2601
coin

466
cover

218
cup

270
currency

217
dish

219
doll

537
drawing

273
dress

659
intaglio print

4673
lantern slide

1465
map
O
357
marine photograph
19

262
mask

899
medal

794
painting

10805
X
372
picture

250
pipe

212
plane

373
planographic print

391
plate

3127
postcard

3613
print


383
1097
photograph
relief print
reproduction

474
saucer

443
sculpture

1072

310
teacup

408
teaspoon

253
vase
O
365
watercolour painting
Total
39 928
38
stereograph
by frequency
by unique occurrence
────────────────────────────────────
Key to Match codes
 = Exact Phrase Match with the AAT
O = Exact Word Match with the AAT
- = Partial Match with the AAT (matching word is underlined)
X = no Match
20
21
Statistics for these 38 commonly used New Brunswick Museum OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE terms were
calculated for both frequency-weighted and unique occurrences. A match was made between the AAT
and the 38 OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE combination phrases that occurred 200 times or more in the
New Brunswick Museum data (non-frequency-weighted). The results are shown in
Table 10.
Table 10
AAT vs. New Brunswick Museum Commonly Used OB/OT Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
Percentage of Total
35 / 38
92.1 %
Exact Word Matches
2 / 38
5.3 %
Partial Matches
0 / 38
0 %
Non-matches
1 / 38
2.6 %
Total Exact Matches
37 / 38
97.4 %
A match was made between the AAT and the 39 928 entries of New Brunswick Museum OBJECT
NAME/OBJECT TYPE phrases that occurred most commonly (200 times or more). The results are
shown in Table 11.
Table 11
AAT vs. New Brunswick Museum Commonly Used OB/OT Terms:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
22
Match Categories
Exact Phrase Matches
Exact Word Matches
Number of Matches
38834 / 39928
97.2 %
722 / 39928
1.8 %
0 / 39928
0 %
372 / 39928
0.9 %
39556 / 39928
99.0 %
Partial Matches
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
Percentage of Total
23
2.1.3
UBC Museum of Anthropology OB/OT Match Results
a. Non-frequency-weighted Match Results (Unique Term Match)
There were 1915 unique OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE combinations of the UBC Museum of
Anthropology that were matched against the AAT. Table 12 shows the results of this match.
Table 12
AAT vs. UBC Museum of Anthropology OB/OT Data:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
728 / 1915a,b
38.0%
644 / 1915
33.6%
Partial Matches
411 / 1915
21.5%
Non-matches
133 / 1915
6.9%
1372 / 1915
71.6%
Exact Phrase Matches
Exact Word Matches
Total Exact Matches
a
Of the 728 terms which matched as phrases, the term designation of the AAT term was as follows:
495 / 728 (67.9%) matched
(a)
181 / 728 (24.9%) matched
(m)
44 / 728 (6.0%) matched
- Alternate Terms (singular form)
- main terms (plural form)
(u,v,w) - Use For terms (lead-in term)
6 / 728 (0.8%) matched
(b)
- Alternative British Equivalent
2 / 728 (0.3%) matched
(k)
- British Equivalent
The CHIN term usually matched an AAT Alternate Term, as the CHIN terms are in singular form.
b
Of the 728 terms which matched as phrases, most were found in the AAT's Objects Facet.
24
664 / 728 (91.2%) found in
49 / 728 (6.7%) found in
Objects Facet
Materials Facet
2 / 728 (0.3%) found in
Physical Attributes Facet
7 / 728 (1%)
Activities Facet.
found in
3 / 728 (0.4%) found in
Styles and Periods Facet
1 / 728 (0.1%) found in
Agents Facet
2 / 728 (0.3%) found in
Associated Concepts Facet
25
b. Frequency-weighted Match Results
When term frequency was taken into account, 31 926 entries of UBC Museum of Anthropology
OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE terms were matched against the AAT.
Table 13 shows the results of
this match.
Table 13
AAT vs. UBC Museum of Anthropology OB/OT Data:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
3Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
27416 / 31926
85.9%
Exact Word Matches
2396 / 31926
7.5%
Partial Matches
1303 / 31926
4.1%
811 / 31926
2.5%
29812 / 31926
93.4%
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
c. Commonly Used OT/OB Combination Match Results
The 60 most commonly used terms (occurring 100 times or more) in the UBC Museum of
Anthropology OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE data are listed in Table 14. These terms, when their
frequency was taken into account, totalled 20 821 entries, and made up 65.2% of the 31 926
entries in the UBC Museum of Anthropology OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE data field. Note that none
of the UBC Museum of Anthropology OB/OT terms matched the AAT as Exact Word Matches.
26
Table 14
AAT vs. UBC Museum of Anthropology OT/OB Combination
Phrases Used 100 Times or More
Match Freq.
Name

265
arrow

318
bag

110
band

1760
basket

197
belt

168
blade

154
bottle

505
bowl

230
box

168
brooch

158
calendar

208
carving

202
club

2895
coin

228
container

105
cup

357
dish

414
doll

260
drawing

177
fan

1894
figure

276
hat

175
headdress

110
hook

120
jacket

238
jar
27

113
jug

221
knife

125
label

110
ladle

919
mask

209
mat

120
maul

316
necklace

426
ornament

101
paddle

278
painting

116
panel

943
paper

125
pipe

110
plaque

263
plate

417
point

116
pot

722
print

238
puppet

203
rattle

150
robe

134
sash

321
sculpture

108
sherd

208
skirt

191
spear

334
spoon

168
stencil
-
128
stonecut print

647
textile

175
tool
28

183
vase

191
whistle
Total
20 821
60
by frequency
by unique occurrence
───────────────────────────────────────
Key to Match codes
 = Exact Phrase Match with the AAT
- = Partial Match with the AAT (matching word is underlined)
29
Statistics for these 60 commonly used UBC Museum of Anthropology OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE
terms were generated for both frequency-weighted and unique occurrences.
A match was made
between the AAT and the 60 unique OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE combination phrases that occurred
100 times or more in the UBC Museum of Anthropology data. The results of the match are shown in
Table 15.
Table 15
AAT vs. UBC Museum of Anthropology Commonly Used OB/OT Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
Percentage of Total
59 / 60
98.3 %
Exact Word Matches
0 / 60
0 %
Partial Matches
1 / 60
1.7 %
Non-matches
0 / 60
0 %
Total Exact Matches
59 / 60
98.3 %
A match was made between the AAT and the 20 821 entries of commonly occurring (100 times or
more) OBJECT NAME/OBJECT TYPE phrases from the UBC Museum of Anthropology data. The
results of the match are shown in Table 16.
Table 16
AAT vs. UBC Museum of Anthropology Commonly used OB/OT Terms:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
30
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
20693 / 20821
99.4 %
0 / 20821
0%
128 / 20821
0.6 %
0 / 20821
0%
20693 / 20821
99.4 %
Exact Word Matches
Partial Matches
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
31
2.2 Mismatches in Sample OB/OT Data: Contextual Errors
The terms that the computer had identified as matches with the AAT were manually checked for
mismatches in context.
Mismatches or questionable matches in each museums' data were marked
as such on the "Source Match Summary" printouts. The results were as follows:
1) for the New Brunswick Museum, approximately 5% (about 449 of the 8979 terms) were
context mismatches, and a further 3% (about 289 of the 8979 terms) were questionable in
context.
2) for the UBC Museum of Anthropology, approximately 6.5% (about 163 of the 2499 terrms)
were context mismatches, and a further 2.4% (about 59 of the 2499 terms) were
questionable in context.
3) for the Mendel Art Gallery, approximately 2.9% (about 5 of the 171 terms) were context
mismatches.
That the percentages of computer mismatches were quite high is misleading. There are many
terms in the AAT with more than one meaning—e.g., tables (documents) and tables (support
furniture)—but the computer program matched the CHIN term with the first AAT term it hit, and
could not determine context. Therefore, although the context of the match the computer made
might have been incorrect, there was usually a homonym in the AAT that did match in context.
Many of the terms that the computer "mismatched," therefore, are actually present, in their correct
context, in the AAT. In most cases, the correct AAT homonym was in the same facet, and had the
same term designation as the mismatched homonym. Also, the mismatches tended to happen
repeatedly on the same few terms, as shown in Table 17.
The few AAT terms (such as disc, carrier, guard, head, kit, and gun) that did not have a correct
context for the usual usage of the CHIN terms, were genuine computer mismatches.
The CHIN terms that the computer program could not match with the AAT were also studied to
determine their makeup. Terms did not match for a variety of reasons, including misspellings
32
(accessory), Canadian spellings (adze), missed spaces (linoblock), French terms (aiguillette), and
vagueness (object, unknown). Most of the terms, however, were genuine candidates for addition
to the AAT, either as main, alternate, or lead-in vocabulary. Some of the terms that were not
found in the AAT were very commonly used by the CHIN museums. Some of the most promising
candidate terms, those which were used over five times across the three databases, are shown in
Table 18.
There were also many infrequently used terms (occurring less than 5 times across the three
databases) that are promising candidates for inclusion in the AAT. These include "cigarette",
"cultivator", "funnel", "harrow", etc.
33
Table 17
Computer Mismatches: CHIN OB/OT Term and Correct/Incorrect AAT Contexts
a
CHIN term
b
AAT Match
c
(usually incorrect in context)
miniature miniature (painting) V,a
knight
king
AAT Match
(correct context)
miniature <Attributes and Properties> D,m
Knight (chessman) V,a
Knight (landholder) H,a
King (chessman) V,a
King (person) H,a
queen
Queen (chessman) V,a
Queen (person) H,a
cutter
cutter (sleigh) V,a
cutter (sailing vessel) V,a
<cutter: woodworking tool> V,g
<cutter: metalworking tool> V,g
shell
shell (boat) V,a
shell <Material> M,m
shell (ammunition) V,a
button
button (info. artifact) V,a
gun
Gun <Styles & Periods> F,m
kit
kit (fiddle) V,a
table
table (document) V,a
stretcher
stretcher (conveyance) V,a
skull
skull (helmet component) V,a
head
head (weapon component) V,a
paddle
paddle (ball game equ.) V,a
hammer hammer (sports equip.) V,a
button (fastener) V,a
table (support furniture) V,a
stretcher (framing and mounting equip.) V,a
skull (skeleton component) M,m
paddle (watercraft equipment) V,a
hammer (tool) V,a
hammer (firearm component) V,a
stick
stick (hockey equipment) V,a
stick <object genres by form> V,a
guard
guard (weapon component) V,a
set
set (architect. element) V,a
key
key (text) V,a
key (hardware) V,a
representation
representation (gov't function) K,u
<Associated Concepts><Forms of Expression> B,m
tie
tie (concrete fastener) V,a
ties (neckties) V,u
set (group) V,a
tie (fastener) V,a
carrier
Carrier <Styles and Periods> F,m
mat
mat (framing & mounting equip.) V,a mat (floor covering) V,a
mat (furniture covering) V,a
mask
mask (transparency) V,a
disc
disc (foot component) V,a
mask (costume) V,a
board
board (binding component) V,a
board (flat object) V,a
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
34
a
CHIN terms that are most frequently mismatched by the computer program
b
the AAT term that the computer matched the CHIN term with, including the AAT term's facet
c
the correct-context homonym that is found elsewhere in the AAT, including the AAT term's facet and designation (see
b
above).
(V=Object, D=Physical Attributes, F=Styles and Periods, K=Activities, M=Materials, H=Agents, B=Associated Concepts)
and designation (a=alternate, m=main, u=use for, g=guide)
35
Table 18
Commonly Used CHIN OB/OT Terms Which Do Not Appear in the AAT
CHIN term
Frequency in the three sample databases
abrader
57
adze
44
arrowpoint
15
bailer
11
bellows
(in two databases)
8
(in two databases
bird
10
biface
22
bobbin
65
(in two databases)
booklet
22
(in two databases)
bundle
8
churinga
7
garment
66
gavel
6
haversack
8
headring
8
human
10
ikon
68
last
7
macehead
8
needlecase
8
part
8
picture
13
pounder
35
6
(in two databases)
92
rosary
7
sabretache
6
sampler
shellcase
shredder
(in two databases)
372
pills
ring
(in two databases)
19
measure
quirt
(in two databases)
(in two databases)
108
(in two databases)
9
11
sickle
6
sinker
35
(in two databases)
(in two databases)
36
stirrup(s)
11
syringe
7
telescope
18
toggle
46
tumpline
12
unguentarium
10
washboard
whip
whorl(s)
(in two databases)
(in two databases)
(in two databases)
7
22
(in two databases)
10
(in two databases)
37
3. CHIN MATERIAL Field vs. AAT Materials Facet
The AAT's Materials facet contains terms which cover "a broad range of types of physical matter,
including both natural and synthetic substances and ranging from raw materials to material
products" (AHIP, 1994, p.74). As such, it is a possible source of terminology for the CHIN
MATERIAL (MA) field of the Humanities National Inventory.
A thesaurus has already been produced for the MATERIAL field in the 1993 CHIN publication,
Standards for the Use of the Material (MA), Technique (MT), and Related Fields on CHIN
Humanities Databases (Ewing, 1993). In order to determine the feasibility of using the AAT as a
vocabulary source for the MATERIAL field, and to see how closely the AAT vocabulary corresponds
with that presented by Ewing (which was primarily derived from the AAT), a sample of the contents
of the MATERIAL field of the Humanities National Inventory as well as the vocabulary from Ewing
were matched against a sample of vocabulary from the Materials facet of the AAT.
The analysis was performed on a sample of the CHIN MATERIAL field contents because of the large
number of records (2 123 061) in the National Inventory. The sample was selected from a printout
by analysing 10 pages, skipping 10, etc., until approximately 11% of the terms (by frequency) were
analysed. The match was accomplished by manually correlating an alphabetic listing of AAT
Descriptors, Former Terms, UK Equivalents, UK Alternatives, Alternate Terms, and Use For terms
from the Materials facet with
1) the vocabulary for MATERIALS (Ewing, 1993), and
2) a sample of the alphabetical frequency list of the MATERIAL field data.
Match results were calculated in two ways:
1) based on the number of unique occurrences of terms
(e.g., if wax appeared in the database 591 times, and matched the AAT, it counted as one
match). This type of match was done for both the data from the National Inventory
MATERIAL field and the vocabulary from Ewing.
38
2) based on frequency of the CHIN terms
(e.g., terms were frequency-weighted so that if wax appeared in the database 591 times,
and matched the AAT, it counted as 591 matches). This type of match was done for only
the data from the National Inventory MATERIAL field.
39
3.1 MATERIAL Field Match Results
3.1.1
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 3934 unique terms in the CHIN MATERIAL field
(i.e., 4710 terms minus 776 French terms). The match results are shown in Table 19.
Table 19
AAT Materials vs. Sample of CHIN MATERIAL Field Data:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Exact Phrase Matches
215 / 3934
5.5%
Exact Word Matches
906 / 3934
23.0%
2172 / 3934
55.2%
Non-matches
641 / 3934
16.3%
Total Exact Matches
1186 / 3934
28.5%
Partial Matches
There were a few CHIN entries that were spelling or typographical errors, but that
were still recognisable as AAT terms. When the spelling or typing errors were corrected, the
MATERIAL non-frequency-weighted match rates were as follows:
Exact Phrase Matches 6.9%
Exact Word Matches
23.3%
40
Partial Matches
55.1%
Non-matches
14.8%
Total Exact Matches
30.2%
41
3.1.2
Frequency-weighted Match Results
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 165 781 entries from the MATERIAL field (i.e.,
225 459 entries minus 59 678 French entries), including each occurrence of each term. The
match results are shown in Table 20.
Table 20
AAT Materials vs. Sample of CHIN MATERIAL Field Data:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
126365 / 165781
76.2%
126524/165781
126524/16578
Exact Word Matches
12299 / 165781
7.4%
Partial Matches
22506 / 165781
13.6%
4611 / 165781
2.8%
138834 / 165781
83.6%
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
There were a few CHIN entries that were spelling or typographical errors, but that were
still recognisable as AAT terms. When the spelling or typing errors were corrected, the MATERIAL
frequency-weighted match rates were as follows:
42
Exact Phrase Matches
76.3%
Exact Word Matches
7.4%
Partial Matches
13.6%
Non-matches
2.7%
Total Exact Matches
83.7%
43
3.1.3
Ewing Vocabulary Match Results (Non-frequency-weighted)
Based on the unique occurrence of terms, there were 399 unique vocabulary
terms from Ewing (1993) matched against the AAT. The match results are shown in Table 21.
Table 21
AAT Materials vs. Ewing Vocabulary: Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
Percentage of Total
83 / 399
20.8%
Exact Word Matches
160 / 399
40.1%
Partial Matches
139 / 399
34.8%
Non-matches
17 / 399
4.2%
Total Exact Matches
243 / 399
60.9%
3.1.4
Commonly Used MATERIAL Terms Match Results
The following analysis of commonly used MATERIAL terms was based on all of the MATERIAL field
data (not just the sample). The 349 most commonly used MATERIAL terms (occurring 500 times or
more) in the CHIN Humanities National Inventory are shown in Table 22. These terms, when their
44
frequency was taken into account, totalled 1 820 879 entries, and made up 85.7% of the
2 123 061 entries in the Humanities National Inventory MA field. Terms which are exclusively
French are marked with an “F” along the left margin. Some words are likely French words in the
context of this database, but are counted as English because they are sometimes used in English
as well. Some of the terms in this list matched terms in other hierarchies of the AAT, though they
did not match in the Materials facet; the hierarchy that they were found in is marked on the list
within parentheses.
45
Table 22
AAT Materials vs. CHIN MATERIAL Terms that Occurred 500 Times or More
Lang. Match Freq.
MATERIAL
F
X
3531
ACIER
F
X
3547
ADHESIF
O
2779
ALBUMEN PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER

726
ALUMINIUM

2850
ALUMINUM

5206
ANTLER
X
4072
ARGENT

1146
ARGILLITE
F
F

594
BAKELITE

1499
BALL CLAY

1385
BAMBOO

1407
BARK
O
1390
BARK, BIRCH
O
1839
BARK, CEDAR
O
518

1996
BASALT
X
2205
BEAD
X
4702
BEADS
X
902
BIRCHBARK
-
578
BIRD RIVER RHYOLITE
("River" - Settlem./Landscapes)
BLACK CHERT
("Black" in Colors)
-
1002
BARK, CHERRY
(in Objects facet)
(in Objects facet)
F
X
30895
BOIS
F
X
817
BOIS, PIN

61958
BONE
-
600
BONE, BIRD
-
6909
BONE, LAND-MAMMAL
46
F
-
511
BONE, SEA-MAMMAL

18529
BRASS

1728
BROMIDE ?

7390
BRONZE

3181
BUCKSKIN

613
BURLAP

844
CANE

4123
CANVAS
X
3727
CAOUTCHOUC

F
30994
CARDBOARD
X
7911
CARTON

1261
CAST IRON
-
855
CATHEAD CHERT

531
CATLINITE

723
CEDAR
O
1365
CEDAR BARK
O
812
CEDAR ROOT

2475
CELLULOID

18049
CERAMIC

554
CERAMIC ?
-
693
CERAMIC, CHINA
-
590
CERAMIC, CREAMWARE
-
2561
("Sea" in Settlem.\Landscapes)
("Creamware" - Object Genres)
CERAMIC, EARTHENWARE ("Earthenware"-Obj. Genres)
O
528
CERAMIC, IRONSTONE
O
2705
CERAMIC, PORCELAIN
-
840
CERAMIC, STONEWARE
-
682
CERAMIC: EARTHENWARE ("Earthenware"-Obj. Genres)
-
542
CERAMIC:EARTHENWARE ("Earthenware" -Obj. Genres)
F
X
4438
CERAMIQUE
F
X
1202
CERAMIQUE, PORCELAINE

1942
CHALCEDONY

853
CHARCOAL
47
("Stoneware" - Object Genres)
F
F
F
O
999

15656
CHERT
-
6196
CHERT, RAMAH
X
1755
CHINA
X
518
CIRE

9395
CLAY

9609
CLOTH
X
949
COLLE

812
COMPOSITION

7531
COPPER

2221
COPPER ALLOY

1458
CORD

2529
CORK
X
3820
COTON

43107
COTTON

1130
COTTON ?
O
O
556
1421
CHERRY BARK
COTTON CLOTH
COTTON THREAD
X
590
F
X
3338
CUIR
F
X
2722
CUIVRE

946
DIORITE
X
537
DRAP
F
F
F
F
CRAYON
(in Tools and Equipment)

5081
DYE
X
27435
EARTHENWARE

1561
EGGSHELL
X
1331
ELASTIC
X
1623
EMAIL

4216
ENAMEL
X
12515
ENCRE

598
X
1663
(in Object Genres)
(in Attributes and Properties)
ENGOBE
ETAIN
48

11798
FABRIC
O
594
FABRIC, COTTON
X
1821
FAUNAL

2723
FEATHER
X
2652
FEATHERS

3283
FELT
F
X
7121
FER
F
X
1082
FER FORGE

3804
FERROUS METAL
X
703

15407
-
551
FIBRE SYNTHETIQUE
O
506
FIBRE, CANVAS
F
F
F
FEUTRE
FIBRE
O
1167
FIBRE, CLOTH
-
2379
FIBRE, COTON

11909
FIBRE, COTTON

623
FIBRE, COTTON
O
511
FIBRE, FLAX (LINEN)
F
-
F
-
819
FIBRE, LIN
O
695
FIBRE, LINEN
O
980
FIBRE, NYLON
O
F
(in Components and in Tools and Equipment)
1135
1128
FIBRE, LAINE
FIBRE, POLYESTER
O
948
FIBRE, RAYON
O
3586
FIBRE, SILK
-
1562
FIBRE, SOIE
O
6044
FIBRE, WOOL

1093
FIBRE: COTTON
O
638
FIBRE: LINEN
O
966
FIBRE: SILK

2443
FUR
X
1582
GILT
(in Processes & Techniques)
49
F
X

GLACURE
80352
GLASS

1269
GLASS ?
-
2685
GLASS BEADS
-
2648
GLASS, CLEAR

905
("Beads" in Objects facet)
GLASS, OPAQUE
-
1366
GLASS, TRANSLUCENT

3568
GLAZE
X
791
-
1023
GLAZED PORCELAIN ("Glazed" - Processes & Techn.)
X
1099
GLAZED STONEWARE

2215
GLUE

1870
GOLD
("Translucent"-Attrib.\Propert.)
GLAZED EARTHENWARE ("Earthenware"-Obj.Genres)

608

2389
GRANITE

1734
GRASS
-
2686
GREY CHERT
559
GREYWACKE

F
3646
("Stoneware" - Object Genres)
GOURD

1431
HAIR

5566
HARDWOOD

553
("Grey" in Colors)
HEMP

3214
HIDE

1352
HORN

636
HORSEHAIR
-
680
HUDSON BAY LOWLAND CHERT ("Lowland"-Styl/Per)

11996
INK

20788
IRON

710
IRON ?

731
IRONSTONE
X
866
IVOIRE


7016
775
IVORY
JADE
50

523
JASPER

2868
KAOLIN
-
5738
KNIFE RIVER FLINT ("River"-Sett./Landsc.,"Knife"-Obj.)

2486
LACE

749
LACQUER
F
X
1976
LAINE
F
X
5119
LAITON

2407
LEAD

20026
LEATHER

671
LIMESTONE
X
520
LIN

8490
LINEN
X
9888
LITHIC

574

153006
METAL
F
-
2789
METAL, ACIER
F
O
F
F
670
MAHOGANY
METAL, ALUMINIUM
O
1363
METAL, ALUMINUM
-
2714
METAL, ARGENT

719
METAL, BASE
O
18330
METAL, BRASS
O
5267
METAL, BRONZE
O
5057
METAL, COPPER
F
-
3796
METAL, CUIVRE
F
-
6619
METAL, FER
F
-
930
METAL, FONTE
-
655
METAL, GILT ("Gilt" - Processes and Techniques)
O
821
METAL, GOLD
O
13531
METAL, IRON
F
-
2515
METAL, LAITON
O
1864
METAL, LEAD
O
1420
METAL, NICKEL
51
O
514
O
6685
O
O
F

11219
2901
774
1114
METAL, PEWTER
METAL, SILVER
METAL, STEEL
METAL, TIN
METAL, TOLE
METAL, WHITE
O
868
METAL, ZINC
-
500
METAL: COPPER ALLOYS
O
827
METAL: LEAD ALLOY
O
1423
METAL:BRONZE
O
594
METAL:SILVER
-
12203
METALLIC SALTS (SILVER) ("Metallic" - Styles/Periods)
-
529
METALLIC THREAD
("Metallic" - Styles/Periods)
O
9066
MINERAL, CHERT
-
2880
MINERAL, MINERAL, RAMAH
O
3769
MINERAL, QUARTZ
-
759
MINERAL, QUARTZ VARIETY
O
675
MINERAL, QUARTZITE
-
20266
MINERAL, RAMAH CHERT
O
1861
MINERAL,QUARTZ
O
1159
MINERAL,QUARTZ CRYSTAL
X
1838
MISCELLANEOUS

685
MIXED MEDIA

966
MOTHER-OF-PEARL
-
805
MOTTLED CHERT ("Mottled" in Processes & Techniques)

1903

613

1326
NICKEL

2522
NYLON

1004
OAK


689
1221
NEPHRITE
NET
OBSIDIAN
OCHRE
52
F
X
527
OR

14110
PAINT

125290
O
880
F
X
29552
F
X
2576
PAPIER JOURNAL
F
-
1038
PAPIER LUSTRE
F
X
1258
PEAU
F
X
997
F
X
6953
PEINTURE
X
1571
PENCIL
F
F
PAPER
PAPER, CARDBOARD
PAPIER
PEAU, CUIR
(in Tools and Equipment)
X
507
PENCIL CRAYON
-
622
PETRIFIED WOOD

613
PEWTER

6791
X
994
PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER
PIERRE

4071
PIGMENT
X
921
PIN

907
PINE
X
939
PLANT
(in Settlements and Landscapes)

1778
PLASTER

22361
PLASTIC
F
X
4869
PLASTIQUE
F
X
779
F
X
1908
PLATRE
F
X
1430
PLOMB

1201
POLYESTER

8422
PORCELAIN
X
638
PORCELAINE
X
655
POTTERY
-
2298
F

16348
(both in Tools and Equipment)
PLASTIQUE, VINYLE
QTZ. CRYSTAL
QUARTZ
53
(in Object Genres)
O
1897
QUARTZ CRYSTAL

11268
QUARTZITE
X
597
QUILLS

2244
RAWHIDE

2728
RAYON

655

O
1033
766
REED
RESIN
RESIN, RUBBER

1266
RHYOLITE

2074
RIBBON

660
ROOT
O
554
ROOT, SPRUCE

786
ROPE

8510
RUBBER

2891
SATIN

1027
SEALSKIN
-
677
SEED BEADS
-
796
SELKIRK CHERT
-
745
SEMI-PORCELAIN

4277
("Beads" in Objects facet)
SHELL
-
653
SHELL, DENTALIUM
O
620
SHELL: MOTHER OF PEARL

631
SHELLAC

22055

881

1336
SILTSTONE

11179
SILVER

992
SILVER PLATE
X
649
SILVERPLATE

5297
SINEW

6542
SKIN
O
6351
SKIN, LEATHER
SILK
SILK ?
54
O
F
958
SKIN: LEATHER

1757
SLATE

1087
SOAPSTONE

1706
SOFTWOOD
X
1470
SOIE

1149
SOIL
O
742
SPRUCE ROOT

827
STAINLESS STEEL

1913
STEATITE

16231
STEEL

887
STEEL ?


1090
26816
O
3262
O
879
STERLING SILVER
STONE
STONE, CHERT
STONE, JADE, NEPHRITE
-
2772
STONE, METAMORPHIC, QUARTZITE
-
7566
STONE, METAMORPHIC, SLATE
O
616
STONE, QUARTZITE
O
2536
STONE, RHYOLITE
O
1631
STONE, SCHIST
-
517
STONE, SEDIMENTARY, SILTSTONE
-
1555
STONE, SILICEOUS, CHERT
O
3964
STONE, SLATE
O
2991
STONE, SOAPSTONE
-
6694
STONE, VOLCANIC, BASALT
-
2053
STONE, VOLCANIC, OBSIDIAN
-
3809
STONE,SEDIMENTARY,SANDSTONE
-
3294
STONE,SILICEOUS,CHALCEDONY
-
10804
STONE,SILICEOUS,CHERT
-
52240
STONE,VOLCANIC,BASALT
X
3822
STONEWARE

1566
STRAW
55
(in Object Genres)

F
F
2901
STRING
X
576
STROUD
-
6755
SWAN RIVER CHERT
X
3921
SYNTHETIC
("River" in Settlem./Landsc.)
("Synthetic" - Attributes and Propert.)
-
595
SYNTHETIC, PLASTIC ("Synthetic"-Attributes and Prop.)
-
732
SYNTHETIC: PLASTIC ("Synthetic"-Attributes and Prop.)

507
TAPE
X
1035
TEINTURE

550

3526
TEXTILE

4986
THREAD

6852
TIN
X
722

4454
TOOTH
X
2901
UNKNOWN

539
TERRA COTTA
TISSU
VARNISH

3188
VELVET
F
X
2029
VERNIS
F
X
12848
VERRE

1004
VINYL

1658
WAX

3897
WHITE METAL

614

3225
WIRE

106666
WOOD
O
717
O
1004
WOOD, CEDAR
O
1351
WOOD, MAHOGANY
WICKER
WOOD, BIRCH
O
724
WOOD, MAPLE
O
999
WOOD, OAK
O
2076
WOOD, PINE
O
1129
WOOD, RED CEDAR
56
O
760

18013
WOOL

918
YARN
Total
1 820 879
Total
349
WOOD, WALNUT
by frequency
by unique occurrence
───────────────────────────────────────
Key to Match codes
 = Exact Phrase Match with the AAT
(phrase matches as a whole)
O = Exact Word Match with the AAT (single words Match separately)
- = Partial Match with the AAT
(matching word underlined)
X = Non-Match with the AAT Materials facet
After the French terms were removed from the match, statistics were calculated for the commonly used
English terms of the MA Field. Again, the statistics for commonly used terms are based on the entire
MA field (not only the sample).
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 290 unique terms that were used 500 times or
more in the MATERIAL field (i.e., 349 terms minus 59 French terms). The match results are shown in
Table 23.
57
Table 23
AAT Materials vs. CHIN MATERIAL Terms Used 500 Times or More:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
152 / 290
52.4%
67 / 290
23.1%
Partial Matches
47 / 290
16.2%
Non-matches
24 / 290
8.3%
Total Exact Matches
219 / 290
75.5%
Exact Word Matches
MatchMatch (word)es
The above statistics are based on a match of CHIN MATERIAL terms with terms from the Materials
facet of the AAT. If these CHIN terms had been matched against the entire AAT, the results would
have been as follows:
Exact Phrase Matches
56.6%
Exact Word Matches
30.0%
Partial Matches
10.3%
Non-matches
3.1%
Total Exact Matches
86.6%
58
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 1 611 498 entries of terms that were used
500 times or more in the MATERIAL field (i.e., 1 820 879 entries minus 209 381 French entries),
including each occurrence of each term. The match results are shown in Table 24.
59
Table 24
AAT Materials vs. CHIN MATERIAL Terms Used 500 Times or More:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
1194314 / 1611498
74.1%
Exact Word Matches
158296 / 1611498
9.9%
Partial Matches
183159 / 1611498
11.4%
Non-matches
74729 / 1611498
4.6%
1353610 / 1611498
83.9%
Total Exact Matches
The above statistics are based on the match of the CHIN MATERIAL terms with terms from the
Materials facet of the AAT.
When these CHIN terms were matched against the entire AAT, the
results were as follows:
Exact Phrase Matches
77.3%
Exact Word Matches
11.5%
Partial Matches
9.9%
Non-matches
1.3%
Total Exact Matches
88.8%
60
4. CHIN TECHNIQUE Field vs. AAT Processes/Techniques Hierarchy
The AAT's Processes and Techniques hierarchy contains "descriptors for actions and methods
performed physically on or with materials and objects and for processes occurring in materials and
objects" (AHIP, 1994, Vol.2, p.42). As such, it corresponds directly to, and is a possible source of
terminology for, the CHIN TECHNIQUE (MT) field of the Humanities National Inventory, which
"indicates the processes, methods, or techniques used to manufacture the item" (CHIN, 1993, p.
106).
A thesaurus has already been produced for the TECHNIQUE field in Standards for the Use of the
Material (MA), Technique (MT), and Related Fields on CHIN Humanities Databases (Ewing, 1993).
In order to determine the feasibility of using the AAT as a vocabulary source for the TECHNIQUE
field, and to see how closely the AAT vocabulary corresponds with that presented by Ewing (which
was primarily derived from the AAT), a sample of the contents of the TECHNIQUE field of the
Humanities National Inventory as well as the vocabulary from Ewing were matched with the entire
vocabulary from the Processes and Techniques hierarchy of the AAT.
The analysis was performed on a sample of the CHIN TECHNIQUE field contents, because of the
large number of records (845 570). The sample was selected by analysing 20 pages, skipping
20 pages, etc., until approximately 35% of the terms (by frequency) were analysed. The match
was accomplished by manually correlating an alphabetic listing of AAT Descriptors, Former Terms,
UK Equivalents, UK Alternatives, Alternate Terms, and Use For terms from the Processes and
Techniques hierarchy with:
1) the vocabulary for TECHNIQUE from Ewing (1993) and
2) a sample of the alphabetical frequency list from the TECHNIQUE field.
Match results were calculated in two ways:
1) based on the number of unique occurrences of terms (e.g., if carved appeared in the
61
database 591 times, and matched the AAT, it counted as one match). This type of match
was done for both the data from the National Inventory TECHNIQUE field and the vocabulary
from Ewing.
2) based on frequency of the CHIN terms (e.g., terms are frequency-weighted so that if
carved appeared in the database 591 times, and matched the AAT, it counted as 591
matches). This type of match was done for only the data from the National Inventory
TECHNIQUE field.
62
4.1 TECHNIQUE Field Match Results
4.1.1
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 3970 unique terms in the CHIN TECHNIQUE
field (i.e., 4303 terms minus 333 French terms). The match results are shown in Table 25.
Table 25
AAT Processes & Techniques vs. CHIN TECHNIQUE Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
195 / 3970
4.9%
Exact Word Matches
199 / 3970
5.0%
Partial Match
1990 / 3970
50.1%
Non-matches
1586 / 3970
40.0%
394 / 3970
9.9%
Total Exact Matches
There were a very few CHIN entries that were spelling or typographical errors, but that
were still recognisable as AAT terms. When the spelling or typing errors were corrected, the
TECHNIQUE non-frequency-weighted match rates were as follows:
Exact Phrase Matches 6.0%
63
Exact Word Matches
5.1%
Partial Matches
50.1%
Non-matches
38.8%
Total Exact Matches
11.1%
64
4.1.2
Frequency-weighted Match Results
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 242 040 entries from the TECHNIQUES field
(i.e., 286 229 entries minus 44 189 French entries), including each occurrence of each term. The
match results are shown in Table 26.
Table 26
AAT Processes & Techniques vs. CHIN TECHNIQUE Terms:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
192663 / 242040
79.6%
Exact Word Matches
1385 / 242040
0.6%
Partial Matches
9830 / 242040
4.1%
Non-matches
38162 / 242040
15.7%
Total Exact Matches
194048 / 242040
80.2%
There were a very few CHIN entries that were spelling or typographical errors, but that
were still recognisable as AAT terms. When the spelling or typing errors were corrected, the
TECHNIQUE non-frequency-weighted match rates did not change significantly.
65
4.1.3
Ewing Vocabulary Match Results (Non-frequency-weighted)
Based on the unique occurrence of terms, it was found that there were 147 unique
TECHNIQUE terms from Ewing (1993); these were matched against the AAT. The match results
are shown in Table 27.
Table 27
AAT Processes and Techniques vs. Ewing Vocabulary TECHNIQUE Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
84 / 147
57.1%
1 / 147
0.7%
Partial Matches
31 / 147
21.1%
Non-matches
31 / 147
21.1%
Total Exact Matches
85 / 147
57.8%
Exact Word Matches
Of the TECHNIQUE vocabulary terms from Ewing, the 16 that were counted as Partial or Nonmatches would have been Exact Matches if they had been in a different grammatical form.
66
Because the AAT's Processes and Techniques terms are often in the gerund form, adjectival terms
such as Netted and Gilded, Oil in the Ewing vocabulary did not match the AAT's Netting and
Gilding, Oil. When allowances were made for grammatical form, there was an increase in the Total
Exact Matches to 62%.
67
4.1.4
Commonly Used TECHNIQUE Terms Match Results
The 96 most commonly used terms (occurring 1000 times or more) in the CHIN MATERIAL (MT)
field are listed in Table 28. These terms, when their frequency was taken into account, totalled
513 530 entries, and made up 60.7% of the 845 570 entries in the Humanities National Inventory
MATERIAL field. Exclusively French terms were marked with an “F” along the left margin. Some
words, such as assemble and impression, are likely French words in the context of this database,
but were counted as English because they are sometimes used in English as well. Some of the
terms in this list matched terms in other hierarchies of the AAT, although they did not match in the
Processes and Techniques hierarchy; the hierarchy in which they were found is marked on the list
within parentheses.
Table 28
AAT Processes & Techniques vs. Commonly Used CHIN TECHNIQUE Terms
Lang.
F
F
Match Freq.
TECHNIQUE Term

7405
ABRADED
-
1749
ABRADED, ENTIRE
X
10856
ARTISANAL
X
9521
ASSEMBLE

2997
BEADED

1188
BENT
X
1495
BLADE-CORE ("Blade" - Tools and Equipment)
X
1890
BLOWN, MOULD
X
1828
BOUND

1202
BRAIDED

1516
BROCADED

22103
CARVED

12010
CAST

6220
CHIPPED
X
1486
CISELE
68
("Mould" - Tools and Equipment)
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
X
1521
CLOUE

1825
COILED
X
2052
COLLE
X
1708
COMMERCIAL
(in Information Forms)
X
1037
CONTACT PRINT
(in Objects facet)
X
1093
CONTINUOUS
(in Attributes and Properties)
X
3559
COUSU

1564
CROCHETED
X
1015
CUIT

13276
CUT
X
6601
DECOUPE
X
8190
DESSINE
X
1007
DISCONTINUOUS
X
1009
DOMESTIQUE

7673
DRAWN
X
1059
DRILL

3413
DRILLED

3281
DYED
X
6240
EAU-FORTE

9045
EMBROIDERED

1552
ENAMELLED

1746
ENGRAVED

2957
ETCHING
X
2095
EXPANDING

27564
FIRED

74973
FLAKED
(in Attributes and Properties)
(in Objects facet)
-
1160
FLAKED,BIFACIALLY
X
2428
FORGE

2319
FORGED

5835
GLAZED

1990
GLUED
69
F
X
1256
GRAVE
F
-
1338
GRAVURE SUR

15043
GROUND

1142
HAMMERED
-
1055
HAND ASSEMBLED
-
2020
HAND SEWN
X
2459
HAND-WROUGHT
("Wrought"
in
Attributes
Properties)
F
X
6089
HANDMADE
(in Attributes and Properties)
-
1540
HANDSEWN
-
4111
HANDWRITTEN
X
1960
HOLLOW-CANE
X
2252
HOMEMADE
X
1080
IMBRICATED
X
1006
IMPRESSION
X
6069
IMPRIME

2242
INCISED
(in Attributes and Properties)
F
X
12624
F
X
1456
INDUSTRIELLE

1600
INTAGLIO

1001
KNITTED
X
1660
LACE

1530
LAYERED
X
4145
LITHOGRAPH (in Objects facet)
X
2757
LITHOGRAPHIE

1227
LITHOGRAPHY
-
3646
MACHINE SEWN
X
4075
MANUFACTURE
X
1661
MANUFACTURED
X
2053
MARTELE

1941
MARVERED
F
F
INDUSTRIEL
(in Materials facet)
70
("Machine" in Objects facet)
and
F
X
3725
MELTON

30222
MOLDED

8639
MOULDED
X
7434
MOULE
X
5900
N

1600
NAILED

X
F
F
1723
PAINTED
PECKED
X
11362

1119
PHOTOENGRAVING
X
1398
PHOTOGRAPHIE

1036
PHOTOGRAVURE

12938
PEINT
PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
X
3500
PHOTOMECHANICAL

1761
PIERCED

4108
POLISHED

6149
PRESSED

F
12012
11090
PRINTED

1224
PROJECTION
X
1374
RELIE

1075
RELIEF

5220
RETOUCHED
X
2630
ROLLED
71
───────────────────────────────────────
Key to Match Codes
 = exact Match with the AAT Processes and Techniques hierarchy
- = Partial Match with the AAT
(matching word underlined)
X = Non-Match with the AAT Processes and Techniques hierarchy
After the French terms were removed from the match, statistics were calculated for the commonly used
terms of the MT Field. A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 75 unique terms that were
used more than 999 times in the TECHNIQUE field (i.e., 96 terms minus 21 French terms). The match
results are shown in Table 29.
72
Table 29
AAT Processes and Techniques vs. Commonly used CHIN TECHNIQUE Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Exact Matches
45 / 75
60.0%
Partial Matches
7 / 75
9.3%
23 / 75
30.7%
45 / 75
60.0%
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
The above statistics were based on the match of the CHIN TECHNIQUE terms with only the
Processes and Techniques hierarchy of the AAT. When these terms were matched against the
entire AAT, the results were as follows:
Exact Matches 73.3%
Partial Matches 12.0%
Non-matches
14.7%
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 430 627 entries of terms that were used
more than 999 times in the TECHNIQUE field (i.e., 513 530 entries minus 82 903 French entries),
including each occurrence of each term. The match results are shown in Table 30.
73
Table 30
AAT Processes and Techniques vs. Commonly Used CHIN TECHNIQUE Terms:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Matches
337573 / 430627
78.3%
15281 / 430627
3.5%
Non-matches
77773 / 430627
18.0%
Total Exact Matches
337573 / 430627
78.3%
Partial Matches
The above statistics were based on the match of the CHIN TECHNIQUE terms with only the
Processes and Techniques hierarchy of the AAT. When these terms were matched against the
entire AAT, the results were as follows:
Exact Matches 83.9%
Partial Matches 4.1%
Non-matches
12.0%
74
5. CHIN CULTURE and SCHOOL/STYLE Fields
vs. AAT Styles and Periods Facet
The AAT's Styles and Periods facet contains "the names of art and architecture styles, historical
periods, and art movements. Names of peoples, cultures, individuals, and sites are included only if
they designate distinct styles or periods" (AHIP, 1994, Vol.1, p. 336). As such, it is a possible
source of terminology for several CHIN fields, such as SCHOOL/STYLE (SA), PERIOD DESIGNATION
(PER), and CULTURE (CU). The SCHOOL/STYLE field, which contains information about school
and/or stylistic associations, and the CULTURE field, which is used to identify culture based on
social/geographic origin, are fields in the National Inventory.
This study does not deal with the
Period Designation field data, although the PER field could be matched against the AAT at a later
date.
A thesaurus has already been produced for the CULTURE field in Standards and Terminology for the
Recording of CULTURE in the Humanities Data Dictionary (Jewett, 1985). However, no guidelines
have been produced for the vocabulary of the SCHOOL/STYLE field.
In order to determine the feasibility of using the AAT as a vocabulary source for the SCHOOL/STYLE
and CULTURE fields, the contents of these two CHIN fields, as well as the CHIN thesaurus for
CULTURE terms (Jewett, 1985), were matched with the entire vocabulary of the Styles and Periods
facet of the AAT.
This was accomplished by manually correlating an alphabetic listing of AAT
Descriptors, Former Terms, UK Equivalents, UK Alternatives, Alternate Terms, and Use For terms
from the Styles and Periods facet with:
1) alphabetical frequency lists of the CHIN CULTURE and SCHOOL/STYLE fields and
2) the thesaurus for culture terms from Jewett (1985).
Match results were calculated in two ways:
1) based on the number of unique occurrences of terms (e.g., if Norwegian appearred in the
75
database 591 times and matched the AAT, it counted as one match).
2) based on frequency of the CHIN terms (e.g., terms are frequency-weighted so that if
Norwegian appearred in the database 591 times and matched the AAT, it counted as 591
matches).
For the SCHOOL/STYLE field, the match categories were calculated using the Match Results
Definitions (see Appendix), except that no differentiation was made between the Exact Word Match
and the Exact Phrase Match because word matches happened so infrequently. Matches were
categorized as Exact Matches (which included both Exact Word Matches and Exact Phrase
Matches), Partial Matches, and Non-matches. Again, French terms were not included in the match.
In general, if a CHIN term exactly matched an AAT term, it was counted as a match; if it did not
match an AAT term, it was counted as a Non-match. Spelling or typing errors were an exception
to this rule; if a word was obviously misspelled and its correct form was evident, it was counted as
a match if its correct form matched the AAT.
Outside of these general rules, there were some interesting problems with the CULTURE match.
Sometimes terms matched the AAT in meaning, but the terms differed grammatically. For example,
Guatemala was in the CHIN databases, but the AAT term was Guatemalan. In these cases,
Guatemala was counted as a Non-match. Another example was the CHIN entry Greenland Inuit,
contrasted with the AAT vocabulary, Greenland Eskimo. The meaning is the same, but the
terminology is not. In this case, the CHIN phrase Greenland Inuit does not match the AAT phrase,
Greenland Eskimo. The AAT does not have the word Greenland as a stand-alone term, but it
does have Inuit. Therefore, the CHIN term Greenland Inuit was counted as a Partial Match
because one of the two words, Inuit, matched.
Another problem arose when the CHIN term had a qualifier and the AAT term did not, or visa
versa. For example, a CHIN entry such as Abenaki (St Francis) was considered to be a Partial
Match with the AAT term Abenaki, because one of the words matched. However, the CHIN term
Massim counted as a Non-match when paired with the AAT's term, Massim Area because the
CHIN term Massim did not exist as a stand-alone term in the AAT.
76
5.1 CULTURE Field Match Results
5.1.1
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 4787 unique terms in the CULTURE field (i.e.,
5297 terms minus 510 French terms).
The match results are shown in Table 31.
Table 31
AAT Styles & Periods vs. CHIN CULTURE Data: Non-frequency-weighted
Match Results
Match Categories
Exact Phrase Matches
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
1208 / 4787
25.2%
Exact Word Matches
280 / 4787
5.8%
Partial Matches
981 / 4787
20.5%
2318 / 4787
48.4%
1488 / 4787
31.0%
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
There were a few CHIN entries that were spelling or typographical errors, but that were still
recognisable as AAT terms. For example, the CHIN entry Candian was a typographical
error that would match with the AAT term Canadian if corrected. Also, some of the CHIN terms
were in a different grammatical form than AAT terminology; for example, CHIN's entry, Belgium
would match the AAT's term, Belgian, if the form were changed. When the spelling or typing errors
were corrected and allowances were made for differences in grammatical form, the CULTURE non-
77
frequency-weighted match rates were as follows:
Exact Phrase Matches 27.0%
Exact Word Matches
5.8%
Partial Matches
27.0%
Non-matches
40.2%
Total Exact Matches
32.8%
78
5.1.2
Frequency-weighted Match Results
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 826 829 entries from the CHIN CULTURE field
(i.e., 902 419 entries minus 75 590 French entries), including each occurrence of each term. The
results of this match are shown in Table 32.
Table 32
AAT Styles and Periods vs. CHIN CULTURE Data: Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Exact Phrase Matches
Exact Word Matches
Partial Matches
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
475007 / 826829
57.5%
16825 / 826829
2%
114365 / 826829
13.8%
220632 / 826829
26.7%
491832 / 826829
59.5%
There were a few CHIN entries that were spelling or typographical errors, but that were still
recognisable as AAT terms. Also, some of the CHIN terms were in a different grammatical form
than AAT terminology. When the spelling or typing errors were corrected and allowances were
made for differences in grammatical form, the CULTURE frequency-weighted match rates were as
follows:
Exact Phrase Matches 57.5%
Exact Word Matches
2.0%
79
Partial Matches
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
14.9%
25.5%
59.5%
80
5.1.3
CHIN CULTURE Thesaurus Match Results (Non-frequency-weighted)
The CHIN Culture Thesaurus (Jewett, 1985) contained 299 terms, 268 of which were preferred
terms. When the non-preferred vocabulary was included in the match, the results were as shown
in Table 33.
Table 33
AAT Styles & Per. vs. 1985 CHIN Culture Thesaurus Preferred/Non-preferred Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
183 / 299
61.2%
Exact Word Matches
10 / 299
3.3%
Partial Matches
29 / 299
9.7%
Non-matches
77 / 299
25.7%
Total Exact Matches
193 / 299
64.5%
When the non-preferred vocabulary from the CHIN Culture Thesaurus was removed from the match,
268 terms remained. The results of the AAT Match are shown in Table 34.
81
Table 34
AAT Styles and Periods vs. 1985 CHIN Culture Thesaurus Preferred Terms Only:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
170 / 268
63.4%
8 / 268
3%
Partial Matches
25 / 268
9.3%
Non-matches
65 / 268
24.2%
Total Exact Matches
178 / 268
66.4%
Exact Word Matches
Note the similarity between the percentages of the CHIN Culture Thesaurus (Jewett, 1985) and
the non-frequency-weighted results from the CHIN CULTURE field. This similarity may be due to the
fact that the Culture Thesaurus was derived from terms in the CHIN databases.
5.1.4
Commonly Used CULTURE Terms Match Results
The 89 most commonly used terms (occurring 1000 times or more) in the CHIN CULTURE field are
listed in Table 35.
These terms, when their frequency was taken into account, totalled 766 249
entries, and made up 84.9% of the 902 419 entries (including French terms) in the Humanities
National Inventory CULTURE field. Terms that are exclusively French are marked with an “F” in the
Language column. Some of the terms in this list matched terms in other hierarchies of the AAT,
though they did not match in the Styles and Periods facet; the hierarchy in which they were found
is marked on the list within parentheses.
Table 35
82
AAT Styles and Periods vs. CHIN Commonly Used CULTURE Terms
Lang. Match Freq.
CULTURE

2057
AFRICAN
-
1232
ALASKAN ESKIMO
F
X
1762
AMERICAIN
F
X
1881
AMERICAINE

7121
AMERICAN
F
X
1092
ANGLAIS
F
X
1830
ANGLAISE

2100
ARCHAIC

4892
ASIAN

9135
ATHAPASKAN

2157
BLACKFOOT

1346
BLACKFOOT ?

2674
BLOOD

1331
BLOOD ?
X
2429
BRITANNIQUE
F

12075
BRITISH
-
1098
BRITISH ISLES ("Isles" - Settlements&Landscapes)

42662
CANADIAN

7459
CANADIAN ?
F
X
9299
CANADIEN
F
X
21148
CANADIENNE
-
2676
CENTRAL ESKIMO ("Central" - Attributes&Prop.)

12829
CHINESE

64268
COAST SALISH

2356
COPPER ESKIMO

4421
CREE

-
23842
5196
DORSET
DORSET, MIDDLE
83
-
2104


EARLY DORSET
3882
10771
EGYPTIAN
ENGLISH

1190
ENGLISH ?
O
6828
ENGLISH-CANADIAN

1769
ESKIMO

3692
EUROPEAN
X
2154
EUROPEEN
X
1752
EXPORT
X
1009
FOLK CULTURE ("Culture" - Associated Concepts)
F
X
2305
FRANCAIS
F
X
4604
FRANCAISE

4596
FRENCH
O
4417
FRENCH-CANADIAN

3744
GERMAN

1322
GREEK
X
3724
GROSWATER

6181
HAIDA
X
1647
HUTTERITE

5907
INDIAN
F
-
F
F
61082
INTERIOR SALISH ("Interior"- Attributes & Prop.)
-
1026
INTERM INDIAN

105945
INUIT

1527
IROQUOIS
X
1063
ISLAMIC

1929
ITALIAN
X
1923
ITALIEN

9346
JAPANESE
X
4214
JAPONAISE
X
8305
KOOTENAY

1076
KOREAN

4503
KWAKWAKA'WAKW
84
(in Associated Concepts)

F
Total
4168
LABRADOR ESKIMO
X
17675
LATE WOODLAND
-
11225
MARITIME ARCHAIC
X
1650
MI'KMAQ
X
2667
MIDDLE WOODLAND
-
2205
NEO-ESKIMO

1361
NOOTKA

5775
NORTH AMERICAN
X
8097
NORTHERN WAKASHAN
X
4175
NORTHWEST COAST
X
8105
NUU-CHAH-NULTH

3478
OJIBWA
-
4680
PALEO-ESKIMO
-
4933
PALEOESKIMO
-
1261
PEIGAN, SOUTH

2126
PLAINS CREE
X
1531
PLATEAU GENERAL ("Plateau"- Settlem.\Landsc.)
X
51420
POSTCONTACT

4314
PRE-DORSET
X
68140
PRECONTACT
X
2111
QUEBECOISE

1500
ROMAN

2389
RUSSIAN

1091
SCOTTISH

2700
THULE

3739
TSIMSHIAN
X
4463
UKRAINIAN
X
5636
UNKNOWN
X
5729
Y
766 249
by frequency
89
by unique occurrence
85
Key to Match Codes
 = Exact Phrase Match (words Match as an entire phrase)
O = Exact Word Match (words Match separately)
- = Partial Match (matching word underlined)
X = Non-Match with the AAT Styles and Periods facet
86
After the French terms were removed from the match, statistics were calculated for the commonly used
terms of the CULTURE field. A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 76 unique terms that
were used 1000 times or more in the CULTURE field (i.e., 89 terms minus 13 French terms).
Match
results are shown in Table 36.
Table 36
AAT Styles and Periods vs. Commonly used CHIN CULTURE Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
Percentage of Total
44 / 76
57.8 %
2 / 76
2.6 %
Partial Matches
12 / 76
15.8 %
Non-matches
18 / 76
23.8 %
46 / 76
60.4 %
Exact Word Matches
Total Exact Matches
The above statistics are based on the match of the CHIN CULTURE terms with only the Styles and
Periods facet of the AAT.
When these terms were matched against the entire AAT, the results
were as follows:
Exact Phrase Matches 59.2%
Exact Word Matches
Partial Matches
Non-matches
6.6%
14.5%
19.7%
87
Total Exact Matches
65.8%
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 709 497 entries occurring 1000 times or more
in the CULTURE field (i.e., 766 249 entries minus 56 752 French entries), including each
occurrence of each term. Match results are shown in Table 37.
88
Table 37
AAT Styles and Periods vs. Commonly Used CHIN CULTURE Terms:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
402746 / 709497
56.7 %
Exact Word Matches
11245 / 709497
1.6 %
Partial Matches
98718 / 709497
13.9 %
196788 / 709497
27.7 %
413991 / 709497
58.3 %
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
The above statistics are based on the match of the CHIN CULTURE terms with only the Styles and
Periods facet of the AAT. When these terms were matched against the entire AAT, the results
were as follows:
Exact Phrase Matches 56.9%
Exact Word Matches
Partial Matches
10.7%
4.6%
Non-matches
27.2%
Total Exact Matches
67.6%
89
5.2 SCHOOL/STYLE Field Match Results
5.2.1
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 1578 unique terms in the SCHOOL/STYLE field
(i.e., 1807 terms minus 229 French terms). The match results are shown in Table 38.
Table 38
AAT Styles and Periods vs. CHIN SCHOOL/STYLE Field Data:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Exact Matches
343 / 1578
21.7%
Partial Matches
332 / 1578
21.0%
Non-matches
903 / 1578
57.2%
343 / 1578
21.7%
Total Exact Matches
There were a few CHIN entries that were spelling or typographical errors, but that were still
recognisable as AAT terms. For example, the CHIN entry, absract, is a typographical error, but
would match with the AAT term, Abstract, if corrected. Also, some of the CHIN terms were in a
different grammatical form than AAT terminology; for example, CHIN's entry, Belgium, would match
90
the AAT's term, Belgian, if the form were changed. When the spelling or typing errors were
corrected and allowances were made for the differences in grammatical form, the SCHOOL/STYLE
non-frequency-weighted match rates were as follows:
Exact Matches
22.2%
Partial Matches
24.5%
Non-matches
53.3%
91
5.2.2
Frequency-weighted Match Results
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 82 240 entries from the SCHOOL/STYLE field
(i.e., 88 445 entries minus 6205 French entries), including each occurrence of each term. The
match results are shown in Table 39.
Table 39
AAT Styles and Periods vs. CHIN SCHOOL/STYLE Field Data:
Frequency-Weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Exact Matches
74633 / 82240
90.7%
Partial Matches
2324 / 82240
2.8%
Non-matches
5283 / 82240
6.4%
Total Exact Matches
74633 / 82240
90.7%
There were a few CHIN entries that were spelling or typographical errors, but that were still
recognisable as AAT terms. Also, some of the CHIN terms were in a different grammatical form
than AAT terminology. When the spelling or typing errors were corrected and allowance was made
for differences in grammatical form, the SCHOOL/STYLE frequency-weighted match rates were as
follows:
92
Exact Matches
90.7%
Partial Matches
2.8%
Non-matches
6.4%
93
5.2.3
Commonly Used SCHOOL/STYLE Terms Match Results
The 40 most commonly used terms (occurring 100 times or more) in the CHIN SCHOOL/STYLE
field are listed in Table 40.
These terms, when their frequency was taken into account, totalled
79 685 entries, and made up 90% of the 88 445 entries (including French terms) in the
Humanities National Inventory SCHOOL/STYLE field. Terms that are exclusively French are marked
with an “F” in the Language column. Many of the terms, though not included in the Styles and
Periods facet of the AAT, are found elsewhere in the AAT; the AAT hierarchy in which these terms
were found is marked on the list within parentheses.
Table 40
AAT Styles and Periods vs. Commonly Used CHIN SCHOOL/STYLE Terms
Lang. Match Freq.


592
10095
ABSTRACT
AMERICAN

201
AMERICAN ?

161
ART DECO

274
ART NOUVEAU

147
AUSTRIAN

8818
BRITISH
-
577
BRITISH (ENGLAND)
-
373
BRITISH (SCOTLAND)

196
BRITISH ?


F
SCHOOL/STYLE
X
31923
275
4201
CANADIAN
CANADIAN ?
CANADIENNE

490
CHINESE

131
CLASSICAL
94
X

F
F
Total
122
1199
DELFTWARE
(in Object Genres)
DUTCH
X
166
EXPORT WARE
(in Object Genres)
X
298
FAIENCE
(in Object Genres)

405
FLEMISH
X
138
FOLK ART (SASKATCHEWAN) (in Associated Concepts)
X
394
FRANCAISE

9112
FRENCH

2322
GERMAN
X
194
GROUP OF SEVEN

216
INDIAN

865
INUIT

1676
X
198
ITALIENNE

887
JAPANESE
X
210
MINGEI

855
RUSSIAN
X
152
SOSAKU HANGA

567
SPANISH

518
SWISS

142
TIBETAN

110
UKIYO-E
-
118
UKIYO-E SCHOOL
("School" in Associated Concepts)
-
119
UKIYO-E STYLE
("Style" in Associated Concepts)
X
248
UNKNOWN
79 685
40
ITALIAN
by frequency
by unique occurrence
───────────────────────────────────────
Key to Match Codes
95
=
Exact Phrase Match (words Match as an entire phrase)
with the AAT Styles and Period facet
-
=
X =
Partial Match (matching word underlined)
Non-Match with the AAT Styles and Periods facet
96
After the French terms were removed from the match, statistics were calculated for the commonly used
terms of the SCHOOL/STYLE field. A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 37 terms that
were used 100 times or more in the SCHOOL/STYLE field (i.e., 40 terms minus 3 French terms). The
match results are shown in Table 41.
Table 41
AAT Styles and Periods vs. Commonly Used SCHOOL/STYLE Terms:
Non-frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
25 / 37
67.5 %
Exact Word Matches
0 / 37
0%
Partial Matches
4 / 37
10.8 %
Non-matches
8 / 37
21.6 %
Total Exact Matches
25 / 37
67.5 %
The above statistics are based on the match of the CHIN SCHOOL/STYLE terms with only the Styles
and Periods facet of the AAT. If these terms had been matched against the entire AAT, the results
would have been as follows:
Exact Phrase Matches
73.0%
97
Exact Word Matches
5.4%
Partial Matches
10.8%
Non-matches
10.8%
Total Exact Matches
78.4%
98
A match against the AAT was made on a sample of 74 892 entries occurring 100 times or more
in the SCHOOL/STYLE field (i.e., 79 685 entries minus 4793 French entries), including each
occurrence of each term. The match results are shown in Table 42.
Table 42
AAT Styles and Periods vs. Commonly Used SCHOOL/STYLE Terms:
Frequency-weighted Match Results
Match Categories
Number of Matches
Percentage of Total
Matches Matches
Exact Phrase Matches
72177 / 74892
96.3 %
0 / 74892
0%
Partial Matches
1187 / 74892
1.6 %
Non-matches
1528 / 74892
2.0 %
Total Exact Matches
72177 / 74892
96.3 %
Exact Word Matches
The above statistics are based on the match of the CHIN SCHOOL/STYLE terms with only the Styles
and Periods facet of the AAT. When these terms were matched against the entire AAT, the results
were follows:
Exact Phrase Matches
Exact Word Matches
97.0%
0.3%
99
Partial Matches
Non-matches
Total Exact Matches
1.7%
1.0%
97.3%
100
6. Summary of Match Results
The frequency-weighted Exact Match rates between the AAT vocabulary and the OBJECT
NAME/OBJECT TYPE vocabulary of the three sample museums were as follows:
1) Mendel Art Gallery
-
68.4% match of all Mendel Art Gallery data with the AAT.
-
64.3% match of the commonly used Mendel Art Gallery terms (these
commonly used terms occurred 100 times or more and made up 85.8% of the
Mendel Art Gallery data).
Note: These rates are low because the three most commonly used terms were abbreviated in
the sample data, and therefore did not match the AAT. When these three terms were
expanded, the frequency-weighted match rate for the Mendel Art Gallery data was 99.0%.
2) New Brunswick Museum
-
93.7% match of all New Brunswick Museum data with the AAT.
-
99.0% match of the commonly used New Brunswick Museum terms (these
commonly used terms occurred 200 times or more and made up 58.3% of the New
Brunswick Museum data).
3) UBC Museum of Anthropology
-
93.4% match of all UBC Museum of Anthropology data with the AAT.
-
99.4% match of the commonly used UBC Museum of Anthropology terms (these
commonly used terms occurred 100 times or more and made up 65.2% of the UBC
Museum of Anthropology data).
The data from these three institutions made up a statistical sample of the data in the Humanities
101
National Inventory, and the sample was representative of Canadian history, art, and ethnology
institutions. Therefore, there is good reason to believe that object name data of the three sample
institutions are representative of the English object names in the Humanities National Inventory.
102
The frequency-weighted Exact Match rates between the AAT vocabulary and the SCHOOL/STYLE,
CULTURE, TECHNIQUE, and MATERIALS fields of the CHIN Humanities National Inventory were as
follows:
1) SCHOOL/STYLE Field
-
90.7% match of all Humanities National Inventory SCHOOL/STYLE field English data
with the Styles and Periods facet of the AAT.
-
96.3% match of the AAT Styles and Periods facet with the commonly used
SCHOOL/STYLE terms (these commonly used terms occurred 100 times or more and
made up 90% of the SCHOOL/STYLE field data, including French terms).
-
97.3% match of the entire AAT with the commonly used (100 times or more)
SCHOOL/STYLE terms.
2) CULTURE Field
-
59.5% match of all Humanities National Inventory CULTURE field English data with
the Styles and Periods facet of the AAT.
-
58.3% match of the Styles and Periods facet with the commonly used CULTURE
terms (these commonly used terms occurred 1000 times or more, and made up
84.9% of the CULTURE field data , including French terms).
-
67.6% match of the entire AAT with the commonly used (1000 times or more)
CULTURE Terms.
3) TECHNIQUE Field
-
80.2% match of an English-only sample of Humanities National Inventory
TECHNIQUE field data with the Processes and Techniques hierarchy of the AAT.
-
78.3% match of the AAT Processes and Techniques hierarchy with the
commonly used TECHNIQUE terms (these commonly used terms occurred
1000 times or more, and made up 60.7% of the TECHNIQUE field data, including
French terms).
103
-
83.9% match of the entire AAT with the commonly used (1000 times or more)
TECHNIQUE terms.
4) MATERIAL Field
-
83.6% match of an English-only sample of Humanities National Inventory MATERIAL
field data with the Materials facet of the AAT.
83.9% match of the Materials facet of the AAT with the commonly used MATERIAL terms (these
commonly used terms occurred 500 times or more, and made up 85.7% of the MATERIAL field
data, including French terms).
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88.8% match of the entire AAT with the commonly used (500 times or more)
MATERIAL terms.
7. Conclusions
The high match rate between the terms used in the CHIN Humanities National Inventory and the
AAT terminology means that the AAT is a good vocabulary source for Canadian museums in the
fields of history, fine art, or ethnology where data are recorded in English. The AAT is a
comprehensive, well-designed, and continuously funded project being maintained and developed
through a candidate term process, and is freely available to CHIN contributors as a reference
database (http://www.chin.gc.ca).
CHIN's new mission, to broker effective access to heritage information, will be well served by tools
such as the AAT, which can provide a way to put into order or to make broadly accessible the
diversity of collections information that is held by heritage institutions.
The AAT has already shown
itself to be a viable option for vocabulary control within the museum community, and it will become
increasingly important to the heritage community as the Internet provides more opportunity for
CHIN's contributors to become individually visible and collectively present to a diverse and
continually changing audience.
The UK Equivalents and UK Alternatives address, in many cases, the context and regional usage in
Canadian English. Additional terms in Canadian English and French terms will become available to
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Canadian users in the AAT Multilingual Thesaurus, which is currently under development.
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8. Recommendations
1) Canadian museums that record their data in English should use the AAT vocabulary for
data entry to standardize recording and maximize retrieval success on their local systems.
2) CHIN should use the AAT as a front-end retrieval tool for the Humanities National Inventory.
This will enable users to take advantage of the thesaural relationships of the AAT, and will
not require editing of data already in the Humanities National Inventory in order to achieve
successful retrieval.
Current CHIN terms would not necessarily have to Match a preferred term in the AAT.
As
long as the CHIN term existed somewhere in the AAT (even as a Use For or Alternate
Term), the terminological relationships defined in the AAT would enable them to be
retrieved in a search. Users could name their objects at the most specific level possible,
and still be able to use the hierarchical relationships within the thesaurus to retrieve the
data at the most general or specific level. For example, if an artifact was catalogued as a
"Windsor chair", it could be retrieved in a search for "Windsor chair", "chair", "seating
furniture", or "furnishings". Also, broad searches could be narrowed easily by following the
hierarchies.
3) Canadians should not change their traditional terminology and spelling to suit the AAT.
Terms commonly found in the Canadian museum data that did not match the AAT should
be submitted to the AAT as candidate terms. Unmatched terms that appear frequently in
CHIN data should be reviewed and submitted first, and more infrequent terms later.
Differences in form in Canadian databases (e.g., the techniques and cultures in CHIN,
which are adjectival—“netted” or “Belgian”—as opposed to gerunds—“netting”—or nouns—
“Belgium”— in the AAT) should be submitted as Alternate Terms, similar to the singular
form of object names.
4) When selecting software for in-house collections management systems, Canadian museums
should investigate the capabilities of the software to support the AAT as a data entry or
search tool.
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5) French equivalents to the commonly used English terms should be submitted to the
Multilingual AAT Project.
6) The most commonly occurring English terms should be translated to French (and vice
versa) and added to the front-end retrieval tool (thesaurus) in order to enable retrieval of
both English and French data, regardless of whether the search is in English or in French.
This should be done prior to the availability of the Multilingual AAT.
7) Data in the CHIN field, PERIOD DESIGNATION (PER) should be matched against the AAT
Styles and Periods facet.
9. Bibliography and References
AHIP. 1994.
Art & Architecture Thesaurus. Second Edition. Toni Petersen, Director, Getty Art History
Information Program. Oxford University Press, New York.
AHIP. 1994.
Guide to Indexing and Cataloguing with the Art & Architecture Thesaurus. Petersen and
Barnett, eds., Getty Art History Information Program. Oxford Press, New York.
ANSI. 1980.
American National Standard Guidelines for Thesaurus Structure, Construction, and Use
(Z39.19). American National Standards Institute.
ANSI. 1993.
Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Thesauri
(ANSI/NISO Z39.19-1993). American National Standards Institute.
Blackaby, James R. et al. 1988.
The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging: A Revised and Expanded Edition of
107
Robert G. Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects. American Association for State
and Local History, Nashville, TN.
CHIN. 1993.
Humanities Data Dictionary of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (Third Revision).
Documentation Research Group, Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa.
CHIN. 1994a.
Proposal for the Expansion of the Humanities National Inventory. Documentation Research
Group, Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa.
CHIN. 1994b.
CHIN’s Position on Steven Shubert's Classification in the CHIN Humanities Database.
November, 1994. Fellowship Program, Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa.
CHIN. 1995.
CHIN's New Directions: Presentation to Collections Management Clients. Presentation by Lyn
Elliot Sherwood to CHIN contributors, May 16, 1995. Canadian Heritage Information Network,
unpublished.
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Chenhall, Robert G. 1978.
Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging: A System for Classifying Man-Made Objects. American
Association for State and Local History, Nashville, TN.
Delroy, Stephen H. 1994.
Object Name and Related Standards. Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa.
Dunn, Heather. 1995.
Testing a Vocabulary Standard Against Object Naming Practice in Canadian Museums. Master's
Research Paper, Museum Studies Program, University of Toronto.
Etherington, Robin. 1988.
The Culture (CU) Field: Entry and Use—A Discussion Paper. Canadian Heritage Information
Network, Ottawa.
Ewing, Calum. 1993.
Standards for the Use of the Material (MA), Technique (MT) and Related Fields on the CHIN
Humanities Databases. Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa.
ISO. 1985.
Documentation: Guidelines for the establishment and development of multilingual thesauri (ISO
5964). First Edition. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva.
ISO. 1986.
Documentation: Guidelines for the establishment and development of monolingual thesauri (ISO
2788). Second Edition. International Organization for Standardization , Geneva.
Jewett, Deborah. 1985.
Standards and Terminology for the Recording of Culture in the Humanities Data Dictionary.
Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa.
Shubert, Steven Blake. 1992.
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Classification in the CHIN Humanities Databases. Fellowship Program, Canadian Heritage
Information Network, Ottawa.
Sullivan, Mary. 1987.
Standards for the Fine Arts Object Names. Canadian Heritage Information Network, Ottawa.
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10. Appendix - Definitions
10.1 Terminology
Term or Phrase
An entry in a CHIN database sample or the AAT, representing one concept
or thing. A term or phrase may consist of one or more words.
Combination
A term made up of two or more parts derived from different data fields in
the CHIN database sample. For example, Object Type +
Object Name = rocking chair.
10.2 Occurrence
Frequency
The number of times that terms occurred in the CHIN database sample, as
defined below.
Unique Term
A term or phrase that occurred only once in a CHIN
database sample, most often due to a spelling mistake, but
sometimes representing a unique object in the collection or a
term of local significance.
Commonly used Term
A term or phrase that occurred in a CHIN database sample
more than a prescribed level (e.g., 100 times). Matches
against commonly used terms produced results that were not
skewed by errors in the data, unusual terms, and unusual
objects in the collections. A commonly used term that did
not Match had more authority as a candidate term for the
AAT than did a unique term.
10.3 Types of Match Statistical Methods
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Non-frequency-weighted Match
A match of a list of unique terms in the CHIN sample against
the AAT, done without frequency weighting. For example,
even if a term occurred many times in the CHIN database
sample, it would only be counted as one match with the
AAT.
Frequency-weighted Match
A manual method to weigh match statistics based upon the
number of occurrences of the term in the CHIN database
sample. For example,
if a term occurred 20 times in the CHIN database sample, it
would be counted as 20 matches with the AAT.
10.4 Match Results
Exact Phrase Match
A phrase from the CHIN database sample that matches an
AAT term exactly. For example,
CHIN:
colour print
AAT:
Exact Word Match
colour print
Each word within the CHIN term matches single terms in the
AAT. For example,
CHIN:
stencil print
AAT:
stencil
print
Partial Match
At least one word within the CHIN term matches single terms
in the AAT. For example,
CHIN:
stonecut print
AAT:
Non-Match
print
No part of the CHIN term matches the AAT.
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Total Exact Matches
The total number of CHIN terms that match terms in the AAT
exactly. That is,
Total Exact Matches = number of Exact Phrase Matches
plus the number of Exact Word Matches.
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