I got interested in FAST [1] and am working my way through the book by
Lois Mai Chan and Ed O'Neill that explains it all[2]. I had assumed it
was exclusively an OCLC Research project, but the book states that it
was a joint project with LC and that either institution can distribute
the FAST authority file. (p. 55) This is really great news, and I
began to wonder if FAST is on track for publication as a vocabulary,
perhaps as an RDF vocabulary. In particular, it seems to me that FAST
would fit into a SKOS structure more readily than pre-composed LCSH,
and for that reason might get more uptake in the larger world.
For those who are wondering what this FAST thing is... it's a faceted
vocabulary that was derived from LCSH. Crudely put, the subheadings in
LCSH get treated as facets that are assigned as facets, thus skipping
some of the complexities of forming the complete LC subject heading
with its different parts. It is more "post-coordinated" than LCSH,
although it retains some of the subfielding (especially where more
than one topical subfield is used to denote a complex topic).
In any case, it would be great to get to work with it, even if only
experimentally. The other issue is that I do not know if it is being
updated. However, the syndetic structure is there, which is very
exciting.
All that to ask... are there any plans to release it from LC - in RDF
or in any form?
Thanks,
kc
[1] http://fast.oclc.org
[2]
http://www.amazon.com/FAST-Faceted-Application-Terminology-Principles/dp/1591587220
or
http://openlibrary.org/works/OL15601971W/FAST_Faceted_Application_of_Subject_Terminology
--
Karen Coyle
[log in to unmask] http://kcoyle.net
ph: 1-510-540-7596
m: 1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet
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