Norbert Henrichs

Norbert Henrichs (1935-2016) pioneered information science in Germany.

Life

Norbert Henrichs was born on July 5, 1935 in Essen, Germany, was professor of information science at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, and died on May 2, 2016 in Düsseldorf.

Contributions

Henrichs worked on the documentation of Philosophy, developed a Text-Word method of indexing, and was a leading contributor to the formulation and realization of the German Information & Documentation Program, 1974-1977.

Text-Word Method

Henrichs argued that each specialty had its own particular language and, therefore, standardized vocabularies, categories, and knowledge organization systems suppressed or distorted meanings and so should only be used for areas of stable, established normal science.

For less standardized areas, notably studies in philosophy and many humanistic and social disciplines, expertly selected words in the original (“text-words") should be used, with linguistic standardization to preferred grammatical forms and preferred forms of personal names.

Henrichs found an indexing depth of 0.5 – 2.0 terms per page to be effective. Thematic links are then established by noting intellectual associations between chosen text-words, thereby forming small sets ("chains") of text-words. Grammatical relationships are not used. Each set is assigned an identification number ("chain numbers"). A given text-word may be associated with more than one set. Text-words must be words used in the text, but they could be translated to create indexing in another language.

A worked example in Stock & Stock (2013, 740) for a 50 page book chapter in German on Gegenstandstheorie (Theory of objects) has 31 text-words and 4 personal names associated in 18 different chains. Text-word Gegenstandstheorie (Theory-of-objects) is associated in all the chains; Gegenstand (Object) is associated in chains 1-15; and Wirkliche, das (Real) is associated only in chains 2 and 3; and so on, e.g.

   Gegenstandstheorie (1-18), Wirkliche, das (2-3), Existenz (4-5), Sosein (5-6), Objekt (10) . . .

English language index terms for this chapter would correspondingly be:

   Theory-of-objects (1-18), Real (2-3), Existence (4-5), Being-so (5-6), Object, single (10) . . .

Advantages are claimed when the text-word method is used for historical studies of language, language development, and disciplines and in topical areas that lack firm terminology. If and when such a field becomes a stable, then knowledge organization systems developed for that domain become more suitable. Text-words and their chains may be a useful resource in the development of knowledge organization systems and controlled vocabularies.

Disadvantages are significant. Concepts are not used, only words found in the text and their thematic associations. There is no attention to synonyms, antonyms, and vocabulary control. Also, application depends on significant human linguistic and topical expertise which may be costly and hard to find.

Publications

For a list of publications see Univ.-Prof. i. R., Dr. Norbert Henrichs. Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf Philosophische Fakultät [1]. Hauk & Stock (2012) and Stock (2016) list numerous publications.

Life

Contributions

Text-Word Method

Publications

Further reading