E_Evidence_1

Melissa Townsend-Crow

LIBR 202

October 01, 2012

Project One

Part A

Theory

According to Star and Bowker (1999), classification is human nature. It is natural to us to classify, even subconsciously, the minutiae of daily life. This addiction to pigeonholing every aspect of life has seeped into our society's collective brain so that every individual person, place, thing, or idea has its place in some catalogue, whether mental or digital or print. This tendency to categorize brings order to our lives and makes daily tasks more efficient.

Classification is, according to the text mentioned above, defined as, " a spatial, temporal or spatio-temporal segmentation of the world. A ‘classification system’ is a set of boxes (metaphorical or literal) into which things can be put in order to then do some kind of work - bureaucratic or knowledge production" (p 9). "Standards" are defined by the authors as common conventions by which everyone classifies. For example, the Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress methods are standards for classifying where books of a type are shelved which make it easier to find the books in question. Classification differs from standards in that standards help define the system by which items are classified.

Collection Selection

I have chosen my mother's doll collection to classify by attribute, but in the interest of time and space, I am limiting myself to her American Girl© Historical Character Doll collection. The reason I found this collection so classifiable is that there are easily defined standard attributes for each doll. (see Table 1 below)

Objects in Collection Description (What are they?)	Attributes – Include at least  8 to 12
My mother collects dolls. She is particularly proud of her American Girl© Historical doll collection and it is an interest she shares with my 8-year old daughter. The dolls are accompanied by a series of books which are formulaic in that each doll has an introductory story, a school story, a birthday story, a holiday story, and "changes" story but each story is told in the context of each doll character's historical era. Some of the dolls have been "Archived" or retired and they and their collections are no longer available. Some of the dolls in my mother's collection are from the original Pleasant Company which was bought out by Mattel in 1998, but the first doll manufactured by Mattel was Kit Kittredge in 2000.	Attribute #1:  Name
	Attribute #2:  Year Released
	Attribute #3 Year Acquired
	Attribute #4 Historical Era
	Attribute #5:  Geographical Era Attribute #6:  Ethnicity Attribute #7 Cost (including accessories, if any) Attribute #8:  Accessories Acquired Attribute #9:  Archive Date (if Applicable) Attribute #10 Manufacturer

My Mother's American Girl Doll Collection

Attribute 1 - Name	Attribute 2 – Year Released	Attribute 3 – Year Acquired	Attribute 4 – Historical Era	Attribute #5:  Geographical area	Attribute #6:  Ethnicity	Attribute# 7:  Cost	Attribute #8:  Accessories Purchased	Attribute #9: Archive Date	Attribute #10:  Manufacturer
Samantha (Parkington) *Nellie (O'Malley)	1986 2004	1989 2004	1904 - 1907	New York	Caucasian Irish	$126 $99	Basic (hat, locket, purse, handkerchief, 1904 penny)	May 31, 2009 (Re-released August 28, 2014)	Pleasant Company
Molly (McIntire) *Emily (Bennett)	1986 2006	1987 2006	1943-1946	Illinois	Scottish-American	$126 $99	Blue beret, Red shoulder bag Embroidered handkerchief Steel penny,  Silver locket and photo	December 1, 2013	Pleasant Company Mattel
Kirsten (Larson)	1986	2009	1854-1856	Minnesota	Swedish	$102	None	January 1, 2010	Pleasant Company
Felicity (Merriman)	1991	1995	1774-1776	Williamsburg, VA	English	$126	None	March 28, 2011	Pleasant Company
Addy (Walker)	1993	1994	1864-1866	Philadelphia, PA	African American	$126	Straw Bonnet, Cowrie, Shell Necklace, Water Gourd, Half-dime, Kerchief	Not Archived	Pleasant Company
Kaya	2002	2002	1764-1766	Pacific Northwest	Native American (NezPerce/Nimiipiu)	$99	None	Not Archived	Mattel
Kit (Kittredge) *Ruthie (Smithens)	2000 2000	2004 2004	1932-1935	Cincinnati, OH	Caucasian	$126 $105	Knit hat, purse, buffalo nickel, handkerchief, compass pendant	Not Archived *August 2014	Mattel Mattel
Josefina (Montoya)	1997	2005	1824-1826	Santa Fe, NM	Mexican	$126	Rebozo, Pendant  Leather  waist pouch, Embroidered handkerchief, Coin	Not Archived	Mattel
Julie (Albright) *Ivy (Ling)	2007 2007	2010 2008	1974-1976	San Francisco, CA	Caucasian Chinese-American	$105 $124	Magenta beret Denim bag Gold chandelier earrings Chinese coin	Not Archived *August 2014	Mattel Mattel
Rebecca (Rubin)	2009	2010	1914-1916	New York City	Jewish	$99	None	Not Archived	Mattel
Caroline (Abbott)	2012	2012	1812	Sackets Harbor, New York	Caucasian	$124	Bonnet, purse, top	Not archived	Mattel

*Indicates a "best friend" character doll

Part B

According to Marchionini (1997), "The primary activities of scientists, physicians, businesspersons, and other professionals are devoted to gathering information from the world, mentally integrating that information with their own knowledge--thus creating new knowledge--and acting on this new knowledge to accomplish their goals" (p. 2 of pdf).  It is not just scientists, physicians, and professionals that need to gather information and build new knowledge. For example, my mother's doll collection may be of interest to other collectors. It is certainly of interest to my daughter. A catalogue of not only these dolls listed in the above table, but expanded to include all of her dolls might be of interest to her insurance company to create a policy that would cover her immense collection of dolls. Categories might be added to include the unique characteristics of the other types of dolls, for example using the classification categories of age or material under the standard categories for antiques, handmade, or porcelain. My mother is certainly interested in such a classification to help her not only keep track of what she has, but in adding what she does not have to her collection.

Citations

Bowker, G. C., and Star, S. C.  (1999).  Introduction:  To classify is human. 4-20.  Sorting things out:  Classification and its consequences.  San Diego:  University of California.

Marchionini, G. (1997).  Chapter 2. Information Seekers and Electronic Environments. Information seeking in electronic environments.  College Park:  University of Maryland.