Needs-adapted Data Presentation in e-Information Tools

Abstract

In the current debate about the status of lexicography there are at least three quite different opinions: (i) Lexicography does not have or need any kind of own theory but can use all relevant linguistic theories.(ii) Lexicography needs a special theory for the lexicographical praxis, but this discipline is still a part of linguistics.(iii) Lexicography is a genuine part of information science and can use theories and learn from practice in the information society, but it also needs special theories for lexicography.It is the third opinion we will maintain in this paper by discussing the information needs in the information society and partly using the function theory of lexicography.

Lexikos 22

“…The road ahead is still long and full of obstacles as there are still a lot of questions of common interest that have to be analyzed and solved. In this respect, as well as Bergenholtz and Bothma (2011) have dealt with the needs-adapted data presentation in e-information tools and have shown how information science may contribute to solve this complex problem which is shared by both disciplines. Similarly, in the following contribution we will discuss the criterion of relevance in a lexicographical light in order to see how this criterion -mainly but not exclusively developed in the field of information science -may be applied to lexicography and which consequences this application may have for the concept of relevance itself.…”

“…Such information overload could easily lead to "information death" (cf. Bergenholtz and Bothma (2011)). Dictionaries, and especially electronic dictionaries, fail to give even basic communicative guidance or to treat all three main copulative relations shown in (1).…”

“…providing dynamic articles adapted to the specific and concrete information needs of the user in any extralexicographical situation (cf. Bergenholtz and Bothma 2011, Tarp 2011. In the following we will look at the online Oxford English Dictionary as well as one of the "big five" English learners' dictionaries taken at random, the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary, and see how it meets the user's information needs in terms of written text production which is one of its declared functions.…”

Devices for Information Presentation in Electronic Dictionaries

“…Such information overload could easily lead to "information death" (cf. Bergenholtz and Bothma (2011)). Dictionaries, and especially electronic dictionaries, fail to give even basic communicative guidance or to treat all three main copulative relations shown in ( In this example, two of the three copulative categories, i.e., the identifying and the associative copulatives, have not been treated, not to mention giving proper receptive or productive guidance.…”

Why relevance theory is relevant for lexicography

“…Conversely, a general document aimed at a lay person will not solve the information need of the expert and such a document will be cognitively not relevant to the expert. --Cognitive relevance relates to the user in function theory, where the characteristics of the user are described in considerable detail; see Bergenholtz/Gouws (2007), Bergenholtz/Bothma (2011), Fuertes-Olivera/Tarp (2014) etc. -Situational relevance --If the data presented to the user are relevant to the specific situation in which the user finds him-/herself, e.g.…”