The Great Debate: ISKO UK afternoon meeting 19th February, preceded by AGM

  Dear SKOS-using Colleagues,
Do you need to use that thesaurus anyway? If you have doubts, or strong 
views, please join us at:
*ISKO UK AGM, followed by The Great Debate: "This House believes that 
the traditional thesaurus has no place in modern information retrieval**"*
Afternoon of Thursday, 19th February, at the British Dental Association, 
64 Wimpole St, London.
Book now at <http://www.iskouk.org/events/debate_Feb_2015.htm>

Once upon a time, the thesaurus was venerated. It marked a breakthrough 
in the retrieval of very specific needles of information hidden in large 
haystacks. Some of the veneration rubbed off on to the trained 
information professionals, who alone mastered the occult art of using it 
to concoct effective search strategies. All this was in the time before 
we had a computer on every desk, when a collection of 10,000 articles 
was considered large, and long before the Google era.

But now, who has the patience to consult a complicated thesaurus? Only a 
dedicated few. Has the thesaurus passed its sell-by date? And even its 
use-by date? Join us at the Great Debate, where you'™ll get a chance to 
air your own views, and perhaps win over some voters. Can you point to 
the way ahead - whether it involves effective thesaurus use behind the 
scenes, or bypasses all vocabulary aids on the route to retrieval success?

Leading the assault on thesauri will be consultants Judi Vernau and 
Helen Lippell, both of them experienced in user expectations and 
technology-driven opportunities. Defending the thesaurus fortifications, 
Vanda Broughton of University College London and Leonard Will of 
Willpower Information will man the buttresses of  faceted construction 
techniques. As and when the audience threatens to storm the barricades, 
the job of maintaining order will fall to Martin White, our Chairman for 
the afternoon.

At 13.00 hrs on the same day ISKO UK will be holding its AGM, at which 
non-members are welcome as observers, while members are urged to come 
and help us make the right decisions for 2015.

After the *AGM at 13.00* on *19th February,* registration for the Debate 
opens at 13.30 and the main *proceedings will start  at 14.00 hrs*. 
Please book by 15th February at latest. Full details  are on the ISKO UK 
site at http://www.iskouk.org/events/debate_Feb_2015.htm . The event is 
free to ISKO members and to full-time students. The fee for non-members 
is just £40. All fees must be paid in advance - there is no provision 
for payment on arrival. Please pass this invitation on to any colleagues 
who may be interested.

ISKO is a not-for-profit scientific/professional association with the 
objective of promoting research and communication in the domain of 
knowledge organization, within the broad field of information science 
and related disciplines. Founded in 2007, our UK Chapter has been 
attracting lively and steadily growing audiences to its afternoon 
meeting series (see slides and recordings at 
http://www.iskouk.org/events.htm) as well as its very successful third 
biennial conference (http://www.iskouk.org/conf2013/index.htm) last year.

Stella Dextre Clarke
Chair, ISKO UK
www.iskouk.org

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Stella Dextre Clarke
Information Consultant and Chair, ISKO UK
Luke House, West Hendred, Wantage, OX12 8RR, UK
Tel: 01235-833-298
Fax: 01235-863-298
stella@lukehouse.org
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