Glossary Page

Browse: This way of approaching the database allows you to look through the lists of cultures and topics available in the database. Browsing gives you a good sense of the scope of the eHRAF database and can introduce you to the importance of OWC and OCM codes for indexing.

The Culture Profile serves as a kind of abstract to all of the documents in eHRAF on a given culture. It gives information about the documents, themselves, as well as more general information about the culture. This term should not be confused with "Culture File," which refers to the entire collection of information on a single culture in eHRAF. For a detailed description, see section 3 in this tutorial, named Culture Profile.

eHRAF

The name of the Human Relations Area Files electronic databases. There are two electronic databases: the eHRAF Collection of Ethnography and the eHRAF Collection of Archaeology. eHRAF Ethnography is an annually-growing subset of the larger HRAF Collection of Ethnography, which includes culture files on microfiche and paper. All together, eHRAF contains over 400,000 pages of subject-indexed literature on cultures and traditions around the world.

Ethnography

A description of a society's customary behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes, usually written by an anthropologist. Most of the eHRAF documents are ethnographies or ethnographic articles. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, "ethnography" is the:

"descriptive study of a particular human society or the process of making such a study; based almost entirely on fieldwork; requires the complete immersion of the anthropologist in the culture and everyday life of the people who are the subject of study; uses method called participant-observation, which emphasizes objectivity; focuses on formulating generalizations about culture and on drawing comparisons."

Reference from: "Ethnography" Britannica Student Encyclopedia, <http://search.eb.com/ebi/article?eu=347529&query=ethnography>,
[Accessed September 15, 2002].

Ethnonym: Alternative culture names that can be found in the A-Z culture name index of Browse Cultures. Alternative names are also listed or discussed in the Cultural Summary for each culture/tradition file.

File TOC: Part of the information included in the Culture Profile. It is a list of all documents included in the culture listed alphabetically by author. The titles are linked to full citations and to the actual text of each document.

Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM): HRAF indexes the information in its Collections by culture (or tradition) and subject. OCM is the acronym for Outline of Cultural Materials, a thesaurus listing of subject descriptors used to index the texts included in the Collections. The OCM lists approximately eighty broad terms (major OCM categories) and over seven hundred narrower terms (OCM sub-categories) that are used to index texts at the paragraph level. Each OCM category or OCM subject code has a description. The OCM (5th edition with modifications 2000) is available in print format and can be ordered from HRAF. The latest version appears in the eHRAF Collections. In the eHRAF databases the OCM is used as a subject index system as well as a retrieval system and its various components can be found in Browse Subjects.

OCM Subject Codes (OCMs): An OCM or OCM subject code is a three- or four-digit numeric code for a subject descriptor that is described in the Outline of Cultural Materials. In the eHRAF databases you can search the full-text for a single OCM subject code through Browse Subjects. You can also make OCM searches in Text Search. See Outline of Cultural Materials


Outline of World Cultures (OWC): HRAF indexes the information in its collections by culture (or tradition) and subject. OWC is an acronym for the Outline of World Cultures, a systematic list of the cultures of the world that was started by George P. Murdock more than 50 years ago and has been revised ever since. A systematic list of major archaeological traditions, called the Outline of Archaeological Traditions (OAT), was recently compiled by Peter N. Peregrine. Both lists contain many more cultures (or traditions) then are available in eHRAF. Printed versions of both the OWC and OAT are available from HRAF. But note that the last printed version of the OWC (6th revised edition, 1983) does not contain all the cultures in the eHRAF Collection of Ethnography. (HRAF is currently working on a major overhaul of the OWC.) Should you wish to know the OWC codes for the cultures in eHRAF, you can look at Browse Cultures in the eHRAF Databases.

OWC Codes (OWCs): A unique four-character alphanumeric for a particular culture or tradition. Alternative names or ethnonyms will share the same OWC. For example, in the Browse Culture list, the Iroquois (the main name used for the culture) shares the same OWC (NM09) with Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. See Outline of World Cultures
Search: This way of approaching the database allows you to search all of the full-text documents for subject codes and/or words. You can also limit your searches to a specific culture. eHRAF's search structure is not like typical search engines, as it is based on human intelligence and not simple word-matching. To learn how to search eHRAF effectively, please see section 6 of this tutorial, named Text Search

eHRAF Source Bibliography: A search option in the eHRAF databases that can be used to search the citations for documents included in the eHRAF databases.

Username and Password Request: If you are prompted for a username and password when accessing the eHRAF site, one of two things may be happening. First, your institution may not be a member of HRAF. If so, please contact us at the email or phone number listed below. Alternatively, your institution may have a proxy server set up. In this case, you can access eHRAF by logging on to your institution's library website. However, if you would still like a temporary password to connect directly, please contact us: 1-800-520-HRAF or Christiane.Cunnar@Yale.edu