introduction to taxonomy development - by clobridge consulting

Introduction to Taxonomies & Structured Information

Putting Knowledge Management into PracticeTwitter: @ClobridgeKMKM

Clobridge ConsultingLinking people with information & knowledgewww.clobridgeconsulting.com

Knowledge Management | Information Management | Open Knowledge

Attribution – Non-Commercial – No Derivatives 4.0 International

Last modified: June 2014

http://www.clobridgeconsulting.com/

Introduction to Taxonomies

Taxonomies, Tags, and Metadata

Metadata: Data about data – e.g. keywords, descriptions, abstracts, author details, creation date.

Taxonomy: A structure for organizing and codifying content for a particular organization, company, or body of knowledge. Taxonomies consist of pre-defined, consistent taxonomic terms which are arranged either in hierarchical relationships or grouped together in facets of related categories.

Tags: User-assigned words or phrases. Also referred to as free tags or folksonomies.

Making explicit knowledge findable and discoverable

Twitter: @ClobridgeKMClobridge Consulting | www.clobridgeconsulting.com


Planning

Rapid Development

Long-Term Support

Taxonomy: A system for organizing and codifying content for a particular entity

Taxonomy Development Cycles

Introduction to TaxonomiesTwitter: @ClobridgeKMClobridge Consulting | www.clobridgeconsulting.com



Types of Taxonomies

- Hierarchical taxonomies- Faceted classification schema

Example: Grocery storeHow foods are organized and presented together

• Various ways to categorize – • By temperature – freezer vs. refrigeration vs. room temperature• By types of food – produce, meats, dairy, prepared foods• By placement – eye level, kid-level



Grocery Store: Hierarchical ExampleDairy

Cheeses• Cheddar• Feta• Gouda• Havarti• Muenster

Milk

ProduceFruits

• Apples• Braeburn• Fiji• Granny Smith

Vegetables• Carrots• Celery• Lettuce


Grocery Store: Facets

Produce Dry Foods Frozen Foods Dairy Meat

ApplesCarrotsCeleryLettuce

CerealPastaSauces

DessertsIce CreamPancakesPizzaVegetablesWaffles

CheeseMilkYogurt

BeefChickenSeafoodTurkey

Facet = ProduceTerms = Apples, carrots, celery, lettuce, etc.




Folksonomies or “Tags”

User-generated keywords, not tied to a set list of terms

• Twitter: hashtags (ex: #gulfsla2014)• Content management systems: “other” option

Department: <select from list>Human ResourcesInformation TechnologyLibraryOther: <please specify> ___________

Tags = terms entered into this space

Taxonomy terms: pick from a pre-defined listTags: provide your own terms



Taxonomy Development Principles

1. Keep it simple.2. Aim to hit 80% of content.3. Balance between specificity and findability.



Taxonomy Development: Planning

- Inventory- Use cases- Scope: content, systems- Technical parameters

Planning



Taxonomy Development: Planning

Inventory What taxonomies are already in use? How can/should these be re-purposed? What can we learn from them? Areas of overlap vs. differences?

Use Cases Examples groups of users and how they will interact with content described by the taxonomy.

Scope What types of objects will be described by the taxonomy? What systems will be used?

Technical parameters

Faceted taxonomy is required. Facets can include user tags as “other” from drop-down lists.

Planning



Taxonomy Development: Rapid Development

Sticky note exercise: - Establish initial set of

words & phrases- Which are categories

(facets)? - Which are terms?

Rapid Development

From Scoping & Use Cases: - What fields should

be included? How will they be used?

- For each field: source of terms



Taxonomy Development: Rapid Development

Establish Terms & Facets

Test Terms & Facets

Revise

Test

Rapid Development

Iterative Process: Continue until ready to freeze the taxonomy



Taxonomy Development: Long-Term Admin

- Assessment and review- Maintenance- Clean-up tags- Value-added opportunities?

Long-Term Support


Clobridge Consultingwww.clobridgeconsulting.comLinking people with information & knowledge

CONTACT US

Phone: +1 (919) 408-7766

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.clobridgeconsulting.com

CONNECT WITH US

Sign up for the Clobridge Consulting Newsletterwww.clobridgeconsulting.com/newsletter

Follow us on LinkedInwww.linkedin.com/company/clobridge-consulting

Twitter: @ClobridgeKM

Attribution – Non-Commercial – No Derivatives 4.0 International

Knowledge Management | Information Management | Open Knowledge

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.clobridgeconsulting.com/newsletter

http://www.linkedin.com/company/clobridge-consulting

http://www.twitter.com/ClobridgeKM

introduction to taxonomy development - by clobridge consulting

Business