Taxonomy and Metadata

11/24/09

David Champeau - ECM Consultant

Taxonomy and Metadata◦ Definitions◦ Examples◦ Uses

Introduction

A taxonomy is◦ A classification scheme◦ Semantic◦ A knowledge map

Taxonomies provide the lenses by which we perceive and talk about the world we live in

[Classification] is almost the methodical equivalent of electricity- we use it every day, yet often consider it to be rather mysterious.

Taxonomy

A taxonomy is a form of classification scheme◦ Designed to group related things together (related

not similar) Oranges and apples are in the fruit section

Can be informal and ad hoc◦ organize music CDs by genre

Can be highly formal and standardized◦ Dewey Decimal System

Taxonomy

Taxonomies are semantic◦ Taxonomies in knowledge management are

different from formal published classification schemes Formal schemes rely heavily on codes Knowledge management taxonomies provide a fixed

vocabulary This vocabulary needs to be meaningful and

transparent to ordinary users◦ When content is labeled “Project Kickoff”

everybody should know what kind of documents they can expect to find in that category

Taxonomy

Taxonomies are semantic◦ They express the relationship between terms

In the folder structure PROJECT DOCUMENTS\PROJECT KICKOFF we immediately recognize that we will find other types of project documents adjacent to the PROJECT KICKOFF folder and we expect that they will be linked to the sequence of stages in the project

PROJECT DOCUMENTS\PROJECT KICKOFF PROJECT DOCUMENTS\PROJECT REQUIREMENTS PROJECT DOCUMENTS\PROJECT ARCHITECTURE

◦ If you take all the labels in a taxonomy and put them in alphabetical order, you have a controlled vocabulary – a dictionary

Taxonomy

A taxonomy is a knowledge map “coup d’oueil” – “cast of the eye”

◦ A good taxonomy should enable the user to immediately grasp the overall structure of the knowledge domain

◦ The user should be able to accurately anticipate what resources he or she might find where

◦ The taxonomy should be comprehensible, predictable and easy to navigate

Taxonomy

A taxonomy also acts as a artificial memory device◦ Concepts are located in taxonomy structures and

locked in place by association with their neighbors through their classification relationships

◦ This affords considerable mnemonic power

Taxonomy

Various representations of taxonomies◦ Lists◦ Trees◦ Hierarchies◦ Polyhierarchies◦ Matrices◦ Facets◦ System maps

Taxonomy

Taxonomy work◦ Taxonomies are products of work◦ Developing a taxonomy is a project◦ Knowledge management taxonomies need to

reflect the working worlds of the organizations they are created for

◦ Because those working worlds continue to change, so must our taxonomies Taxonomy work is therefore continuous

Taxonomy

Taxonomy and Knowledge Management evolution◦ Paper filing systems◦ Shared drive folder structures◦ Content management systems

Initially taxonomies were quite simple, drop down lists of keywords◦ Initially an aid to findability

As technology developed, metadata played a wider role in the control and management of content

Taxonomy

Definition◦ “Data about data” – Oxford English Dictionary◦ “A collection of structured information about a

document or a piece of content”◦ For a document or (work) item of information this

means data about the item such as Author, Title, Issue Data and other information.

◦ Metadata is usually defined in terms of units called “elements”, “fields”, “attributes” or “properties” Some elements may have “sub-elements”

Date may have “date created”, “date approved”, “date published”

◦ Metadata may be made mandatory or optional

Metadata

Purposes of metadata◦ To identify content

Capture fields and distinguish each document from all others◦ Manage content

Version numbers, archive date, security and access permissions◦ Retrieval of content

Taxonomy topics, subject keywords, document type◦ Connect content to other content

Behavioural metadata captured in transaction (i.e. Amazon.com)◦ Business processes

Authored by whom? Reviewed by whom and when? Approved by whom and when?

◦ Support Records Management Retention periods, disposition cycles

Metadata

Standards and Guidelines◦ Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (ISO 15836)◦ Records Management

ISO 15489 and 23081◦ US DoD 5015.2-STD

Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records Management Software Applications

Metadata

Dublin Core ExampleField Name Element Name Definition Data type or

SourceComment

Title Title A name given to the resource

Text string Compulsory – pick up from system

Author Creator Who created the content

Text string Compulsory – pick up from system

Subject area 1 Subject The topic of the content

Values come from taxonomy facet

Compulsory – select from drop down list

Subject area 2 Subject The topic of the content

Values come from taxonomy facet

Compulsory – select from drop down list

Subject area 3 Subject The topic of the content

Values come from taxonomy facet

Compulsory – select from drop down list

Place Coverage Extent or scope of the content

Values come from geographic names

Optional-select from drop down list

Date Date Date the content was published

Date: use format yyyy-mm-dd

Compulsory-pick up from system

Document type Type The type of document Values come from taxonomy facet

Compulsory-pick from drop down list

Format Format File format of content Test string conforming to internet media types

Compulsory-pick up from system

Identifier Identifier URL or other document identifier

Text string Compulsory-pick up from system

Publisher Publisher Entity responsible for making the content available

Values come from list of dept names

Optional-select from drop down list

Enforcing metadata use◦ Items with no metadata?◦ Minimum metadata needed at birth◦ Metadata additions later◦ Keep entries consistent

Controlled vocabularies Pick values from lists Select from given options

A simple approach◦ The system will hold metadata about items in two main

categories Essential (mandatory), to identify and manage the item Optional, the provide more information about the item

More on metadata

Clearly metadata has to come from somewhere – and be accurate and useful◦ Making some entries mandatory can help

Too many mandatory elements may be seen as a tedious chore

Too few mandatory elements may result in little metadata being entered

Too many optional metadata entries may also result in little metadata being entered

Users need to appreciate the VALUE of filling in the entries, voluntarily

Mandatory or Optional?

Metadata sources◦ Document◦ Template◦ System◦ User

Multi-media sources Auto-classification and auto-indexing

◦ Keyword indexing◦ OCR/ICR◦ Classification software

Metadata Sources

Metadata content, however important, is notoriously difficult to acquire from users

Before implementing ECM, users just put documents into an electronic folder of their choosing

Now you are asking them to make a series of decisions about choosing categories, identifying access restrictions an so on

Metadata implemented

Try to assign metadata without user involvement◦ E.g. templates, defaults

Users must see value◦ Does it make their job easier?

Metadata implemented

David Champeau ECM Consultant champeaudavid@yahoo.com

Hope that it was helpful