taxonomy overview with permission of findhelp information services, toronto
TRANSCRIPT
Taxonomy Overview
With permission of Findhelp Information Services, Toronto
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Acknowledgements
The following content originated from a presentation provided by
Mary Hogan of 211 Connecticut to 211 Ontario, which in turn was
based on one created by Dick Manikowski of Detroit Public
Library and on the model devised originally by Margaret Bruni for
workshops offered at AIRS conferences in the late 1990’s, with
input from Georgia Sales and others. Remember that because
the Taxonomy constantly changes, some of the specific
examples of terms and definitions may no longer be valid
(although what they illustrate will still hold true). (July 2008)
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Goals
• Learn the purpose and structure of
the Taxonomy
• Learn the principles of indexing with
the Taxonomy
• Learn about customizing the
Taxonomy for your local needs
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Goals
• Learn how to start indexing
• Practice what you are learning and
share observations from that
practice
• Help evaluate the workshop and
raise questions that may be helpful
to other data partners
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What is a taxonomy?
A thorough classification system,
that distinguishes concepts, names
those concepts, and puts those
concepts into a hierarchical order.
The botanist Linnaeus (1707-1778)
developed the original taxonomy, a
system of grouping plants and
animals into related families that is
still more or less in use today.
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But a taxonomy of services ??
• Although it classifies “things done” rather than
“things”, the idea has worked surprisingly well.
• It provides a structure for your information, tells
people what is in your information system and
how to find it.
• The Dewey Decimal System used by libraries
throughout the world to catalogue books, is very
similar to the Taxonomy.
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The AIRS/211 L.A. County Taxonomy
• Work on the Taxonomy began at INFO LINE of Los Angeles (now 211 LA County) in 1982 and its first full printed version was completed in 1987. (The Taxonomy is now only available on-line)
• Full name: “A Taxonomy of Human Services: A Conceptual Framework with Standardized Terminology and Definitions for the Field”
• A full-time editor and researcher, Georgia Sales, continually develops the resource, currently encompassing 9,200 terms.
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What are the benefits of the Taxonomy?
• Structure is comprehensive in scope and has a logical and exclusive niche for every concept.
• It’s compatible with the way services are actually delivered.
• It incorporates terminology which is accepted in the human service field.
• Terms are clearly defined and cross referenced.
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What are the benefits of the Taxonomy?
• The language and structure are simple.• Its structure is flexible to permit change
and growth.• Users can customize to meet their own
needs.• Believe it or not - there is a $$ savings,
versus maintaining your own system.• It was developed specifically for community
information and referral, and for a computerized environment.
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What are the benefits of the Taxonomy?
The Taxonomy’s structure
allows the user to either
broaden a search or narrow a
search, to whatever point
services have been indexed.
Because all terms can be
rolled up, statistics are easier
to collect, as in this example.
Criminal JusticeIndividual and Family Life
Income Security
Health Care
Substance Abuse Services
Mental Health Care and
Counseling
Consumer Services
Basic Needs
Education
Organizational/ Community/ International
Services
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Structure of the Taxonomy
Divides all human and social services into ten Service Categories, with a separate 11th Target Group section:
• B Basic Needs • D Consumer Services • F Criminal Justice and Legal Services • H Education • J Environmental Quality • L Health Care • N Income Support and Employment • P Individual and Family Life • R Mental Health Care and Counseling • T Organizational/Community/International Services • Y Target Populations
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Structure of the Taxonomy
Each section branches into up tosix increasingly narrow classification levels:
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Structure of the Taxonomy – a great example
B Basic Needs
BD Food
BD-1800 Emergency Food
BD-1800.2000 Food Banks
BD-1800.2000-620 Ongoing Emergency Food Assistance
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Structure of the Taxonomy
• Each term has a unique identification number – its Taxonomy code – that represents its exact placement in the hierarchy.
• The codes exist to help computers and indexers understand the relationship between terms. In most packages, one doesn’t actually input codes while indexing. It is not necessary to memorize codes!
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Structure of the Taxonomy
• Each Term (also called a
Preferred Term) has a
code and a precise and
concise definition.
• Use References are
non-preferred terms,
which point to the
preferred terms you
should use.
• See Also References
point to other preferred
terms of potential interest
to your general search.
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TYPES OF TAXONOMY TERMS
•Service terms
•Named program terms
•Facility terms
•Modality terms
• Target population terms
•Orientation/philosophy terms
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Types of Taxonomy Terms
SERVICE TERMS
The core of the Taxonomy, and
by far the most common type of
Term.
Specific activities organizations provide:
Home Delivered MealsJob Training
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Types of Taxonomy Terms
NAMED PROGRAM TERMS
A small number of “shortcut” terms for nation-wide, widely
known programs
TANFHead Start
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Types of Taxonomy Terms
FACILITY TERMSDescribe what an organization is (not what it does)
HospitalsSenior Citizen Centers
Administrative Entities (TF-0500) is a facility/organizational type term that is particularly useful, for management offices that organize and control activities but do not offer direct services to the public.
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Types of Taxonomy Terms
MODALITY TERMS
Reflect the way in which
a service is delivered
Group CounselingAdvocacy
Should link to a service term:
Disability Insurance ~
Advocacy
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Types of Taxonomy Terms
TARGET POPULATION TERMSGroups to which a service is aimed
Accident VictimsAdolescentsAfghan Community
Should rarely or never be used on their own. Usually link to a service term, such as:
Crisis Intervention ~ Older Adults
Don’t overuse! They can quickly get way out of hand. If a service is generally for most people, don’t use a target term at all.
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Types of Taxonomy Terms
ORIENTATION/
PHILOSOPHY TERMS
A handful of terms that describe a particular philosophy accommodated by a service.
Usually use only when linked to a service term:
Individual Counseling ~ Feminist Organizational Perspective
Advocacy ~ Children’s Issues
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PRINCIPLES OF INDEXING
• Not all the services that an organization offers should be indexed. In fact, some types of services should never be indexed.
• Choose the most specific term available which fully describes what is being indexed
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Principles of indexing
The most important guideline of all:
You should almost always avoid using a
broader term where you’re already using a
narrower term in your database, or vice
versa.
You should pick the level that you want to use
in that particular branch of the Taxonomy,
and stick to it throughout your database.
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Principles of indexing
For example, to index services that help people with housing expenses, you should choose either the 3rd level term “Housing Expense Assistance” or choose to use only the individual 4th level terms below it:
BH-3800 Housing Expense Assistance
OR
BH-3800.5000 Mortgage Payment Assistance
BH-3800.6500 Property Tax Payment Assistance
BH-3800.7000 Rent Payment Assistance
BH-3800.7250 Rental Deposit Assistance
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Principles of indexing
Similarly, you need to decide whether you will be using the general 4th level term “Homeless Shelter” (BH-180.850) throughout your database, OR only always use the more specific 5th level terms:
BH-1800.8500 Homeless Shelter
OR
BH-1800.8500-100 Bad Weather Shelters
BH-1800.8500-150 Community Shelters
BH-1800.8500-170 Day Shelters
BH-1800.8500-180 Environmental Hazards Shelters
BH-1800.8500-500 Missions
BH-1800.8500-900 Urban Campsites
BH-1800.8500-950 Wet Shelters
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Principles of indexing
Linking terms together is an important feature for
enhanced searching. Especially in large
collections, this allows you to zero in on, for
example, meals-on-wheels programs for
Hispanic seniors, with no false hits:
Home delivered meals ~ Hispanic/Latino
community
Basically, this becomes a sort of new term of its
own.
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TYPES OF SERVICES
Primary Services – yes,
index!
• Secondary Services – no…
• Ancillary Services – no…
• Phantom Services – no…
• Indirect Services – no…
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Types of Services
PRIMARY SERVICESEntry point services. These are the only services usually
indexed.
SECONDARY SERVICESServices only available to clients receiving primary services.
Do not index!
For example, a shelter that provides meals for its residents should
only be indexed for the shelter, and not for meals.
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Types of Services
ANCILLARY SERVICESPrimary services that are likely not worth indexing.
Examples:
Newsletters
Speakers/Speakers Bureaus
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Types of Services
PHANTOM SERVICESServices an agency claims to provide but
really does not.
Agency may be over-confident about services they have available, and misrepresent themselves.
Beware of agencies that “do everything.”
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Types of Services
INDIRECT SERVICESActivities that facilitate the delivery of a service by another
agency
Example:United Way provides funding to agencies offering specific
services.But the United Way does not actually offer the service they’re
funding.Only code the agency providing the service.
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Are We Still Awake?
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CUSTOMIZING THE TAXONOMY
• No center has a need for all 9,200
Taxonomy terms, and it is
convenient to carve off (or “de-
activate”) the hundreds or
thousands of terms that are not
relevant to an I&R’s focus.
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Customizing the Taxonomy
• Determine the sections that are
relevant to the types of resources
listed within your I&R.
• Does your I&R offer resources for
the services within every section?
• Can you exclude certain sections?
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Customizing the Taxonomy
• Section by section, determine which sections and/or terms in the Taxonomy can be disregarded.
• What are the inclusion/exclusion criteria for your I&R?
• What types of resources are available within the community
• What type of resources are currently in your databases?
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Customizing the Taxonomy
• Determine the appropriate level of detail.
• How specific are referral requests?
• How quickly does the information change?
• What is the skill level of the staff?
• How detailed is the index of your directory or other products?
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Customizing the Taxonomy
But an even more important rule:
don’t change things just because you
discover you can!
This is especially important if you are part
of a regional or statewide data sharing
system that all agencies stay
synchronized – and make the same
indexing decisions.
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1) Identify primary service
2) Identify most appropriate term to
characterize service
SUMMARY OF INDEXING STEPS
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Summary of Indexing Steps
3) Read the definition
4) Review your customized taxonomy
to confirm that this is a term you are
using
5) Does this level match the level
selected during customization of the
Taxonomy?
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Summary of Indexing Steps
6) Look at the see also references
(Should any of them also be used
to index the agency service?)
7) Do you need a modality, facility
type term, orientation/philosophy,
or target?
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GETTING HELP!
• Join the AIRS Taxonomy group(http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIRS_Taxonomy)
• Visit www.211taxonomy.org, and browse
its many resources.
• Online Introduction to AIRS Taxonomy
course (www.cequick.com/airs) – excellent
interactive 2-3 hour introduction to
indexing with the Taxonomy ($30/person)