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Taxonomies for Information

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Title: Taxonomies for Information


1
Taxonomies for Information Knowledge Management
Architectures
  • Denise A. D. Bedford, Ph.D.
  • Senior Information Officer - Information
    Solutions Group Corporate Information Systems
  • The World Bank Group
  • Special Libraries Association DC Chapter
    February 4, 2003

2
Who Needs to Understand Taxonomies?
  • Anyone who has been charged with the task of
    organizing information, regardless of the context
    Brick Mortar, KM system, ILS, Portal, Records
    Management System, .
  • You may have been trained to work with a variety
    of Information Organization tools or trained in
    bibliographic control principles
  • It is probably the case that these tools were not
    presented as taxonomies perhaps as rules, as
    record formats
  • Professional literature also presents a
    confusing, often, simplistic view of taxonomies
  • Assumes that a taxonomy is only hierarchical
  • Fails to provide a clear distinction between the
    structures uses of classification schemes,
    subject headings, thesauri metadata

3
Information Management System Architectures
  • The underlying architecture of a full
    bibliographic control system, records management
    system, a metadata repository or corporate
    information architecture is complex
  • Taxonomies are essential structures in all
    information management systems
  • Information managers, librarians, information
    architects, knowledge architects, records
    managers need to be able to
  • Understand the different kinds of taxonomies
  • Have sufficient familiarity with their purpose to
    select the right kind of taxonomy for an
    application

4
Taxonomy Basics
  • There are four types of taxonomies
  • Flat
  • Hierarchical
  • Faceted
  • Network
  • Some are explicit/visible, others are
    implicit/invisible
  • There are significant design consideration when
    implementing each different type
  • Lets review each quickly

5
Definition of a Taxonomy
  • System for naming and organizing things into
    groups that share similar characteristics Jean
    Graef, Montague Institute

Taxonomy
Architectures
Applications
6
Taxonomy Basics
  • Four types of taxonomies
  • Flat
  • Hierarchical
  • Faceted
  • Network

7
Flat Taxonomy Structure
Energy Environment Education
Economics Transport Trade
Labor Agriculture
8
Type 1 Flat Taxonomies
  • Flat taxonomies group content into a controlled
    set of categories
  • no inherent relationship among the categories in
    a flat taxonomy -- they are co-equal members of a
    single structure
  • can move from one category to another without
    having to think about the relationship between
    them
  • concept of a flat taxonomy may be counter
    intuitive to some
  • Consider how often you use flat taxonomies
    everyday
  • alphabetical listings of people in a directory of
    expertise
  • a pull-down menu of country names or geographical
    regions
  • simple alphabetical listings of product groupings

9
Designing Flat Taxonomies
  • Flat taxonomies are easy to create
  • Flat taxonomies do not require complex interface
    design and extensive usability testing
  • We have learned from usability engineers how to
    implement flat taxonomies
  • Flat taxonomies used for explicit information
    structures generally should consist of 30 or
    fewer categories
  • More than 30 categories may be presented in a
    flat taxonomy, if the categories are intuitive to
    users (i.e. lists of countries, states,
    languages, etc.)

10
Explicit Flat Taxonomies
  • Amazon.coms pull down list of product categories
    horizontal list of stores
  • - http//www.Amazon.com
  • Nordstom.coms alphabetical list of brand names -
    http//www.nordstrom.com
  • Microsoft PowerPoints global functional menu
    pull down menu
  • Water Resources Directory of Expertise list of
    keywords - http//www.nceas.ucsb.edu/exp/
  • Bartleby.coms extensive picklists of reference,
    verse, fiction non-fiction listings --
    http//www.bartleby.com/
  • CyberDeweys alphabetical index to sections -
    http//www.anthus.com/CyberDewey/Dewey_index.html

11
Implicit Flat Taxonomies
  • Alphabetical list of water resource experts
  • Content inventories listed alphabetically by
    author
  • Rights management values (simple picklist)
  • Information disclosure status values (simple
    picklist)
  • Security classification scheme values (simple
    picklist)

12
Hierarchical Taxonomy
A hierarchical taxonomy is represented as a tree
data structure in a database application. The
tree data structure consists of nodes and
links. In an RDBMS environment, the
relationships become associations. In a
hierarchical taxonomy, a node can have only one
parent.
13
Type 2 Hierarchical Taxonomies
  • Group content into two or more levels
  • Resemble tree structures when they are fully
    elaborated
  • Hierarchical categories typically have only one
    broader or parent category.
  • Relationships among categories in hierarchical
    taxonomies have particular meaning
  • Relationship between a top level category
    subcategory may mean group membership or
    refinement of the top category by a particular
    characteristic or feature
  • Moving up the hierarchy means expanding or
    broadening the category
  • Moving down the hierarchy means refining or
    qualifying the category

14
Explicit Hierarchical Taxonomies
  • Yahoos Web Site Directory - organized as a
    subject hierarchy - http//www.yahoo.com
  • Internet Public Librarys two-tier collection
    structure - http//www.ipl.org
  • Librarians Index to the Internet mixed hierarchy
    of topics and resource types - http//www.lii.org/
  • Ebays auction categories http//www.ebay.com
  • CyberDeweys progressive disclosure of Dewey
    Decimal classes - http//www.anthus.com/CyberDewey
    /CyberDewey.html
  • Albertsons Shop By Aisle grocery categories or
    Shop A to Z grocery product - http//www.albertson
    s.com/store/categores

15
Implicit Hierarchical Taxonomies
  • Electronic news story published in XML NITF
    format
  • International Press Telecommunications Council.
    News Industry Text Format. Version 3.1
    September, 2002. http//www.nitf.org/
  • Classification schemes for topic areas
  • Authority control lists for abbreviations full
    names (aliases)
  • Records management hierarchical fileroom
    structures
  • Cross source topic reference structures

16
Designing Hierarchical Taxonomies
  • There is more than one way to implement a
    hierarchy
  • Progressive disclosure of layers across sites or
    pages -- Ebay model
  • Cascading or expanding menus -- United Nations
    web site
  • Pop-up menus linked to stationary menus -- United
    Nations web site
  • Category and subcategory labels in a multi-column
    display -- Nordstroms second level pages

17
Designing Hierarchical Taxonomies
  • Hierarchical taxonomies should
  • have content at every level -- empty categories
    present empty value to users
  • be less than four levels deep in most cases
  • be at least two categories for each branch in the
    taxonomy -- do not branch for a single category
  • be sufficient content in each category to warrant
    existence
  • balance breadth depth -- users must work harder
    to use a taxonomy three categories broad nine
    deep than to use one that is seven wide and two
    deep

18
Hierarchical Taxonomy Design Issues
  • Hierarchical taxonomies should
  • be balanced across each level of the taxonomy to
    provide users with a predictable experience
  • be offset with search functions
  • should never be displayed into flat structures
  • be reviewed periodically

19
Facet Taxonomies
Faceted taxonomy represented as a star data
structure. Each node in the start structure
is liked to the center focus. Any node can be
linked to other nodes in other stars. Appears
simple, but becomes complex quickly.
20
Type 3 Faceted Taxonomies
  • Resemble flat taxonomies when implemented, but
    have a different structure purpose than flat
    taxonomies
  • There are no inherent relationships among
    categories in a faceted taxonomy like a flat
    taxonomy
  • Resemble a star structure -- all facets pertain
    to the center object
  • All categories in a faceted taxonomy relate to a
    single object -- may describe a property or a
    value, different views or aspects of a single
    topic

21
Type 3 Faceted Taxonomies
  • An object may be
  • electronic book -- each facet describes some
    aspect of the book - the author, the title, date
    of publication
  • facets describe the countrys population,
    geography, economic system, political system,
    history,
  • Each facet may relate to facets in other
    taxonomies -- a faceted taxonomy describing a
    book may also have a link to a faceted taxonomy
    that describes a country

22
Metadata as Faceted Taxonomy
  • The primary implicit application of faceted
    taxonomies today historically is as implicit
    metadata records
  • Traditionally, libraries have been the prime
    users or metadata
  • Today, portals and e-business systems are primary
    metadata users
  • Types of taxonomies that rely on metadata today
  • IBMs product service catalog on the web
  • User interest profiles
  • Knowledge push or syndication profiles
  • Selective dissemination of information or push
    profiles

23
Standards Based Metadata Schemes
  • Dublin Core Metadata Element -
    http//dublincore.org/dcregistry/index.html
  • GILS - Government Information Locator System -
    http//www.gils.net
  • VERS - Victorian Electronic Records Strategy --
    http//www.prov.vic.gov.au/vers/welcome.htm
  • MARC - Machine Readable Cataloging -
    http//www.loc.gov/marc/marcdocz.html
  • UDDI - Universal Description, Discovery
    Integration of Business http//www.uddi.org
  • TEI -- Text Encoding Initiative -
    http//www.tei-c.org
  • ISAD(G) - International Standard Archival
    Description - www.ica.org/biblio/com/cds/isad_g_2e
    .pdf

24
Commercial Metadata Schemes
  • Ebays auction item descriptions -
    http//www.ebay.com
  • Amazon.coms product descriptions -
    http//www.Amazon.com
  • Albertsons product descriptions -
    http//www.albertsons.com/store/
  • Nordstroms product descriptions -
    http//www.nordstrom.com

25
Designing Faceted Taxonomies
  • Most important design issue for faceted taxonomy
    is that it be suited to its purpose -- that it
    contain the facets that are needed, that their
    behavior is clear
  • Characteristics of each facet should be defined
    fully and distinctly -- while all facets pertain
    to a common object, each has a distinct behavior
  • Users should be able to manipulate facets
    distinctly -- it is important to define each
    facet exclusively, without overlap with other
    facets
  • Most faceted taxonomies are implicit structures -
    when they are made explicit, they are generally
    presented as record or table formats

26
Network Taxonomies
A network taxonomy is a plex data structure.
Each node can have more than one parent. Any
item in a plex structure can be linked to any
other item. In plex structures, links can be
meaningful different.
27
Type 4 Network Taxonomies
  • Organizes content into both hierarchical and
    associative categories
  • May look like a computer network topology
  • Many relationships among categories or nodes
  • Relationships may have many different meanings
  • Category may have more than one higher level
    category
  • Any category in the taxonomy may be linked to any
    other category

28
Type 4 Network Taxonomies
  • Examples of network taxonomies
  • Topic maps or ontologies
  • Thesauri -- !! A Thesaurus is NOT just a
    Hierarchy!!
  • Semantic networks
  • Implicit cross-walks for thesauri controlled
    vocabularies from different knowledge domains

29
Implicit Network Taxonomies
  • Thesauri, concept maps semantic networks can be
    explicit or implicit
  • Can be designed transparently into the knowledge
    management system as
  • thesaurus facilitated search systems
  • recommender engines (...if you liked this, you
    might also like this)
  • vocabulary cross-walks from one source system to
    another
  • topic map cross-walks from one knowledge domain
    to another

30
Explicit Network Taxonomies
  • At one end of the scale we find simple, explicit
    network taxonomies such as topical taxonomies
    with See also references, or fully exposed
    thesauri
  • At the other enc of the scale, we find more
    complex, explicit network taxonomies such as
    visual concept maps or visual semantic networks.
    Consider the following example of network
    taxonomies accessible on the web
  • World Bank Groups Thesaurus http//www2.multite
    s.com/wb/
  • UMLS Semantic Network - http//www.nlm.nih.gov/res
    earch/umls/META3.HTML
  • Inxights Star Tree concept maps -
    http//eic.vestforsk.no/sitelense/eic.html

31
Designing Network Taxonomies
  • Structure you use to maintain the network
    taxonomy may not work well for display -- may
    have to break it into one or more types of
    taxonomies to implement it
  • Different kinds of relationships may be
    implemented in different ways - a single approach
    to display all types of relationships may not be
    effective
  • Three-dimensional presentations are well suited
    to network taxonomy implemented, but should be
    usability tested with users
  • Consider how the user will navigate a
    three-dimensional presentation
  • Try to maintain a consistent level of granularity
    of categories - avoid mixing pre-coordinated
    subject headings or broad classes with concepts

32
Conclusions
  • Every Information Professionals knowledge
    toolkit should contain a basic understanding of
    taxonomies their suitability to different
    applications
  • Taxonomies are important building blocks in a
    full function information architecture
  • Knowledge of taxonomies will be a skill in
    increasing demand as the need to organize
    information grows
  • Need the organize information is growing
    exponentially, consistent with the amount of
    information produced, stored disseminated
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