tagging with a taxonomy
TRANSCRIPT
Strategies LLCTaxonomy
November 8, 2007 Copyright 2007 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.
Tagging with a Taxonomy
Joseph A. Busch
2Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Agenda
How will content be tagged up using the taxonomy? How much will it cost to tag content? Who should tag content? How accurate is tagging?
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How will content be tagged up using the taxonomy?
Prioritization Not everything needs to be tagged.
Business rules Simple “if then” rules can automate high-level, broad tagging.
Workflow Require some basic tagging to submit item to CMS.
Templates Create context-sensitive pick lists and default values.
Incentives Provide almost instantaneous feedback.
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Prioritize content to be tagged
Identify and dispose of ROT It’s expensive and unnecessary to tag Redundant, Obsolete &
Trivial content
Estimate future value of content E.g. a fashion magazine that commissioned a noted
photographer to do a photo essay on a notable designer will have more future use of the content than they will for photos of lipstick smears. The former justifies more effort in tagging than the latter.
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Use business rules to automate content tagging
Tag top-level content first Tag landing pages for major sections Lower-level pages inherit tags from top-level pages
If content originated in this department, then tag it with pre-defined values.
If the first line of content is centered and in title case, then use it to fill-in the Title field.
Assume that the person who is logged on is the <creator> of the content
Inherit the department in which that person works as the content <publisher>
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Use workflow to enforce tagging
Require entry of simple tagging in order to submit an item into the content management system
Or, require approval of automatically filled-in tags.
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Use templates to guide user tagging
Define templates for common content types. Pre-populate template fields whenever possible.
Use business rules. Use template-specific default values.
Use pick lists Make lists context sensitive to the specific template & user.
Call out to taxonomy services for more complex controlled vocabularies
Most CMS templates cannot handle hierarchical pick lists. Advanced services provide vocabulary searching.
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Provide tagging incentives
Almost instantaneous feedback Show results from tagging such as tag clouds, mash-ups, RSS
feeds, etc. Search engine indexing as quickly as possible.
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Tagging cost
How to estimate the cost of tagging or retagging content:1. How many items are affected?
2. What is the per-item tagging cost?
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How to estimate per item tagging cost
Taxonomy Facet Hier? CV SizeTime/ Value
(min)
Avg # values /
item $ / minCost /
Element
Subject
Business functions Y 430 3.00 1.00 $ 0.75 $ 2.25
Management skills Y 49 1.00 0.10 $ 0.75 $ 0.08
Tools & methodologies Y 59 1.00 0.10 $ 0.75 $ 0.08
Topics Y 241 5.00 1.00 $ 0.75 $ 3.75
Industries & products Y 450 3.00 1.00 $ 0.75 $ 2.25
Geography Y 276 1.00 0.10 $ 0.75 $ 0.08
Organizations & business entities Y 80 1.00 0.10 $ 0.75 $ 0.08
People & roles 31 1.00 0.10 $ 0.75 $ 0.08
Audience 0 0 0 0 0
Level N 9 1.00 0.10 $ 0.75 $ 0.08
Intent & style N 13 1.00 0.10 $ 0.75 $ 0.08
TOTALS 1,656 3.75 $ 8.89
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How to estimate total tagging cost
Category Legacy Annual (10% growth)
Content items 10,000 1,000
Tagging cost/item $ 8.89 $ 8.89
Tagging cost $ 88,900 $ 8,890
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Who should tag content
All tagging is useful End user tagging Tagging by librarians Automated tagging by OS and algorithms
Ideally, content should be tagged throughout its lifecycle, each time the content is handled and used so that it accrues value or its significance is diminished.
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Four tagging rules
Rule Description
Characterize the content overall
Use terms that describe overall what the content is about and why it is important.
Use multiple terms
If one single term doesn’t describe the content overall, use several terms from the same facet. But avoid over tagging. In most cases no more than 3 terms.
Use appropriate terms
Only fill-in the facets & values that make sense. Not all facets apply to all content.
Consider how content will be used
Anticipate how the content will be searched for in the future, & how to make it easy to find it. Remember that search engines can only operate on explicit information.
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Common tagging problems
Tagging is reviewed by adding categories, but not removing them.
Taggers fill-in every blank in the template Where it says to provide up to eight categories, eight are often
provided. The version of the taxonomy being used in tagging varies
depending on where, by whom and when the tagging is being done.
Inadequate guidance and training is being provided on the appropriate method and process for tagging content.
There is little or no routine review of how the content works in the production environment, and then making changes in response to observing what works and what doesn’t.
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How accurate is tagging
“Two people choose the same main key word for a single well known object less than 20% of the time.”
Furnas, G.W., Landauer, T.K., Gomez, L.M., and Dumais, S.T. Statistical semantics: Analysis of the potential performance of key-word information systems. Bell System Technical Journal, 1983, 62(6), 1753-1806.
“… studies have consistently concluded that recorded levels of consistency vary markedly, and that high levels of consistency are rarely achieved.”
Leonard, L.E. Inter-indexer consistency studies, 1954-1975: a review of the literature and summary of study results. Graduate School of Library Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 1977.
Strategies LLCTaxonomy
November 8, 2007 Copyright 2007 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.
Questions?
Joseph A. Busch
+1-415-377-7912
www.taxonomystrategies.com
17Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
18Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Original list of topics to be covered
How can the effort to tag legacy and new content be assessed? Does legacy content need to be tagged?
Who should tag content with a taxonomy—content creators or tagging specialists? What kinds of tagging rules are needed to ensure tag consistency and relevancy?
How difficult is it to implement automated taxonomy tagging methods? How accurate will automated taxonomy tagging be? How much editorial review will be needed?
Can a collection be tagged with a taxonomy once and never tagged again? What are the benefits of continuous taxonomy tagging review and improvement?