why taxonomies are important and how do we design them?
TRANSCRIPT
Why taxonomies are
important and how do we
design them?
“A company that employs 1,000 information workers can
expect more than $5 million in annual salary costs to go
down the drain because of the time wasted looking for
information and not finding it, IDC research found last year.”
Jon Brodkin; “NETWORKWORLD: You Are Wasting Time, Find Out Why”;
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/012307-wasted-searches.html
"It's Not Information Overload. It's Filter Failure"
Clay Shirky at the Web 2.0 Expo
How the human brain organises information
Implicit taxonomiesPreferred Terms – Cats- Synonyms – felines, lions, cheetahs, bobcat, cougar,
leopards, jaguar• Extended terms – white lion, Bengali tigers, King cheetahs, DSH
Ontologies- Characteristics that inform classification
• Mammal, retractable claws, Jacobson's organ, carnivores, 4 legs,
tail, whiskers, ears, stripes, fur.
Informed by world’s view
• Experience• Education• Emotion
How the organisation organises information
Explicit taxonomies- Preferred Terms – broadest taxonomies describes
the domain• Synonyms
• Extended terms
Metadata- Information about the information which guides
• Where it fits in the taxonomy• Who can read it• What should be done with it?
- Includes- Ontology- Document types- Tags
Informed by organisational view
• Strategy• Structure• Environment• IP
Level Publication CollaborationBusiness Process
Search
500Optimisin
g
Content is personalized to the user. Content is shared across multiple functions and systems without duplication. Feedback mechanism on taxonomy is in place. Automated tagging may be present.
Collaboration occurs outside the firewall – i.e. with external contributors. Automated processes exist for de-provisioning and archiving sites.
Power users can edit existing workflows to adapt them to changing business needs. Users have visibility into process efficiency & can provide feedback into process improvements. Workflows incorporate external users.
Users understand relationship of tagging to search results. Automated tagging may be used. High volumes can be handled.
400Predictabl
e
Content is monitored, maintained, some is targeted to specific groups. Usage is analyzed. Digital assets are managed appropriately. If more than one doc mgmt system is present, governance is defined.
Collaboration tools are used across the entire organization. Email is captured & leveraged. Work is promoted from WIP to Final which is leverageable.
The majority of business processes are represented in the system and have audit trails. Mobile functionality is supported. Workflow scope is enterprise-level.
Content types and custom properties are leveraged in Advanced Search. Results customized to specific needs, may be actionable.
300Defined
Site Columns/ Managed Metadata standardize the taxonomy. Page layouts & site templates are customized. Approval process is implemented.
Collaboration efforts extend sporadically to discussion threads, wikis, blogs, and doc libs with versioning. Site templates are developed for specific needs.
Workflows can recognize the user (i.e. knows “my manager”). Content types are leveraged. Workflow scope spans departments or sites.
Search results are analyzed. Best bets and metadata properties are leveraged to aid the search experience.
200Managed
Custom metadata is applied to content. Templates standardized across sites. Lists used rather than static HTML. Multiple document mgmt systems may be present w/out governance around purpose.
Mechanism is in place for new site requests. Collaboration efforts are collected in document libraries (links emailed rather than documents)
Business process is defined; some custom SP Designer workflows (or third-party tool) may be implemented. Workflow scope is at departmental level.
Custom scopes and iFilters employed to aid the search experience.
100Initial
Navigation & taxonomy not formally considered. Little to no checks on content. Folder structure is re-created from shared drives. Content that could be in lists is posted in Content Editor WP. Out of box site templates / layouts are used.
Out of box collaboration sites set up as needed without structure or organization. No formal process exists for requesting a new site.
Business process is loosely defined. Out of box workflows (approval, collect feedback) leveraged sporadically. A doc lib or list provides a central base of operations.
Out of box functionality for query, results, and scopes; some additional content sources may be indexed.
Copyright 2011 Sadalit Van Buren
SharePoint 2010Maturity Model - Publication1. Initial - Navigation & taxonomy not formally considered. Few
checks on content. Folder structure is re-created from shared drives. 2. Managed - Custom metadata is applied to content. Templates
standardized across sites. Multiple document mgmt systems may be present without governance around purpose.
3. Defined - Site Columns/ Managed Metadata standardise the taxonomy. Page layouts & site templates are customised. Approval process is implemented.
4. Predictable - Content is monitored, maintained, some is targeted to specific groups. Usage is analysed. Digital assets are managed appropriately. If more than one doc mgmt system is present, governance is defined.
5. Optimised - Content is personalised to the user. Content is shared across multiple functions and systems without duplication. Feedback mechanism on taxonomy is in place. Automated tagging may be present.
DefinitionTaxonomy (Greek taxis means arrangement or division and nomos means law).
- The science of classification according to a pre-determined system, with the
resulting catalogue used to provide a conceptual framework for discussion, analysis or
information retrieval.
- Takes into account the importance of separating elements of a group (taxon) into
subgroups (taxa) that are mutually exclusive, unambiguous and taken together,
include all possibilities.
- Should be simple, easy to remember and easy to use.
http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/taxonomy
Data model for unstructured information
Ross Leher -WAND
Hierarchy and structure to store information so that it can be found
Zach Wahl PPC
Why are taxonomies important?
Users Adoption
- make it easy and intuitive to find information- increases relevance of results
Automate - the tagging functionality for uploads and
- classification of documents Push the right information to the right user
Organisation Manage and customise in future - curatorship Enables multi language support – augment and extend Unlocking information within the organisation - discovery Create and organise institutional knowledge - aggregate Analysis – innovate Reporting
MS taxonomy terminology
Library – Social MediaGroup Linked-InFaceBook
- Termset- Inform- Advertise- Engage
- Term- Comment- Like- Share
Developing taxonomies
What are we going to use as the thought construct?
Strategy and destination - Themes
Organisational design- Departments – HR Department- Functional area – People, Innovation
Products and Services
Customers
Mixed/federated
Options
Develop your own taxonomy (10 steps) -Develop a strategy
- Champions- Big Bang vs Unit by unit
- Top down
Buy commercial taxonomies- Use as is- Customise
Features of a great taxonomy
Delivers on strategyIncreases productivitySimpleNot too granular or too deep (less clicks) – content driven to minimise the distance between the user and the informationFlexible and easy to change as the business changesIntuitive to owners and consumers of informationBuilt for longevitySearch – when lookingIncrease value of browse (findability).
Building taxonomy
Organisational StrategyEnd user focus – business users must define the taxonomySimplificationCANEI – it’s never going to be perfectIteration, get something good enough and set governances in place to improve over timeDidactic workshop approach (learning get’s buy in)
A 10 Step MethodologyIdentify top down taxonomy design
1. Start by defining the audience (spectrum of users) – what is the challenge?- Function, geography, language, tech savyness- What are the lowest common denominators?
2. Identify the verbs- Name 7 things that people want to do (e.g. research, search, design configure)- Name 7 things our organisation does (e.g. sell, develop, implement, manage)
3. Identify the nouns (topics) (buy what, ship what?)4. Separate non themes (e.g. document types, audience types, geographies) –
these by products becomes metadata5. Draw out the themes and create clouds (e.g. employees [associates, people],
offerings [products solutions]). This becomes the top level taxonomy.6. Get consensus within the group (The group becomes the taxonomy team to
identify themes at lower levels and can test it.)7. Sanity check – does this make sense in terms of the strategy8. Continue the process throughout the organisation.9. Keep testing for usability and against the strategy10. Iterate
