Strategies LLC Taxonomy Nov. 20, 2009Copyright 2009 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved. Metadata: Defining & Harnessing Ron Daniel, Jr. Principal, Taxonomy Strategies LLC

2 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Metadata and Taxonomy Metadata Title Author Department Audience Topic Topics Employee Services Compensation Retirement Insurance Further Education Finance and Budget Products and Services Support Services Infrastructure Supplies Each list is a controlled vocabulary. The Taxonomy is the set of all the controlled vocabularies. Audience Internal Executives Managers External Suppliers Customers Partners Metadata is data about data – in our case it is a set of fields of library catalog-like data about published content..

3 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Metadata and Faceted Taxonomies Main Ingredients Cooking Methods Meal TypeCuisines Chocolate Dairy Fruits Grains Meat & Seafood Nuts Olives Pasta Spices & Seasonings Vegetables Breakfast Brunch Lunch Supper Dinner Snack African American Asian Caribbean Continental Eclectic/ Fusion/ International Jewish Latin American Mediterranean Middle Eastern Vegetarian Advanced Bake Broil Fry Grill Marinade Microwave No Cooking Poach Quick Roast Sauté Slow Cooking Steam Stir-fry 42 values to maintain ( ) 9900 combinations (10x6x11x15)

4 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information What makes a bad taxonomy? The animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from along way off look like flies. Jorge Luis Borges, " THE ANALYTICAL LANGUAGE OF JOHN WILKINS" Works in 3 volumes (in Russian). St. Petersburg, "Polaris", V. 2: 87. The animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from along way off look like flies. Jorge Luis Borges, " THE ANALYTICAL LANGUAGE OF JOHN WILKINS" Works in 3 volumes (in Russian). St. Petersburg, "Polaris", V. 2: 87.

5 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Facets simplify hierarchies BusinessBiotechnology & Pharmaceuticals Education & Training RegionalEuropeIrelandBusiness & Economy EmploymentHealth & Medical ReferenceEducationColleges & Universities North AmericaUnited StatesMarylandColumbia Union College Athletics ReferenceEducationK-12Home SchoolingUnschoolingChats and Forums ScienceMathAcademic Departments South AmericaColombia SocietyPeopleWomenScience & Technology Mathematics ScienceSocial SciencesLinguisticsTranslationAssociations BusinessSmall BusinessFinanceAccounting BusinessAccountingFirmsDirectories BusinessEmploymentBy Industry BusinessHealthcareEmploymentRegional Competency (discipline)11 Geography9 Audience9 Topic7 Organization5 Doc Type4 Industry4 Process4

6 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Metadata used in search

7 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Universal facets and partial facets

8 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Limits on facet displays Most facets are hidden!

9 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Modern websites rely on metadata

10 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Who decides what metadata is needed?

11 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Where does metadata come from?

12 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information What does it cost to create metadata? Taxonomy FacetHier? Typical CV Size Time/ Value (min) Avg # values / Item$ / Min Cost/ Element AudienceN $ 0.42 $ 0.21 Content TypeN $ 0.42 $ 0.11 Organizational UnitY90N//A1 N/A $ 0.42 Products & ServicesY $ 0.42 $ 2.52 Geographic RegionY $ 0.42 Broad TopicsY40024 $ 0.42 $ 3.36 TOTALS $ 7.04 Inspired by: Ray Luoma, BAU Solutions Consider complexity of facet and ambiguity of content to estimate time per value. Estimated cost of tagging one item. This can be reduced with automation, but cannot be eliminated. Is this field worth the cost? Machine-filled fields have costs too.

13 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Can we get machines to make metadata for us?

14 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information How much metadata do I need?

15 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Can we get machines to make taxonomies for us?

16 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Can we get users to make taxonomies for us?

17 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Where else might we find taxonomies?

18 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Um, is someone managing all this?

19 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information How do I start?

Strategies LLC Taxonomy Nov. 20, 2009Copyright 2009 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved. Contact Info Ron Daniel,