Taxonomy 101: What do rockets and arugula have in common?
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The document provides an introduction to taxonomies. It defines a taxonomy as a system for organizing content according to shared characteristics, which are often organized hierarchically. Taxonomies help people find relevant information quickly, provide access to broader audiences, ensure consistency of language, allow for content integration and reuse, and enable personalization. The document encourages attendees to tag content for others to find by keeping tags simple, focusing on main concepts, being specific, and not worrying about perfection.
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Taxonomy 101: What do rockets and arugula have in common?
- 1. TAXONOMY 101 What do rockets and arugula have in common? Jhiepgo, Baltimore MD September 17, 2018 Rebecca Schneider – Executive Director, Content
- 2. 2 Quick Quiz! • When you saw this meeting invite, did you say or think: What’s a taxonomy? Is that like taxidermy? • Taxonomy? Great. I work with taxonomies often, but want to know more. • Taxonomies are the next best thing after sliced bread. I work with them every day. Plus, I sleep with Header Hedden’s The Accidental Taxonomist under my pillow.
- 3. AGENDA Introductions Jars of Whimsy! On Taxonomies Why Taxonomies? Tagging Content
- 5. Analyze. Organize. Optimize. AvenueCX • A consultancy providing enterprise content strategy solutions. • Specializing in personalization, omnichannel and performance-driven content solutions. 5
- 6. About Rebecca Rebecca Schneider, Executive Director, Content Organizer. Librarian. Gadget Lover. Owner of many, many black pairs of shoes. • Expert in taxonomies, metadata & enterprise content strategy. • Key Clients: Analog Devices, Inc., Verizon Wireless, BNY Mellon • Taxonomy Projects: FHI360, Academy for Educational Development (USAID Library Management and Information Services), Target Corporation, Total Wine & More, Capital Investment Companies, Office Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, and Tiffany & Co. 6
- 8. 8 Jars of Whimsy A quick activity • Let’s take taxonomy out of the academic vacuum. • Each jar contains identical items Exception: Non-US currency may vary by country. • Sort the items into piles that make sense to you. • Online attendees: Go to https://ows.io/os/dbo53vz3 o Drag from the left and drop on the right
- 9. 9 Sort Guidelines • Play nice • No judgment • You can’t win • Have fun YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES!
- 10. 10 What did you think? Potential categories • Toys • Money • Paper products • Candy • “Other” • Games • Color • Choking hazards • Fasteners • Things that are green
- 11. 11 Don’t steal my dollar!
- 12. On Taxonomies
- 13. 13 A few definitions . . . • Taxonomy: A system for organizing content according to shared characteristics. The shared characteristics are often (but not always) organized into hierarchies. • Taxonomy Facet: Housed within a taxonomy. Represents an aspect of the object or idea being described. Regions Project Management Global Health Topics Communicable Disease Control Infection Control Standard Precautions Hand Hygiene
- 14. 14 Does taxonomy = navigation? NO . . . BUT • Taxonomy helps inform navigation. • And, helps to define metadata and the information architecture of websites, applications, and other systems.
- 15. 15 And they pretty much don’t have anything to do with Taxidermy
- 16. Why Taxonomies?
- 17. 17 Help people find relevant information quickly Saving time and money
- 18. 18 And feel like this when seeking content
- 19. 19 Provides access to a broader audience Access to scholarly work, academic articles, etc.
- 20. 20 Consistency of Language Ensures we are talking about the same thing or idea.
- 21. 21 Content integration Connecting systems and information
- 22. 22 Content reuse Stop reinventing the wheel
- 23. 23 Personalize a user experience Serve up content based on user profile or activity
- 24. 24 Identify content needs, gaps Leverage metrics • Search terms people use • Search terms that yield no results • Heavily used content • Content with little/no usage • Content reuse • Staff time lost looking for content
- 25. Tagging Content
- 26. 26 Taxonomies can get users right where it counts But only if you use them! Content PlaceTime
- 27. 27 Tag for others Because you want them to find your content
- 28. 28 Keep it simple Less is more (5-8 terms)
- 29. 29 Focus on main concepts You aren’t being tested on the footnotes
- 30. 30 Yet be specific If you need to go down or up a level, then do it
- 31. 31 Perfect is the enemy of the good.
Editor's Notes
- General Introduction Presentation given at a Brown Bag Lunch event at the Jhiepgo offices in Baltimore, Maryland. To learn more about Jhiepgo, go to https://www.jhpiego.org/.
- We are a consultancy focusing on content strategy solutions. Our specialties are personalization, omnichannel and performance-driven content.
- Many thanks to JM Upton for this idea!
- Everyone sees the world differently. You could redo this sort tomorrow and it would turn out differently. The key is to understand the user, and how they would look for something.
- The Jar of Whimsey contains a US Dollar as well as Monopoly money and non-US currency. Attendees typically ask if they get to keep the dollar.
- This leads into tagging – applying terms to content.
- Examples: Sales Enablement platforms CRM platforms Digital Asset Management Platforms Retail or B2B websites Apps – shopping, etc.
- Taxonomies help to organize documents and other kinds of content (in any format). We are assaulted with a deluge of content every day. We need to help people find the content they need. The more time people spend looking, the less time they spend ‘doing.’
- Because it’s always great to help people find what they need. It gets them to their goal (in any context of their life).
- Taxonomy enables more effective search and knowledge discovery. For example, tools such as Google Scholar provides access to academic articles, books, etc. Many formal databases (produced by EBSCO, Lexis-Nexis, etc.) tag content. But this content may not be readily available via a standard Google search. Taxonomy is more than just tagging, it also provides terms than can be used in abstracts and summaries. This increases the likelihood that someone will find your article/book/etc. There is an entire discipline devoted to Search Engine Optimization - optimizing your content for search on the web.
- Taxonomy creates a common language for communicating concepts. Depending on context, words can mean different things. Example: People in UK, Australia use the word “rocket” for arugula. This is incredibly important when using taxonomies as part of terminology management systems. In the medical and pharma world, lack of precise language can cause great harm. Intoxicado = being sick after ingesting something (Cuban Spanish) Misconstrued as intoxicated https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/the-etymology-of-the-word-arugula
- Taxonomy allows for better integration of information sources. Common language (as previously mentioned) May require mapping one term to another Allows multiple systems to be leveraged for a particular goal.
- Taxonomies assist in improving operational efficiencies by allowing for reuse of information rather than recreation. Often referred to as componentized content. Scenario: Tagging large documents so that a user can find discreet bits of information. Example: Capacity Statements, some of which were close to 80 pages in length. Tag smaller items to more easily find information such as examples of expertise. A Table of Contents will only get you so far.
- Serve up content News Presentations Technical documentation Etc. Based on defined metadata such as: Programs Regions Job Role You see examples of this every day. Ever see an advertisement for a product or company you recently viewed – on an entirely different website? More companies and people leveraging taxonomies for personalization, omnichannel and cross-channel user experiences. Why does this apply here? Because people expect the same type of experience regardless of the company or brand they are dealing with. This is happening more and more in the B2B world as well.
- It is important to leverage metrics – without it, you don’t know how your content (and taxonomy) are performing.
- We organize our physical spaces to our liking. Where do you put items in the kitchen? But everyone does not organize their kitchen in the same way. And we all have that junk drawer. We need to think of others when using taxonomy terms. How would they look for something? What terms would they use? It may require using less ‘correct’ terms. If they can’t find it, they can’t use/buy/download/etc. it. Consider your audience. Example: Doctor vs. Layperson Hypertension vs. High blood pressure.
- Less is more. If you add too many terms, it will create noise in the system. If there is an overabundance of returned items (in a search), people will get frustrated and give up. One client over tagged their content so much that authors starting adjusting the title so they could find their documents. Some documents even had more tags than what existed in the actual document!
- This is not the time to note every single nuance that your content covers. Focus on key concepts only. As mentioned before, over-tagging will result in noise – harming rather than helping.
- Tag at the appropriate level. Context is important here as well, including similar content that exists within a system. Related Content Audience Content Purpose
- Taxonomies and metadata are ever changing. No decisions are set in stone. Adjust based on user inputs and metrics.
- Feel free to reach out. Even just to chat.