Taxonomies and Metadata in Information Architecture

Taxonomies
and Metadata
for Information
Architecture
Alice Redmond-Neal
Thesaurus Development Manager
Access Innovations, Inc. - Booth 217
ared@accessinn.com

Internet Librarian 2005

What we’ll cover
 Key definitions
 Taxonomies, metadata, information architecture
 How taxonomies and metadata influence
information architecture
 Using taxonomies to enhance retrieval

2 Copyright © 2005 Access Innovations, Inc.

Key points
 A taxonomy provides both a browsable outline
and descriptive metadata.
 Metadata provide efficient searchable handles
for content.
 Taxonomy-based subject metadata yields the
most precise retrieval.
 Taxonomy is the basis for Information
architecture.
 Information architecture that takes full
advantage of taxonomy and subject metadata
supports findability.

What’s a taxonomy?
 Words
 Controlled vocabulary for a subject area
 Descriptive labels
 Hierarchy
 Simple hierarchical view of a thesaurus
 Knowledge organization system
 Storage and retrieval aid


Info retrieval starts with a
knowledge organization system
 Uncontrolled list Not complex

 Name authority file
 Synonym set/ring
 Controlled vocabulary
 Taxonomy
 Thesaurus
 Ontology
Highly complex
 Semantic network


Structure of
controlled vocabularies

List of words Synonyms Taxonomy Thesaurus

INCREASING COMPLEXITY

Ambiguity control Ambiguity control Ambiguity cont’l
Synonym control Synonym control Synonym cont’l
Hierarchical rel’s Hierarchical rel’s
Associative rel’s


Taxonomy? Thesaurus?
 Often used interchangeably
 Thesaurus is a taxonomy with extras
 RelatedTerms
 Nonpreferred Terms (USE/Used for)
 Scope Notes
 more
 Use the word your audience understands
 Avoid confusion with Roget’s thesaurus


Taxonomy Thesaurus
view Term Record
view


Basic taxonomy / thesaurus features
 Hierarchy structure
 BroaderTerms = more general concepts
 Narrower Terms = more specific concepts
 Related Terms = conceptual cousins
 Term equivalents
 Facets
 Scope notes
 Other elements as needed


Perspectives on taxonomies
 Taxonomist
(aka Lexicographer, Thesaurus builder)
 Indexer
 Information architect
 Searcher

Each has a different view and need for words in
retrieving information.
Each need relates to using a taxonomy for
indexing / categorizing content.


Taxonomies for
information retrieval online
 Conceptual framework for web content –
reflects organization of knowledge in a
domain
 Foundation for information architecture
 Term records contain valuable info
 Often 3 levels deep – depends on domain
 May be displayed in full or part, modified,

11
or hidden Copyright © 2005 Access Innovations, Inc.

Taxonomy display
depends on purpose
 Descriptive taxonomy  Navigational taxonomy
 Includes term variants,  Reflects user’s mental model
synonyms, nonpreferred terms  Reflects user’s vernacular
 Query term expansion links  Supports discovery through
synonyms to valid taxonomy browsing
term  May be modified version of full
 Supports discovery through taxonomy
hierarchy, Related Terms
 Used primarily at indexing
stage of content mgmt
 Hidden taxonomy
 Usually alphabetic links to terms
workflow to categorize  May recognize term variants
documents


 Taxonomy
provides a way to describe the content --
the basis for subject metadata

 Metadata
provide a way for that description to be
captured for a website


What’s metadata?
 “When it comes to definitions, metadata is a
slippery fish.”
 Data about data
 Tags used to describe documents, pages, images,
software, video and audio files, and other content objects
for the purposes of improved navigation and retrieval
 Finding tool
 Keywords not displayed to the viewer but available to
search engines
 Viewable in HTML keyword meta tag field of
most web sites
Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld

Data about data - like what?
 Title
 Author name
 Date of creation
 Language used in the creation
 Publisher
 Subject of the creation
 Keywords... our focus re: taxonomies
 Other stuff, depending on need

Dublin Core is a well-known metadata standard,
but metadata schemas are commonly custom-designed

How does metadata work?

 Search engine / web crawler looks at the
HTML header on a web page
 View  Page source
 Subject Metadata is one part of the HTML
header

<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT= … >


<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT=
"content management software, xml thesaurus,
data management, database management system,
concept extraction, document management software,
information management system, information retrieval,
knowledge extraction, knowledge management software,
machine aided indexing, taxonomy management system,
text management, text retrieval,
thesaurus management software, xml">

A search including these words/phrases will retrieve this website.


Taxonomy terms as metadata

 Most precise topic identifiers –
100% relevant
 Searchable as metadata
 Gives more precise results than free text
search – if you know what you’re looking for
 Prevents hit on random occurrence of your
query word


What’s Information Architecture?
The art and science of structuring and
classifying web sites and intranets to help
people find and manage information

Content + Structure + Function =
the basis for
User Experience



What’s an Information Architect?
“I’m an Information Architect.
I organize huge amounts of information
on big web sites and intranets
so that people can actually find what they want.
Think of me as an Internet Librarian.”



What IA is not
 Graphic / visual design
 Software development
 Content management
 Knowledge management
 Coding (HTML, etc.)
 Usability engineering
 Library science


Information Architecture –
major components
 Taxonomies
 Metadata

 Organization
 Search
 Labeling
 Navigation


1–Taxonomies aid site organization

Taxonomy provides
 Framework for content organization
 Hierarchical outline of your content by subject
categories
 Basis for faceted browsing


Categories
show clearly
what’s covered
in this domain


Value of Category search

 Searchers find info 50% faster using
browsable categories than using list
returned from free text search
 Results even stronger when results not in top
20 returns
 Searchers prefer browsable category
search
Chen, H., and Dumais, S.


MediaSleuth – displaying
taxonomy categories improves IA
MediaSleuth is:
 Online source of educational media
 Videos,software, audio, etc.
 Over 96,000 products, nearly 64,000 titles
 Based on NICEM database (National
Information Center for Educational Media)

Content – Excellent
Findability – ?


MediaSleuth draws on XML-tagged elements under
the
hood


Machine Aided Indexer (M.A.I.)
suggests taxonomy descriptors

Taxonomy terms on documents
help sort and organize the content

 M.A.I. suggests the correct terms from the
taxonomy as descriptors
 M.A.I. rulebase recognizes term equivalents
 germs  Microorganisms
 vaccin*  Pharmaceutical drugs

Recognizing term equivalents
enables enhanced search

Taxonomy descriptors
become subject metadata
 Selected descriptors are XML-tagged and
stored with document
 Descriptors available as webpage metadata
 Metatags enable precise document retrieval
 Term equivalence enables query expansion
in search (coming)


Search: body growth
Complete database
 Free text search
8 hits — some irrelevant
 Free text search on titles
6 hits — limited recall
 Search by taxonomy descriptor (AKA category)
 470 hits
 100% relevant
 100% recall

1,100 document sample
 Category search results
3 hits

Sidebar: Recall, Precision,
and Relevance Search for body growth
If you retrieve B, C, F, G
100% recall, 100% precision,
Documents 100% relevant
If you retrieve B, C
A, D, E, H, I, J
100% relevant
Documents If you retrieve B, C, H, J
tagged 50% recall, 50% precision,
“body growth” 50% relevant
B, C, F, G If you retrieve A, D, E, H
0% relevant

Display taxonomy categories
to improve MediaSleuth search

Results from
sample
of 1,100
documents
(not all categories
37 are populated)
Copyright © 2005 Access Innovations, Inc.

See full topic coverage by revealing Narrower Terms

Select taxonomy category to see associated titles


Facets offer finer organization
 Add details about any term
 Pre-established aspects that pertain to each item
 Cross-cut a taxonomic hierarchy
 Basis for fine-tuning search results
 Market group / audience
 Price
 Color
 Sizerange
 Source / company
 Other attributes, varying by domain and need

Facets describe all / most
items by Department, Price,
42 Copyright © 2005 other Attributes
Color, Access Innovations, Inc.

“Taxonomies and faceted models
provide users with tools
to see the forest and
quickly focus on a specific tree.”
Sullivan, D.


Alternative ways to display
content organization
 Alphabetically
 Chronologically
 Geographically
 Permuted list of taxonomy terms
 Content management system
 management system, Content
 system, Content management


2–Taxonomies aid search

Taxonomy provides
 Authority terms of a controlled vocabulary
 Synonyms and other alternative expressions
 Typos (lathes, laiths, laths, layth…)
 Obsolete names (Cooper’s plane / Lamb’s
tongue)

 Query expansion


Search: kangaroo

Leverage
taxonomy term
information
to aid search


SLA search

Interpret search word
“competencies”
as taxonomy term
Professional
competencies

Returns all documents in
Professional competencies
category


Search: thesaurus

Interpret “thesaurus”
as term Thesauri,
return all documents
in that category.

Search “taxonomy”
in XML descriptor field
returns all documents
in that category  27
Search in original
metadata  1
Solution:
Include descriptors
52 Copyright © 2005with metadata!
Access Innovations, Inc.

3–Taxonomies aid labeling

Taxonomy provides
 Basis for labels on site/portal
 Concepts that can be re-worded for audience


SLA website and thesaurus

Navigational Descriptive
Taxonomy Taxonomy
for end user for
Indexers


Adapt taxonomy terms for labeling
 What words do users use? Gather variants from
 Search logs
 User focus groups
 Subject matter experts

 Tailor site/portal labels to typical users
 Include variants as Nonpreferred terms
(USE/Used for equivalents) in taxonomy
 M.A.I. can also capture variants as rules without
formalizing them as Nonpreferred terms


4–Taxonomies aid navigation

Taxonomy provides
 Major categories
 Expansion to Narrower Terms
 Additional term information


Taxonomy Expanded
Top categories
Categories & additional
information


Drop-down menus
reflect Narrower Terms
and Related Terms


Integrate taxonomy
to enhance findability
 Browsable categories of a directory
 Browsable faceted navigation
 Smart search for term equivalents
 Taxonomy terms (original or modified) as
labels
 Navigation aids incorporate taxonomy
terms and relationships


Use software tools to support IA
 Thesaurus creation / management tools
 ANSI/NISO standards compliant
 Support features you need
 Customizable fields
 Import ability

 Categorization tools
 Human / automatic / hybrid categorizer
 Content management systems


TAXONOMY ABC Company ---
---
 Foundation of information ---
---
--- Your
architecture ---
---
--- Portal
---
---
 Source of subject ion
t
metadata n iza ls
e
ga be id

n
r a
o l la c h

io
 Path to portal nt

at
te rta ar

ig
n o

av
usability Co P Se

N
Natural science
Biology
Botany

TAXONOMY Medicine
Physical science
Astrononmy
Chemistry
Physics

Your
Content

Recap
 Taxonomies and metadata are cornerstones of
information architecture
 Taxonomies are the basis for content organization
 Taxonomies provide a browsable outline of your
content
 Subject metadata using taxonomy terms yield 100%
relevant retrieval
 Taxonomies are the basis for search, labeling, and
navigation in information architecture
 Tools that recognize synonyms (query expansion)
improve taxonomy implementation

References
 Aitchison, J., Gilchrist, A., and Bawden, D. Thesaurus
Construction and Use: A Practical Manual (4th edition).
Aslib, 2000
 Chen, H., Dumais, S., Bringing order to the web:
automatically categorizing search results. Proceedings of
the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (CHI'00), ACM (2000) 145-152.
 Rosenfeld, L., and Morville, P. Information Architecture
for the World Wide Web. O'Reilly, 1998.
 Sullivan, D., Proven Portals: Best Practices for Planning,
Designing, and Developing Enterprise Portals. Addison
Wesley, 2003


Thank you!

Questions?

Alice Redmond-Neal
Access Innovations, Inc.
Data Harmony software
Thesaurus Master and Machine Aided Indexer
ared@accessinn.com
(505) 998-0800


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