Primer on taxonomy and metadata as seen from an enterprise content mgmt consulant's view

1. Taxonomy and Metadata 11/24/09 David Champeau - ECM Consultant

2. Taxonomy and Metadata Definitions Examples Uses Introduction

3. A taxonomy is A classification scheme Semantic A knowledge map Taxonomies provide the lenses by which we perceive and talk about the world we live in [Classification] is almost the methodical equivalent of electricity- we use it every day, yet often consider it to be rather mysterious. Taxonomy

4. A taxonomy is a form of classification scheme Designed to group related things together (related not similar) Oranges and apples are in the fruit section Can be informal and ad hoc organize music CDs by genre Can be highly formal and standardized Dewey Decimal System Taxonomy

5. Taxonomies are semantic Taxonomies in knowledge management are different from formal published classification schemes Formal schemes rely heavily on codes Knowledge management taxonomies provide a fixed vocabulary This vocabulary needs to be meaningful and transparent to ordinary users When content is labeled “Project Kickoff” everybody should know what kind of documents they can expect to find in that category Taxonomy

6. Taxonomies are semantic They express the relationship between terms In the folder structure PROJECT DOCUMENTSROJECT KICKOFF we immediately recognize that we will find other types of project documents adjacent to the PROJECT KICKOFF folder and we expect that they will be linked to the sequence of stages in the project PROJECT DOCUMENTSROJECT KICKOFF PROJECT DOCUMENTSROJECT REQUIREMENTS PROJECT DOCUMENTSROJECT ARCHITECTURE If you take all the labels in a taxonomy and put them in alphabetical order, you have a controlled vocabulary – a dictionary Taxonomy

7. A taxonomy is a knowledge map “coup d’oueil” – “cast of the eye” A good taxonomy should enable the user to immediately grasp the overall structure of the knowledge domain The user should be able to accurately anticipate what resources he or she might find where The taxonomy should be comprehensible, predictable and easy to navigate Taxonomy

8. A taxonomy also acts as a artificial memory device Concepts are located in taxonomy structures and locked in place by association with their neighbors through their classification relationships This affords considerable mnemonic power Taxonomy

9. Various representations of taxonomies Lists Trees Hierarchies Polyhierarchies Matrices Facets System maps Taxonomy

10. Taxonomy work Taxonomies are products of work Developing a taxonomy is a project Knowledge management taxonomies need to reflect the working worlds of the organizations they are created for Because those working worlds continue to change, so must our taxonomies Taxonomy work is therefore continuous Taxonomy

11. Taxonomy and Knowledge Management evolution Paper filing systems Shared drive folder structures Content management systems Initially taxonomies were quite simple, drop down lists of keywords Initially an aid to findability As technology developed, metadata played a wider role in the control and management of content Taxonomy

12. Definition “Data about data” – Oxford English Dictionary “A collection of structured information about a document or a piece of content” For a document or (work) item of information this means data about the item such as Author, Title, Issue Data and other information. Metadata is usually defined in terms of units called “elements”, “fields”, “attributes” or “properties” Some elements may have “sub-elements” Date may have “date created”, “date approved”, “date published” Metadata may be made mandatory or optional Metadata

13. Purposes of metadata To identify content Capture fields and distinguish each document from all others Manage content Version numbers, archive date, security and access permissions Retrieval of content Taxonomy topics, subject keywords, document type Connect content to other content Behavioural metadata captured in transaction (i.e. Amazon.com) Business processes Authored by whom? Reviewed by whom and when? Approved by whom and when? Support Records Management Retention periods, disposition cycles Metadata

14. Standards and Guidelines Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (ISO 15836) Records Management ISO 15489 and 23081 US DoD 5015.2-STD Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records Management Software Applications Metadata

15. Dublin Core Example

16. Enforcing metadata use Items with no metadata? Minimum metadata needed at birth Metadata additions later Keep entries consistent Controlled vocabularies Pick values from lists Select from given options A simple approach The system will hold metadata about items in two main categories Essential (mandatory), to identify and manage the item Optional, the provide more information about the item More on metadata

17. Clearly metadata has to come from somewhere – and be accurate and useful Making some entries mandatory can help Too many mandatory elements may be seen as a tedious chore Too few mandatory elements may result in little metadata being entered Too many optional metadata entries may also result in little metadata being entered Users need to appreciate the VALUE of filling in the entries, voluntarily Mandatory or Optional?

18. Metadata sources Document Template System User Multi-media sources Auto-classification and auto-indexing Keyword indexing OCR/ICR Classification software Metadata Sources

19. Metadata content, however important, is notoriously difficult to acquire from users Before implementing ECM, users just put documents into an electronic folder of their choosing Now you are asking them to make a series of decisions about choosing categories, identifying access restrictions an so on Metadata implemented

20. Try to assign metadata without user involvement E.g. templates, defaults Users must see value Does it make their job easier? Metadata implemented

21. David Champeau ECM Consultant champeaudavid@yahoo.com Hope that it was helpful