Technologists have increasingly tossed around complicated terminology for organizing information. This a translation for less technical business people. Organizing information in various structures help discoverability and understand-ability. Obscuring the techniques with unnecessarily complex terminology is counter to this goal . This uses familiar metaphors like the Dewey Decimal System to help take the mystery out of these terms. This presentation also breaks down the concepts regarding which ones are more, or less, flexible and abstract. This helps users understand the advantages of the various information classification approaches.

1. Models for Organizing and classifying Data and Information
Hospital
ASC
Medical Office
SNF
Urgent Care
Rehabilitation
Dialysis Center
Healthcare Provider
Individual
Otolaryngology
Radiology
Organization
Group
Hospital
Healthcare Provider
Individual
Trauma Surgery
Emergency Medicine
Organization
Hospital
Acute Care
Immobility
Exercise
Cognitive Impairment
Diet
Dementia
Vascular
Other Degenerative
List
Taxonomy
Thesaurus
Ontology
Related…
Type of…
Type of…
Syndromes
Diseases
Interventions
Type of…
Type of…
Type of…
Related…
Class of similar things…
Class of similar things…
Class of similar things…
Less Abstract
Less Flexible
More Abstract
More Flexible

2. Models for Organizing and classifying Data and Information
Less Organizing Power /Complexity /Abstraction More
List Taxonomy Thesaurus Ontology
Definition Finite list of
terms or
concepts
Classification of
terms or concepts
into related groups
based on common
factors
Classification of terms or concepts
into groups with hierarchical
(broader/narrower), associative (see
also) and equivalence (synonym)
relationships
Classification of things into
classes (groups of similar things)
with relationships between those
things and rules about how things
are classified and related.
Ambiguity reduction ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Synonym control ✓ ✓ ✓
Hierarchical relationships ✓ ✓ ✓
Associative relationships ✓ ✓
Classes ✓
Rules ✓
Examples Reference
Data, Drop
down lists
Tree Data Model,
Dewey Decimal
System
Entity-Relationship Data Model,
ICD-10 Thesaurus (Alphabetical
Index), Roget’s Thesaurus
Graph Data Model, Knowledge
Graph, Unified Modeling
Language, LOINC, SNOMED