Taxonomies, Thesauri, and Thesauri

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Taxonomies
Indexing
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Hedden Information Management

Taxonomies, Thesauri,
and Controlled Vocabularies

What are Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies?

Alphabetical indexing is one way to organize entry terms that are access points to retrieve information. The other main method to organize entry terms is in hierarchical categories, or taxonomies. The choice of organizing terms and the information they refer to--alphabetical or by subject categories--depends on the subject matter. For example, books in a library are organized alphabetically by author’s last name if they are fiction, but are organized by subject classification if they are nonfiction. Most nonfiction books and manuals benefit from an alphabetical index, but catalogs of products are better served with a classification of product types. Similarly, directory-type web sites benefit from hierarchical classifications.

Controlled vocabularies (also referred to as authority control) bridge the divide between alphabetical indexes and subject categorization schemes. An extension of indexing, particularly database indexing, is the development of a controlled vocabulary, or a restricted set of indexing terms, to provide consistent indexing across multiple articles or documents and among multiple indexers. If the controlled vocabulary has a structure and relationships between the terms--broader terms, narrower terms, and related terms--then it is called a thesaurus. If the entire thesaurus can be put into a single subject-hierarchy, then it can be considered a classification scheme or taxonomy.

Past Taxonomy Projects

Earley and Associates

Took interview notes and conducted content repository analysis, and created a "strawman" taxonomy for the web site of a biomedical research laboratory.
Created a "Strawman" taxonomy of travel-related terms for the life goals section of a corporate intranet.
Conducted term extraction and content analysis of a web site of a major manufacturer of mobile communications products.
Conducted term extraction and content analysis of web sites of insurance companies.
Conducted term extraction and content analysis of an intranet of a large manufacturing company.

PlaceLinks

Edited thesaurus of products and services for web-based yellow pages.

Factiva, (Dow Jones)

Mapped thousands of logged search phrases to the controlled vocabulary of a Web commerical products and services directory (yellow pages).

Tiny Engine Inc.

Developed of news classification taxonomy and created a total of 1142 terms in a four-level taxonomy.

Gale: Kids InfoBits

Developed the three-level hierarchy of over 2500 topics and names. (See taxonomy excerpt linked through second level in all categories and third level in Animals only)

Open Directory Project (dmoz): Locality category of Carlisle Massachusetts

Expanded from a listing of only 13 web sites and one subcategory to over 90 web sites and eight subcategories

German Saturday School - Boston's library

Audiocassette collection cataloging

Training in Taxonomy Creation

Heather Hedden teaches an online workshop "Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies" through Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science Continuing Education Program. Course information.

Heather Hedden also offers a full-day workshop on creating taxonomies and controlled vocabularies. It is offered as an onsite workshop through Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science Continuing Education Program and through professional associations, such as chapters of the American Society for Indexing, in other states and regions. Workshop description

Hedden Information Management

Taxonomies, Thesauri, and Controlled Vocabularies

What are Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies?

Past Taxonomy Projects

Training in Taxonomy Creation

Further reading on Taxonomies and Thesauri

Taxonomies, Thesauri,
and Controlled Vocabularies