Upcoming Speaking Events 2024
“Building Taxonomies to Leverage Content“ half-day (4 hour) workshop
Description: To make the most of content, the right content needs to be found by or delivered to the right people at the right time. Taxonomies are key to this process, connecting users to content by bringing to together the terms of the users with the terms in the content. Thus, taxonomies need to be custom built with input from the users and from the content, in a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches. This workshop discusses methods and best practices for building taxonomies, whether for marketing content, technical content, or internal enterprise content. Methods include workshops, interviews, content analysis, and text extraction. Best practices include following standards for hierarchical relationships, using suitable labels and synonyms for taxonomy concepts, and using the right taxonomy structures. The workshop includes interactive exercises of hierarchical relationship and alternative label creation. Detailed description and outline.
Date/Time: Sunday, October 27, 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Location: Portland Hilton Downtown, Portland, Oregon
Organizer/Event: LavaCon Content Strategy Conference
Format: in-person
Registration: Conference registration is required. Workshop is only $200 in addition.
Use the discount code PC24 for $250 off the full conference tuition. Register by September 30 for an additional $100 discount.
“The Complete Guide To Sourcing Terms“
Description: Whether building a new or revising an existing taxonomy, there are many possible sources for your taxonomy’s terms (concepts and labels). Suggestions from users are important, but there are multiple ways to get user input, some more effective than others. Content analysis is a great tool, but the extent to which it is manual or automated can vary. Learn how to utilize search logs, uncontrolled keywords, automatically extracted terms and leveraging AI and LLM methods. How to evaluate legacy controlled vocabularies, metadata terms, and glossaries will be addressed.
Date/Time: Tuesday, November 18, 10:45 – 11:15 am
Event: Taxonomy Boot Camp
Organizer: KMWorld
Location: JW Marriott Washington DC
Format: in-person
Registration: Register by October 18 for $200 discount
“Taxonomy Design Best Practice for Knowledge Graphs“
Description: Ontologies form the semantic framework for linking data within knowledge graphs, but users often start their queries with subjects, which they may describe inconsistently. This is where a taxonomy is useful: bringing together synonyms and other variant names and arranging concepts in user-friendly browsable hierarchies or facets. A taxonomy, whether considered part of an ontology or connected to an ontology, is thus an important part of a knowledge graph. This tutorial will cover the basics and best practices in taxonomy design, including standards, sources for topical concepts, wording of labels, alternative labels, hierarchical and associative relationships, and governance. How taxonomists connect to ontologies will also be discussed. Detailed description and outline.
Date/Time: Wednesday, December 11, 11:15 – 13:15 GMT (6:15 – 8:15 EST)
Event: Connected Data London
Organizer: Connected Data World
Location: Convene, 133 Houndsditch, London, UK
Format: in-person or online livestream
Registration: Register here £600 for the full day of 4 masterclasses; £300 remote full day of 4 masterclasses; or register for the full 3-day conference in person or online.
Book Sale and Signing Events
Heather Hedden signs copies of The Accidental Taxonomist, offered for sale at a conference discount at many of the conferences at which she speaks. Book discounts are also sometimes offered for online orders associated with conferences.
Upcoming conferences with a book sale table and signing are:
LavaCon, Portland, OR, October 27 – 30, 2024
KMWorld, Washington, DC, November 18 – 20, 2024
Heather Hedden will also have on hand a few copies for sale at other conferences at which she will be speaking.