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Strategies LLCTaxonomy
Nov. 20, 2009 Copyright 2009 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.
Metadata: Defining & Harnessing
Ron Daniel, Jr.
Principal, Taxonomy Strategies LLC
2Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Metadata and Taxonomy
Metadata
Title
Author
Department
Audience
Topic
Topics
Employee Services
Compensation
Retirement
Insurance
Further Education
Finance and Budget
Products and Services
Support Services
Infrastructure
Supplies
Each list is a “controlled vocabulary”. The Taxonomy is the
set of all the controlled vocabularies.
Audience
InternalExecutives
Managers
External
Suppliers
Customers
Partners
Metadata is data about data – in our case it is a set of fields of library catalog-like data about published content..
3Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Metadata and Faceted Taxonomies
Main Ingredients
Cooking Methods
Meal Type Cuisines
• Chocolate• Dairy• Fruits• Grains• Meat &
Seafood• Nuts• Olives• Pasta• Spices &
Seasonings• Vegetables
• Breakfast• Brunch• Lunch• Supper• Dinner• Snack
• African• American• Asian• Caribbean• Continental• Eclectic/
Fusion/ International
• Jewish• Latin American• Mediterranean• Middle Eastern• Vegetarian
• Advanced• Bake• Broil• Fry• Grill• Marinade• Microwave• No Cooking• Poach• Quick• Roast• Sauté• Slow
Cooking• Steam• Stir-fry
42 values to maintain (10+6+11+15)
9900 combinations (10x6x11x15)
4Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
What makes a bad taxonomy?
The animals are divided into:(a) belonging to the emperor,(b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification,(i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from along way off look like flies.
Jorge Luis Borges, " THE ANALYTICAL LANGUAGE OF JOHN WILKINS"Works in 3 volumes (in Russian). St. Petersburg, "Polaris", 1994. V. 2: 87.
The animals are divided into:(a) belonging to the emperor,(b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification,(i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from along way off look like flies.
Jorge Luis Borges, " THE ANALYTICAL LANGUAGE OF JOHN WILKINS"Works in 3 volumes (in Russian). St. Petersburg, "Polaris", 1994. V. 2: 87.
5Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Facets simplify hierarchies
Business Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
Education & Training
Regional Europe Ireland Business & Economy
Employment Health & Medical
Reference Education Colleges & Universities
North America United States Maryland Columbia Union College
Athletics
Reference Education K-12 Home Schooling Unschooling Chats and Forums
Science Math Academic Departments
South America Colombia
Society People Women Science & Technology
Mathematics
Science Social Sciences Linguistics Translation Associations
Business Small Business Finance Accounting
Business Accounting Firms Directories
Business Employment By Industry
Business Healthcare Employment Regional
Competency (discipline) 11
Geography 9
Audience 9
Topic 7
Organization 5
Doc Type 4
Industry 4
Process 4
6Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Metadata used in search
7Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Universal facets and partial facets
8Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Limits on facet displays
Most facets are hidden!
9Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Modern websites rely on metadata
10Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Who decides what metadata is needed?
11Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Where does metadata come from?
12Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
What does it cost to create metadata?
Taxonomy Facet Hier?TypicalCV Size
Time/ Value (min)
Avg # values /
Item $ / MinCost/
Element
Audience N 10 0.25 2 $ 0.42 $ 0.21
Content Type N 20 0.25 1 $ 0.42 $ 0.11
Organizational Unit Y 90 N//A 1 N/A $ 0.42
Products & Services Y 500 1.5 4 $ 0.42 $ 2.52
Geographic Region Y 100 0.5 2 $ 0.42 $ 0.42
Broad Topics Y 400 2 4 $ 0.42 $ 3.36
TOTALS 1080 5 15 $ 7.04
Inspired by: Ray Luoma, BAU Solutions
Consider complexity of facet and ambiguity of content to estimate
time per value.
Estimated cost of tagging one item. This can be reduced with automation, but cannot be
eliminated.
Is this field worth the
cost?
Machine-filled fields have costs too.
13Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Can we get machines to make metadata for us?
14Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
How much metadata do I need?
15Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Can we get machines to make taxonomies for us?
16Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Can we get users to make taxonomies for us?
17Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Where else might we find taxonomies?
18Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
Um, is someone managing all this?
19Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information
How do I start?
Strategies LLCTaxonomy
Nov. 20, 2009 Copyright 2009 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.
Contact Info
Ron Daniel, 925-368-8371 [email protected]
