Taxonomy DevelopmentAn Infrastructure Model

Tom Reamy Chief Knowledge ArchitectKAPS GroupKnowledge Architecture Professional Serviceshttp://www.kapsgroup.com

AgendaIntroductionType of TaxonomiesThe Enterprise ContextMaking the Business CaseInfrastructure Model of Taxonomy DevelopmentTaxonomy in 4 ContextsContent, People, Processes, TechnologyInfrastructure Solutions the ElementsApplying the Model Practical DimensionStarting and ResourcesConclusion

KAPS GroupKnowledge Architecture Professional Services (KAPS)Consulting, strategy recommendationsKnowledge architecture auditsPartners Convera, Inxight, FAST, and othersTaxonomies: Enterprise, Marketing, Insurance, etc.Taxonomy customizationIntellectual infrastructure for organizationsKnowledge organization, technology, people and processesSearch, content management, portals, collaboration, knowledge management, e-learning, etc.

Two Types of Taxonomies: Browse and Formal

Browse Taxonomy Yahoo

Two Types of Taxonomies: Formal

Browse Taxonomies: Strengths and WeaknessesStrengths: Browse is better than searchContext and discoveryBrowse by task, type, etc.Weaknesses:Mix of organization Catalogs, alphabetical listings, inventoriesSubject matter, functional, publisher, document typeVocabulary and nomenclature IssuesProblems with maintenance, new materialPoor granularity and little relationship between parts.Web site unit of organizationNo foundation for standards

Formal Taxonomies: Strengths and WeaknessesStrengths:Fixed Resource little or no maintenanceCommunication Platform share ideas, standardsInfrastructure ResourceControlled vocabulary and keywordsMore depth, finer granularityWeaknesses:Difficult to develop and customizeDont reflect users perspectivesUsers have to adapt to language

Facets and Dynamic ClassificationFacets are not categoriesEntities or concepts belong to a categoryEntities have facetsFacets are metadata - properties or attributesEntities or concepts fit into one categoryAll entities have all facets defined by set of valuesFacets are orthogonal mutually exclusive dimensionsAn event is not a person is not a document is not a place.Facets variety of units, of structureDate or price numerical rangeLocation big to small (partonomy)Winery alphabeticalHierarchical - taxonomic

Faceted Navigation: Strengths and WeaknessesStrengths:More intuitive easy to guess what is behind each door20 questions we know and useDynamic selection of categoriesAllow multiple perspectivesTrick Users into using Advanced Searchwine where color = red, price = x-y, etc..Weaknesses:Difficulty of expressing complex relationships Simplicity of internal organizationLoss of Browse ContextDifficult to grasp scope and relationshipsLimited Domain Applicability type and sizeEntities not concepts, documents, web sites

Dynamic Classification / Faceted navigationSearch and browse better than either aloneCategorized search contextBrowse as an advanced searchDynamic search and browse is bestCant predict all the ways people thinkAdvanced cognitive differencesPanda, Monkey, BananaCant predict all the questions and activitiesIntersections of what users are looking for and what documents are often aboutChina and BiotechEconomics and Regulatory

Business Case for Taxonomies:The Right ContextTraditional MetricsTime Savings 22 minutes per user per day = $1Mil a YearApply to your organization customer service, content creation, knowledge industryCost of not-finding = re-creating contentResearchAdvantages of Browsing Marti Hearst, Chen and DumaisNielsen Poor classification costs a 10,000 user organization $10M each year about $1,000 per employee. StoriesPain points, success and failure in your corporate language

Business Case for Taxonomies:IDC White PaperInformation TasksEmail 14.5 hours a weekCreate documents 13.3 hours a weekSearch 9.5 hours a weekGather information for documents 8.3 hours a weekFind and organize documents 6.8 hours a weekGartner: Business spend an estimated $750 Billion annually seeking information necessary to do their job. 30-40% of a knowledge workers time is spent managing documents.

Business Case for Taxonomies:IDC White PaperTime Wasted Reformat information - $5.7 million per 1,000 per year (400M)Not finding information - $5.3 million per 1,000 (370M)Recreating content - $4.5 Million per 1,000 (315M)Small Percent Gain = large savings1% - $10 million5% - $50 million10% - $100 million

Business Case for Taxonomies:The Right ContextJustification Search Engine - $500K-$2MilContent Management - $500K-$2MilPortal - $500-$2MilPlus maintenance and employee costsTaxonomySmall comparative costNeeded to get full value from all the aboveROI asking the wrong questionWhat is ROI for having an HR department?What is ROI for organizing your company?

Infrastructure Model of Taxonomy DevelopmentTaxonomy in Basic 4 ContextsIdeas Content StructureLanguage and Mind of your organizationApplications - exchange meaning, not dataPeople Company StructureCommunities, Users, Central TeamActivities Business processes and proceduresCentral team - establish standards, facilitateTechnology / ThingsCMS, Search, portals, taxonomy toolsApplications BI, CI, Text Mining

Taxonomy in ContextStructuring Content All kinds of content and Content StructuresStructured and unstructured, Internet and desktopMetadata standards Dublin core+Keywords - poor performance Need controlled vocabulary, taxonomies, semantic network Other Metadata Document TypeForm, policy, how-to, etc.AudienceRole, function, expertise, information behaviorsBest bets metadataFacets entities and ideasWine.com

Taxonomy in Context:Structuring People Individual PeopleTacit knowledge, information behaviorsAdvanced personalization category prioritySales forms ---- New Account FormAccountant ---- New Accounts ---- FormsCommunitiesVariety of types map of formal and informalVariety of subject matter vaccines, research, scubaVariety of communication channels and information behaviorsCommunity-specific vocabularies, need for inter-community communication (Cortical organization model)

Taxonomy in Context:Structuring Processes and TechnologyTechnology: infrastructure and applicationsEnterprise platforms: from creation to retrieval to applicationTaxonomy as the computer networkApplications integrated meaning, not just dataCreation content management, innovation, communities of practice (CoPs)When, who, how, and how much structure to addWorkflow with meaning, distributed subject matter experts (SMEs) and centralized teamsRetrieval standalone and embedded in applications and business processesPortals, collaboration, text mining, business intelligence, CRM

Taxonomy in Context: The Integrating InfrastructureStarting point: knowledge architecture audit, K-MapSocial network analysis, information behaviorsPeople knowledge architecture teamInfrastructure activities taxonomies, analytics, best betsFacilitation knowledge transfer, partner with SMEsTaxonomies of content, people, and activitiesDynamic Dimension complexity not chaosAnalytics based on concepts, information behaviorsTaxonomy as part of a foundation, not a projectIn an Infrastructure Context

Taxonomy in Context: The Integrating InfrastructureIntegrated Enterprise requires both an infrastructure team and distributed expertise.Software and SMEs is not the answer - keywordsTaxonomies not stand aloneMetadata, controlled vocabularies, synonyms, etc.Variety of taxonomies, plus categorization, classification, etc.Important to know the differences, when to use whichMultiple ApplicationsSearch, browse, content management, portals, BI & CI, etc.Infrastructure as Operating SystemWord vs. Word PerfectInstead of sharing clipboard, share information and knowledge.

Infrastructure Solutions: The start and foundationKnowledge Architecture AuditKnowledge Map - Understand what you have, what you are, what you wantThe foundation of the foundationContextual interviews, content analysis, surveys, focus groups, ethnographic studiesCategory modeling Intertwingledness -learning new categories influenced by other, related categoriesNatural level categories mapped to communities, activitiesNovice prefer higher levelsBalance of informative and distinctivenessLiving, breathing, evolving foundation is the goal

Infrastructure Solutions: ResourcesPeople and Processes: Roles and FunctionsKnowledge Architect and learning object designersKnowledge engineers and cognitive anthropologistsKnowledge facilitators and trainers and librariansPart TimeLibrarians and information architectsCorporate communication editors and writersPartnersIT, web developers, applications programmersBusiness analysts and project managers

Infrastructure Solutions: Resources People and Processes: Central TeamCentral Team supported by software and offering servicesCreating, acquiring, evaluating taxonomies, metadata standards, vocabulariesInput into technology decisions and design content management, portals, searchSocializing the benefits of metadata, creating a content cultureEvaluating metadata quality, facilitating author metadataAnalyzing the results of using metadata, how communities are usingResearch metadata theory, user centric metadata Design content value structure more nuanced than good / poor content.

Infrastructure Solutions: ResourcesPeople and Processes: Facilitating Knowledge TransferNeed for FacilitatorsAmazon hiring humans to refine recommendationsGoogle humans answering queriesFacilitate projects, KM project teamsFacilitate knowledge capture in meetings, best practicesAnswering online questions, facilitating online discussions, networking within a communityDesign and run KM forums, education and innovation fairsWork with content experts to develop training, incorporate intelligence into applicationsSupport innovation, knowledge creation in communities

Infrastructure Solutions: ResourcesPeople and Processes: Location of TeamKM/KA Dept. Cross Organizational, InterdisciplinaryBalance of dedicated and virtual, partnersLibrary, Training, IT, HR, Corporate CommunicationBalance of central and distributedIndustry variationPharmaceutical dedicated department, major place in the organizationInsurance Small central group with partnersBeans a librarian and part time functionsWhich design knowledge architecture audit

Infrastructure Solutions: ResourcesTechnologyTaxonomy Management Text and VisualizationEntity and Fact ExtractionText MiningSearch for professionalsDifferent needs, different interfacesIntegration Platform technologyEnterprise Content Management

Taxonomy Development: Tips and TechniquesStage One How to BeginStep One: Strategic Questions why, what value from the taxonomy, how are you going to use itVariety of taxonomies important to know the differences, when to use what.Step Two: Get a good taxonomist! (or learn)Library Science+ Cognitive Science + Cognitive AnthropologyStep Three: Software ShoppingAutomatic Software Fun Diversion for a rainy dayUneven hierarchy, strange node names, weird clustersTaxonomy Management, Entity Extraction, VisualizationStep Four: Get a good taxonomy!Glossary, Index, Pull from multiple sourcesGet a good document collection

Infrastructure Solutions: Taxonomy DevelopmentStage Two: Taxonomy ModelEnterprise TaxonomyNo single subject matter taxonomy Need an ontology of facets or domainsStandards and CustomizationBalance of corporate communication and departmental specificsAt what level are differences represented?Customize pre-defined taxonomy additional structure, add synonyms and acronyms and vocabularyEnterprise Facet Model:Actors, Events, Functions, Locations, Objects, Information ResourcesCombine and map to subject domains

Taxonomy Development: Tips and TechniquesStage Three: Development and/or CustomizationCombination of top down and bottom up (and Essences)Top: Design an ontology, facet selection Bottom: Vocabulary extraction documents, search logs, interview authors and usersDevelop essential examples (Prototypes)Most Intuitive Level genus (oak, maple, rabbit)Quintessential Chair all the essential characteristics, no moreWork toward the prototype and out and up and downRepeat until dizzy or doneMap the taxonomy to communities and activitiesCategory differencesVocabulary differences

Taxonomy Development: Tips and TechniquesStage Four: Evaluate and Refine Formal EvaluationQuality of corpus size, homogeneity, representativeBreadth of coverage main ideas, outlier ideas (see next)Structure balance of depth and widthKill the verbsEvaluate speciation steps understandable and systematicPerson Unwelcome person Unpleasant person - Selfish personAvoid binary levels, duplication of contrastsPrimary and secondary education, public and private

Taxonomy Development: Tips and TechniquesStage Four: Evaluate and RefinePractical EvaluationTest in real life applicationSelect representative users and documentsTest node labels with Subject Matter ExpertsBalance of making sense and jargonTest with representative key conceptsTest for un-representative strange little concepts that only mean something to a few people but the people and ideas are key and are normally impossible to find

SourcesBooksWomen, Fire, and Dangerous ThingsWhat Categories Reveal about the MindGeorge LakoffThe Geography of ThoughtRichard E. NisbettSoftwareConvera RetrievalwareInxight Smart Discovery entity and fact extractionCoursesConvera Taxonomy Certification

ConclusionTaxonomy development is not just a projectIt has no beginning and no endTaxonomy development is not an end in itselfIt enables the accomplishment of many endsTaxonomy development is not just about search or browseIt is about language, cognition, and applied intelligenceStrategic Vision (articulated by K Map) is important Even for your under the radar vocabulary projectPaying attention to theory is practicalSo is adapting your language to business speak

ConclusionTaxonomies are part of your intellectual infrastructureRoads, transportation systems not cars or types of cars Taxonomies are part of creating smart organizationsSelf aware, capable of learning and evolvingThink Big, Start Small, Scale FastIf we really are in a knowledge economyWe need to pay attention to Knowledge!

Questions? Tom Reamy tomr@kapsgroup.comKAPS GroupKnowledge Architecture Professional Serviceshttp://www.kapsgroup.com