What’s in a label? Leveraging Categories and Tags for Orientation and Retrieval

UNC School of GovernmentWebsite Workshop Series,

March 2014Stefanie Panke

Metadata

• Keywords, Tags: Usually assigned to describe a single resource, dynamic, as many as needed

• Categories: Usually assigned to describe more than one resource, stable, limited vocabulary

Result: Index

Result: Taxonomy

Taxonomy

• Tree structure• Strict taxonomy:

Every item has oneexact place

• Related concept:Ontology – multiple, interconnectedtrees

Direct Display of Information

Categories: Information Containers

Useful for organizing large amounts of data

Website: 19 categories

Bookstore: 21 categories

Status Quo: Multiple, Different, Overlapping Category Systems

In Search of the Rosetta Stone

The Goal: Harmonize different sets of categories to create functional vocabulary• speak to faculty, staff

and clients / web users• allow for effective information

display in more than one place

Categorize Resource Sites

Categorize Resource Sites: Round 1

• Form 9 Teams (1-2)• Each team categorizes 5 resource sites• Each team assigns 10 categories (2 per

resource)• Time: 5 Minutes!

Categorize Resource Sites: Round 2

• Switch resource sites between team• Assign 10 categories (2 per resource), only if

needed• Time: 5 Minutes!

Review Categories

• Review Mindmaps / Index Cards• Put a sticker on every category you want to

see as part of a School of Government Taxonomy

• Use small colorful stickers for subcategories• Use large blue stickers for main categories• Time: 20 Minutes

Index Cards

Sticker = Term Part of School of Government Taxonomy

Don’t worry about duplicates!

Taxonomy on the fly

Shout out categories, we will document on the fly