20 degrees, light snow, 8:00 on a Sunday morning….and I’m about to do a presentation and hopefully lead a discussion on taxonomy development and digital projects for the Networked Resources and Metadata Interest Group at the ALA Midwinter conference . As I entered the area, there was only one other person and I thought that perhaps my worst fears had come true – that only the group chair and I would be present! Soon however, additional people began to arrive and by the time we wrapped up the presentation and discussion there were about 40 people present. My presentation covered definitions and examples of controlled vocabularies, from simple lists up to and including ontologies. Examples and pros and cons of each type were presented and discussed. The uses of controlled vocabularies in search and navigation were also presented and discussed. The presentation concluded with more in depth information on term structure, term relationships, notation and other general considerations when developing taxonomies and controlled vocabularies. The slide deck I used is embedded below and it is also available from the ALA conference wiki .

Following the presentation we had about a 30 minute discussion on aspects of the presentation as well as how we use and develop controlled vocabularies for clients in the Dow Jones Taxonomy Services group. There was a good discussion on the differences in the way libraries use vocabularies and do vocabulary development and the way commercial enterprises use controlled vocabularies and taxonomies. Thanks to all the attendees for your participation! please contact me with questions at laura.dorricott@dowjones.com

OK Quick Monday Quiz: How Many Minutes Does It Take to Create a Category (aka term, node, leaf, etc)???

I suspect that anyone who has worked on developing a taxonomy has heard this question or a variation of it. It seems like we get it daily! Once a client decides they need or want a taxonomy – they need or want it immediately so figuring out when becomes the next question.

After almost 30 years of being involved in the development of controlled vocabularies, thesauri and taxonomies I should be able to say it takes X minutes per term but I’m still forced to tell clients that it will depend on a number of things that are usually covered in the Assessment Phase of any engagement like:

• What is the topic of the taxonomy?
• What is its intended purpose?
• What systems will you use to develop and maintain it?

Once we’ve answered all these questions, the next one is frequently whether they could just use a taxonomy that is already developed. No matter what approach is ultimately chosen to create a taxonomy – it still takes time and the ultimate answer is that it depends on what the client needs, how many terms there will be, how technical those terms are and the taxonomy development tool that is being used.

Building a taxonomy for an area that you are familiar with can be done fairly quickly while building one on scientific, technical or medical areas might be much slower. Adding to the issue of the topic is the issue of the tool where the taxonomy is being built. The more efficient the tool the faster the development once terms have been decided upon and research for the terms completed.

Experience in developing taxonomies has given me some general metrics that can be used for pricing a taxonomy but the reality is that the best answer is that it all depends on what is needed.

So – how long does it take?? – it takes as long as necessary!!

Image|Flickr|h.
h.koppdelaney