Note: This post was orginally published on my personal blog: "chitchatting about information delivery"

I looked at the calendar yesterday and the realization that November is upon us hit me pretty hard. With November comes a lot of pumpkin (here is my new pumpkin addiction recipe for this year) and a few speaking spots before i go out on maternity leave (yeah yeah i can't believe it's already time either!).

Just like last year and the year before i will be attending and presenting at Enterprise Search Summit and Taxonomy Bootcamp which i am really looking forward to. At Enterprise Search Summit West i have been asked to participate on a panel titled "Is Semantic Technology Real?" moderated by Rob Gonzalez from Endeca.

At Taxonomy Bootcamp, i have been asked to be part of a panel that Wendi Pohs is running titled "From the Lighthouse: Visioneering Taxonomies’ Future which promises to be an engaging panel on the future of taxonomies. I have been in forward looking mode for the last few months so i have been thinking about this subject quite a bit.

It is not too late to register and you can use these codes for some discounts- Enterprise Search Registration with SPK5 code and Taxonomy Bootcamp registration with SPK5 code.

My sessions last year featured a Synaptica Case Study at Taxonomy Bootcamp titled "Proquest: Finding a Common Language: Bringing Complex and Disparate Vocabularies" (video available here) and at Enterprise Search Summit a presentation on Centralized Taxonomy Management for Enterprise Information Systems (video available here)

Looking forward to seeing everyone there including the Dow Jones Taxonomy Team (Dow Jones is a KMWorld sponsor- note: my speaking spots are not sponsored spots but by invintation of the moderators) and the Synaptica team who are exhibiting and sponsoring Taxonomy Bootcamp!

Image|Flickr| minipixel

I spent Wednesday 1st July at the Henry Stewart DAM Conference in London.

In my slot I talked about, "Tagging Images for Findability - Making Your DAM System Work for You."  I used my 30 minutes to raise the issue of organising images using metadata and controlled vocabulary to connect the images to the people who want to use them.  I spent a little time looking at the ways to use text to categorise images and the advantages and disadvantages that brings.  I devoted a lot of the presentation to raising issues to watch out for when tagging images, in particular specificity and focus in image depictions, abstract concepts and image 'aboutness' and the deceptive simplicity of visually simple images.

A far braver presentation than mine was given by Madi Solomon. Madi ditched the PowerPoint presentation to facilitate a refreshing debate on metadata.  Questions from the floor came thick and fast.  Madi did a great job of presenting 'on the edge' and drew out the experiences of many of the attendees and the challenges they were facing.

Also of note at the conference was a very informative presentation from Theresa Regli on 'Evaluating and Selecting Technologies' and a stimulating piece from Mark Davey on the old chestnut of ROI and Digital Asset Management Systems.  Mark took a pretty dry subject and a slot directly after a good lunch and succeeded brilliantly in making it entertaining, informative and practical. Take a look at his excellent presentation Digital Asset Management ROI - the basics. I think this is a key resource for anyone interested in return on investment in the DAM space and it's fun to watch too.

I had a great day at DAM London and I hope my fellow delegates found the presentations as helpful and enlightening as I did.

Ian

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

Our global taxonomy consultants are always willing and ready to participate in conferences, local meetings and any other get togethers that they can get to and they often are asked to participate and lead discussions/presentations around different topics. (of course when they are not working on client engagements!!)
At this year's ALA Midwinter 2009 (American Library Association) meeting as part of the Networked Resources and Metadata Interest Group (NRMIG) there will be a discussion on taxonomy development on Sunday, January 25, from 8-10 a.m.The discussion will be led by our very own Laura Dorricott.
Laura is a Project Delivery Manager in our Dow Jones Taxonomy Services group and has many years of experience doing taxonomy and indexing projects including Taxonomy/thesaurus assessment, development and design.

Over on the Metadata Blog , the official blog of the Networked Resources and Metadata Interest Group (NRMIG), they are requesting input in advance on topics that should be covered- so if you are attending or have some 'remote' thoughts for Laura feel free to add your comments either here or there!

A request was already added by Diane Hillmann that she would " like to hear Laura discuss the differences she sees in the way libraries view vocabularies and vocabulary development and the way commercial entities view these issues. Is there something we can learn from those differences? I'd also like to hear a bit about how the commercial sector evaluates return on investment for this kind of development.".

Sounds like a great discussion and i can't wait for Laura's report from the field!

Giving the first talk of the day at any event is never easy, but there was a good turnout at the Business Information Forum at Online Information 2008 this morning for my session on "Proving your Value as a Research Team in the Current Financial Situation". This is a subject close to my heart, and not just because of the services Dow Jones provides to many customers around the world, but because of the type of organisation we also are.

Within our own company, my group includes the Market Intelligence team, so we are ourselves a research group which has to prove its value every day. After a few generalities about the information landscape (clouded, turbulent and currently prone to violent eruptions), my talk today was mainly devoted to a case study of the "Research the Researcher" project which Dow Jones carried out to understand the challenges facing professional researchers.

In addition to pointing the way to areas where these researchers feel that they could add more value --focusing more on producing analysis and recommendations rather than gathering and organising facts -- it also showed us where their pain points are and how we can help. (Of course it was also an excellent example of how a research team -- mine -- can add value to organisation -- Dow Jones!) And it goes without saying that expertise in areas such as taxonomy and the organisation and management of an organisation's information assets is critical in adding value.

Overall impressions of the Online conference: fewer exhibitors perhaps, with smaller booths, and maybe not quite as much traffic. But that's only to be expected in the current environment. Nonetheless, there's still plenty of activity and plenty of buzz around the place.

If you are interested in the Dow Jones research study results on 'The Evolving Role of the Business Researcher', a recorded Webcast with Product Manager, Ken Sickles and Market Research Manager, Ellen Maccabe from October 2007 is available on demand.

Photo|Flickr|lija