Structuring The Unstructured in the Enterprise

IMPLEMENTING PROVEN TECHNIQUES FOR SEARCH AND RETRIEVAL Taxonomies: bringing structure to unstructured information © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

AGENDA Introductions Setting the Scene Taxonomies: Identify - identifying information for structuring Taxonomies: Create - two examples: Local & Global Taxonomies: Apply - search, browse & classifying © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

INTRODUCTIONS David Fitch, Head of KM Systems & Projects Kate Simpson, Information Architect © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

INTRODUCTIONS Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer  leading international law firm  over 2,400 lawyers in 28 offices around the world  comprehensive legal service to national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments Knowledge Management  widely regarded as among the leaders in KM  dating from the early 1980s  KM Review Group 2003: formulating the firm’s next generation KM strategy © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

THE INFORMATION PROBLEM : 2003 Valuable know-how on shelves and desks around the firm: precedents, standard forms, current awareness, guidance notes, opinions and client guides 2003: KM Review Group “Project Athena”: Online Know-How System © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED IDENTIFY WHAT of your unstructured information could or should be structured to make it both more findable and re-usable? Content Inventory – take stock Purpose, structure and use Strategy Two Approaches: One Pot for All Content… Multiple Pots of Content… Ideal Approach Pragmatic Approach © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED IDENTIFY HOW should that information be structured: metadata & common vocabularies/“taxonomies”? Lesson Learnt # 1: Make the metadata schema, including the taxonomies, flexible and scalable. Recognise that as new information types or applications are included additions, changes and deletions will need to be considered © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED CREATE Create and agree the taxonomies within the schema Two Examples: Athena’s Legal Classification : One that is currently local to a particular system where we can offer some lessons we’ve learnt Firmwide Taxonomies : Work that is going on to create a central registry of terms for sharing firmwide in our systems and content where we can offer some tips but not yet the lessons © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED CREATE : LOCAL Create and agree the taxonomies within the schema Lesson Learnt # 2: Set expectations, ensure buy-in, accept differences & maintain good governance Local Example: Athena’s Legal Classification  describing know-how by its legal concepts and legal processes  separate project to co-ordinate agreement across practice groups & offices  firmwide vs. local jurisdiction-specific terms © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED CREATE : LOCAL Create and agree the taxonomies within the schema Lesson Learnt # 3: Baby steps are required for familiarity and adoption Local Example: Athena’s Legal Classification  using familiar terms that already exist and applying them online (even if some of those terms are not exactly user-friendly in an online space) is a small price to pay if it helps get that buy-in and adoption © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED CREATE : LOCAL Create and agree the taxonomies within the schema Lesson Learnt # 4: You won’t necessarily get the taxonomy right until people start using it online – the need for “use in context” should not be underestimated Local Example: Athena’s Legal Classification  make sure there’s a test environment or stage of the process where users can see and use the taxonomy with the content – it will deliver understanding (and a flurry of change requests!) faster than any “please read & comment” e-mails or meetings © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED CREATE : LOCAL Create and agree the taxonomies within the schema Lesson Learnt # 5: If you create a taxonomy or metadata scheme with a single system, user interface or type of information in mind it will be more difficult to integrate and apply it “as is” to other applications and information types later on © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED CREATE : GLOBAL Create and agree a central and integrated registry of terms Tip # 1: To enable your multiple pots to appear to users as a single pot you will need a central and integrated resource of terms where parts of it can feed different systems, different drop-downs and navigation bars, and be applied to content for search © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED Without this single integrated central resource, which captures a common vocabulary that people, systems and content can all use across the firm, the risks for inconsistency and duplication are increased               © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006 © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006 14/28

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED CREATE : GLOBAL Create and agree a central and integrated registry of terms Tip # 2: This central resource extends the taxonomy concept to the nth degree: taking the attributes and relationships (some automatic and some manual) that any term has to create a model or “bubble” of terms in the centre of the organisation © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED CREATE : GLOBAL Create and agree a central and integrated registry of terms Tip # 3: By creating the context (using attributes and relationships) around the terms we use, our information, systems and people can become smarter © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED APPLY Applying the taxonomies (or “bubble of terms”) in both search and browse better enables users to find the right information at the right time and in the manner they need it Tip # 4: Understanding how people look for information and applying this knowledge to the systems and user interfaces we design and create will improve the user experience of searching and retrieving information… © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

INFORMATION SEEKING METHODS 1. Users tend to use keyword searching to retrieve the: • Things you know you know, and • Things you know you don’t know 2. Users tend to browse an information space to retrieve the: • Things you don’t know you know (ie. that which you’ve forgotten), and • Things you don’t know you don’t know 3. A final information seeking behaviour is to ask another user/expert: • As a last resort after trying a search or after browsing, or • When the user is pushed for time © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR It's rarely as simple as: MAGIC! User receives answer User asks a question It's more likely to be: Reformulate Query Query Search System Information Formulate Scan Navigate Need Query Results Success Browse System Examine Documents Ask A Person Failure © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED APPLY : SEARCH Leveraging taxonomies (or the “bubble of terms”) in the search engine Tip # 5: In searching, taxonomies help users widen or narrow their search and encourage serendipitous learning © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED APPLY : BROWSE Applying taxonomies (or the “bubble of terms”) in a user interface Tip # 6: In browsing a user interface, taxonomies help lead users to the right information, for example through “facets” by providing multiple paths to the same content; allowing users to “slice-and-dice” the content in as many ways as they need… © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006 © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006 21/28

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED APPLY : BROWSE A very simplified example: Smith, A Legal Classification Baker, B Tax Jones, C Author Arbitration Company Law Agreement Article Guidance Note Document Type © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED APPLY : CLASSIFYING Develop a taxonomy further and the system can suggest terms for indexing or fully auto-categorising your content Tip # 7: By creating a full thesaurus with non-preferred and related terms, the system can take content without any of your common vocabulary terms featured and classify it with the correct term(s) © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

STRUCTURING THE UNSTRUCTURED SUMMARY By applying metadata and taxonomies to some of your unstructured information (ie. by structuring your unstructured information) and leveraging them at both the system level and on the user interface, you can improve the search and retrieval experience for your users © Kate Simpson 12 September 2006

Structuring The Unstructured in the Enterprise

by Kate Simpson on May 01, 2009

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