Creating Taxonomies: Methods and Processes

2. Presentation Overview 1. Working Example: GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com 2. Methodology Overview 3. Business Context 4. User Context 5. Content Analysis 6. Facet Development 7. CV Creation © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 2 2

3. GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com [This doesn’t exist, but we’ll use it for exercise purposes throughout the workshop.] Purpose: a new website to help U.S. travelers plan trips to Europe © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 3 3

4. Methodology: Overview 1. Context: stakeholder interviews; comparative/competitive analysis 2. Context: user demographics 3. Context: user mental models © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 4 4

6. CV Development Methodology Identify patterns in content Determine how stakeholders want to organize and present their information © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis Determine how target audience(s) search for and use information Explore what other, similar organizations/ businesses do 6 6

7. CV Development Methodology In every decision, always consider the user first. Can real users actually use what we are constructing? CVs must reflect users’ terminology, mental model. © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 7 7

8. Methodology: Context Stakeholder Interviews 5–10 individuals: project sponsors, project owners, project leaders, project team members Goals Understand business perspective behind taxonomy development © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 8 8

9. Methodology: Context Stakeholder Interviews: Methods One-on-one interviews In-person or via phone No longer than one hour Use open-ended questions Prepare interview script/validate with client, project team © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 9 9

10. Methodology: Context Stakeholder Interviews: Content What is the larger project that taxonomy development is part of? What are the “pain points” that are driving taxonomy development at this time? © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 10 10

13. GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com Stakeholder Interviews Content: will not include cruises or river barge trips; will focus on non-hotel accommodations Educational activities, e.g., museums not Disneyland Paris © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 13 13

14. Methodology: Context User Demographics Audience segments/roles (important for later user interviews) Age Experts/lay individuals (affects terminology) Computer experience © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 14 14

18. User Research: Interviews Potential Interviewees Representative sample of all users, including demographics 5–8 users from each audience segment Users (potential users) of website Current or potential customers or clients © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 18 18

19. User Research: Interviews Recruiting Screener 1. Self-completed questionnaire or 2. Phone questionnaire Weed out individuals not meeting the qualifications for participation Obtain demographic information Get agreement to participate in research © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 19 19

20. User Research: Screener GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com will be conducting user research into how people think about European vacations. If you would like to participate in these individual, one-hour calls, please complete the questions below. Because we are looking for a mix of people with different demographics, you may or may not hear anything further from us about your participation. Please check answers to questions as appropriate. © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 20 20

21. User Research: Screener 1. How old are you?  17 or younger [Disqualification]  18–25 [No more than 2]  26–35 [No more than 5]  36–45 [No more than 5]  46–55 [No more than 5]  56–65 [No more than 5]  66 or older [No more than 3] 2. Are you:  Male  Female [No more than 6] [No more than 6] 3. Do you have any children under the age of 18 living in your home?  Yes. If so, how many? __________  No [No more than 6] © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 21 21

22. User Research: Screener 4. In the last 12 months, have you booked a European vacation (including flight and accommodations)?  Yes What was your destination? _________________  No [Disqualification] 5. How would you rate your own travel expertise? [Recruit mix]  Beginner  Intermediate  Expert 6. Do you usually travel:  By yourself?  With a spouse or partner (no kids)?  With your family?  With friends? © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis [No more than 2] [No more than 4] [No more than 4] [No more than 4] 22 22

23. User Research: Screener 7. What is your household income?  Less than $50,000/year [No more than 2]  Between $50,000 and $100,000/year [No more than 5]  Over $100,000/year [No more than 5] 8. What is your highest educational level?  Did not graduate high school [No more than 2]  Graduated high school [No more than 2]  Some college [No more than 5]  Graduated college [No more than 6] © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 23 23

24. User Research: Screener 9. Where do you live?  East Coast [No more than 4]  South [No more than 4]  Midwest [No more than 4]  Southwest [No more than 4]  West Coast [No more than 4] 10 How often do you buy items Amazon.com or eBay?  Never [No more than 4]  Sometimes [No more than 4]  Frequently [No more than 4] 11. Do you or anyone in your family work in the travel industry?  Yes [Disqualification]  No © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 24 24

25. User Research: Screener 12. Do you or anyone in your family work in marketing or public relations?  Yes [Disqualification]  No 13. Have you participated in any user research, including focus groups, in the last 12 months?  Yes [Disqualification]  No © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 25 25

26. User Research: Interviews Methodology One-on-one interviews In-person or via phone No longer than one hour Use open-ended questions Prepare interview discussion guide/validate with client, project team © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 26 26

27. User Research: Interviews Methodology Compensation for participation ~$100/hour Paid at end of session Recruit on own or using recruiting company © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 27 27

28. User Research: Interviews Use “ethnographic inquiry” techniques Encourage open answers, rather than to lead the interviewee in any preconceived direction Use predefined questions as prompts in a conversation, not a verbatim script Allow the interviewee to direct the flow of conversation © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 28 28

29. What is a Mental Model? Grocery Shopping Talk to spouse Look in fridge How much time do I have? Does the car need gas? Clip coupons Plan meals Look for discounts Prepare shopping list Walk the store aisles Illustration by Adaptive Path © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 29 29

30. GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com User Interviews Need a volunteer to be user for a 15-minute interview about planning travel to Europe You can be as creative as you’d like in your answers. © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 30 30

31. Methodology: Context Content Analysis Discussion with content authors Size of content (number of pages/documents to be analyzed) Content stable or constantly changing ROT (redundant, outdated, trivial) New content or content areas © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 31 31

32. Methodology: Context Content Audit/Review Goal: Become familiar with current content Method: Visit every piece of content (or a representative sample) by following site links in order © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 32 32

33. Methodology: Context Content Audit/Review Information to capture URL Page/document title Document type Description of document content Keyword extraction © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 33 33

34. Methodology: Context Content Review (Content Sampling) Be sure to include breadth of content Visit different content types Visit as many sections of the site as possible Ask about important content © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 34 34

35. Technology Taxonomy interface with Technology Capability for handling hierarchies or flat lists only? Number of hierarchy levels? Indication of related terms? Can system handle CV maintenance? © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 35 35

36. Facet Creation Facet Analysis Detailed analysis of user interview transcripts to determine the kinds of information users look for Compile list of every type of information mentioned, including examples Arrange like types together © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 36 36

37. Facet Creation Determine facets based on groupings of information types Assign preliminary labels to facets Follow principles of facet creation © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 37 37

38. Principles of Facet Creation Principle of Differentiation When dividing an entity into its component parts, it is important to use facets that will distinguish clearly among these component parts. Good: height, width, weight, color Bad: dimensions, height, color © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 38 38

39. Principles of Facet Creation Principle of Relevance Facets should be chosen for their relevance to the purpose, subject, and scope of the particular context. Facets must be relevant to the tasks users will be completing. © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 39 39

40. Principles of Facet Creation Principle of Ascertainability It is important to choose facets that are definite and that can be ascertained. © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 40 40

43. Principles of Facet Creation Principle of Fundamental Categories There exist no categories that are fundamental to all subjects; categories should be derived based upon the nature of the subject being classified. “There are no rules, there are only contexts.” Fred Leise’s Rule #1 of Indexing © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 43 43

44. GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com Exercise: Facet Creation What are some of the facets that should be created for GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com, based on what you heard in the interview? What are some other facets that logically should also be created? © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 44 44

45. CV Creation Content Analysis/Term Extraction Using content audit results, revisit representative sample of content Identify potential vocabulary terms based on preliminary facets, e.g., doc type, products, services, etc. © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 45 45

47. CV Creation Search Log Analysis What terms to do users use when they are searching? With what frequency are terms used? Are there groups of related/alternate terms (including common misspellings)? © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 47 47

48. CV Creation Publicly Available Taxonomies www.TaxoBank.org Taxonomywarehouse.com Thesauri on-line (www.fbi.fh-koeln.de/institut/labor/ Bir/thesauri_new/thesen.htm) competitor sites (view source) © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 48 48

49. CV Creation Publicly Available Taxonomies Getty vocabularies Art and Architecture Thesaurus Union List of Artist Names Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 49 49

50. CV Creation Free Listing Purpose Identify user terms, core concepts Understand structure of a domain May be used to explore differences in audience segments © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 50 50

52. CV Creation Free Listing Analysis Note early occurrences of a term List items by frequency mentioned; more frequent = more central to domain Note co-occurrences of terms; may indicate logical term grouping © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 52 52

54. Reference Rashmi Sinha. “Beyond cardsorting: Free-listing methods to explore user categorizations” BoxesandArrows.com, 24 February 2003 http://www.boxesandarrows.com/beyond-cardsortingfree-listing-methods-to-explore-user-categorizations © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 54 54

55. GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com Free Listing Exercise Take about two minutes to list all the types of accommodations you know in Europe that are not hotels Write them down first, then we’ll go around the room and compare the lists. © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 55 55

56. CV Creation CV Organization Given the vocabulary terms identified, what type of CV is necessary for this facet? Is the facet required or optional when tagging content? Who needs to review the CV before finalization? © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 56 56

57. CV Creation CV Organization Is this facet for administrative purposes only, or will it be visible to users? How will the facet be used? browsing? filtering search results? © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 57 57

60. Contact Information Fred Leise 6530 N. Greenview Ave., #2 Chicago, IL 60626 773.764.2588 www.ContextualAnalysis.com fredleise@contextualanalysis.com © 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis by ContextualAnalysis 60 60

Creating Taxonomies: Methods and Processes

Creating Taxonomies: Methods and Processes

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Creating Taxonomies: Methods and Processes

Similar to Creating Taxonomies: Methods and Processes(20)

More from Fred Leise

More from Fred Leise(6)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded(20)

Creating Taxonomies: Methods and Processes