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Representing Taxonomies: What am I looking at here?
- 1. Representing Taxonomies:
What am I looking at here?
By Rachel Lovinger
Semantic Technology Conference 2007
May 23, 2007
Photo by Sarah Jane Rhee
- 2. • Introduction
• The Mission
• Approaches
• Future Directions
• Resources
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 1 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
Photo by Rachel Lovinger
- 3. About Avenue A | Razorfish
Largest independent interactive consulting firm in the U.S.
2000 professionals with average of 10+ years experience
Bring together core disciplines of business strategy, user
experience design, program management and technology.
Pioneers and recognized experts around a user-centered,
insight-driven approach to designing web experiences
Deep technology experience in content management, portals,
e-commerce, personalization, and business intelligence
2005 AdAge™ – Best Interactive Media Agency of the Year
Offices in 11 U.S. cities, Europe and Asia/Pacific:
-Atlanta -Seattle
-Austin, TX -Berlin
-Boston -Frankfurt
-Chicago -London
-Ft. Lauderdale -Paris
-Los Angeles -Hong Kong
-New York -Shanghai
-Philadelphia -Sydney
-Portland, OR -Tokyo
-San Francisco -Kobe
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 2 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 4. Representing Taxonomy Is About…
How to help your
project stakeholders
understand and work
with large, complex
sets of taxonomy data
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 3 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 5. What We Won’t Be Covering
• How to get approval to do taxonomy work as
part of a project
• How to build a taxonomy
Note: Domain expertise not required
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 4 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 6. Formula for Successful Taxonomy Building
Deliverable Design
+
Communication
“Politics and consensus building are the
toughest aspects of building a taxonomy”
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 5 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 7. Terminology
• Taxonomy • Stakeholders
• Classification • Contributors
• Controlled Vocabulary • Subject Matter Experts
• Ontology • Editors
• Metadata • Client
• Authority File • Boss
• Attributes
• Dimensions
• Facets
• Glossary
• Thesaurus
• Page Inventory
• Sitemap
• -----------
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 6 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 8. • Introduction
• The Mission
• Approaches
• Future Directions
• Resources
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 7 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
Photo by Tom Marscado
- 9. You Want to Create a Data Driven Site
What makes these concepts work?
Citegraph MoMA Allmusic
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 8 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 10. Citegraph
Citegraph MoMA Allmusic
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 9 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 11. MoMA Contemporary Voices
Citegraph MoMA Allmusic
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 10 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 12. All Music Guide
Citegraph MoMA Allmusic
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 11 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 13. Your Mission
• The site needs taxonomy data
• The taxonomy needs decisions made by experts
Citegraph MoMA Allmusic
How do you facilitate & document those decisions?
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 12 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 14. • Introduction
• The Mission
• Approaches
• Future Directions
• Resources
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 13 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
Photo by Yu Kizawa
- 15. When Do You Start?
Aligning taxonomy building with the web development process
Web Dev Build Live
Concept Wireframes Design
Phase
Taxonomy Detailed
Groundwork Dimensions & Usage &
Tasks Taxonomy
& High Level Relationships Maintenance
Communication
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 14 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 16. What Do You Need From Stakeholders?
• Get approval for data
• Get expert input
• Build partnership and ownership
• Distributed communication
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 15 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 17. Concept Phase
Key Question: What is the site about?
Web Dev Build Live
Concept Wireframes Design
Phase
Taxonomy Detailed
Groundwork Dimensions & Usage &
Tasks Taxonomy
& High Level Relationships Maintenance
Communication
Tip: Start building consensus as early as possible.
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 16 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 18. Do the Groundwork
To make good taxonomy decisions, the
stakeholders need to know:
• What does your audience want?
• What does your site need to do?
• How are other people doing it?
• Do you have some data to start with?
• What can you learn from the way people use the site?
Summarize your findings in a brief document
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 17 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 19. Demonstrate Functionality In Action
Example:
Robust faceted
navigation
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 18 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 20. Prepare the Stakeholders to Think Like Taxonomists
The less abstract the work is, the more
engaged they’ll be:
• Define taxonomy terms and concepts
• Tell them exactly what the taxonomy will do
• Give them the context for making decisions
• Be specific about what you need from them
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 19 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 21. Use Humor to Make It Less Intimidating
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 20 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 22. Taxonomy Documentation Styles
• Diagram
• Outline
• Spreadsheet
• Other Tables
Not great for people
• XML
• RDF
• N-triples
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 21 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 23. Communicating About Taxonomy Documentation
• “How to use this document” instructions
• Talking points for distributed communication
• Track important decisions
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 22 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 24. Wireframe Phase
Key Question: How is the information organized?
Web Dev Build Live
Concept Wireframes Design
Phase
Taxonomy Detailed
Groundwork Dimensions & Usage &
Tasks Taxonomy
& High Level Relationships Maintenance
Communication
Tip: Use real taxonomy data in the wireframes
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 23 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 25. Diagram Format: Structure
• Dimensions
• Polyhierarchy
• Relationship
details
• Not effective for
showing nodes
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 24 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
Illustrations - Peter Morville, as seen in Ambient Findability (O’Reilly Media).
- 26. Dimensions
Fashion Magazine
Stores Fashion Entertainment
Beauty Gifts
Holidays &
Locations Brands People
Occasions
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 25 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 27. Polyhierarchy
Fashion Magazine
Stores Fashion Entertainment
Beauty Gifts
Supermodel TV Host
Holidays &
Locations People
Occasions
Heidi Klum
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 26 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
Photos © Bravo TV & NBC Universal. All rights reserved.
- 28. Relationship Structure
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 27 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 29. Relationship Sample Data
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 28 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
The Departed © Warner Brothers; The Queen © Miramax. All rights reserved.
- 30. Not Effective For Showing Nodes
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 29 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 31. Outline Format: Limited Detail
Fashion Products
Pants
Accessories
Cropped
Belts
• Hierarchical Jeans
Hats
Shorts
Gloves
Tailored
Scarves
• Dimensions and Shirts & Blouses
Socks
Long-sleeve
Umbrellas
narrower terms Short-sleeve
Wallets
Sleeve-less
Bags
T-shirts
Clutch
Shoes
• Dozens of Makeup Bags
Boots
Shoulder
Clogs
nodes, not Suitcases
Sneakers
Tote
Flats
hundreds Weekend Bags
Mules
Coats & Jackets
Pumps
Blazers
Sandals
Parkas
Slingbacks
Ponchos
Slippers
Raincoats
Sweater-coats
Trench-coats
Vests
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 30 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 32. Wireframes With Fake Taxonomy
The functionality isn’t
accurately represented,
if the data is completely
made up.
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 31 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 33. Use Real Sample Data
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 32 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 34. Design Phase
Key Question: What’s the actual data?
Web Dev Build Live
Concept Wireframes Design
Phase
Taxonomy Detailed
Groundwork Dimensions & Usage &
Tasks Taxonomy
& High Level Relationships Maintenance
Communication
Tip: Prototype the data.
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 33 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 35. Spreadsheet Format: Extensive Data
• Many nodes
• Faceted
• Few dimensions
• Some Attributes
• Less effective for
complex
relationships
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 34 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 36. ©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 35 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 37. Spreadsheet – Pivot Tables
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 36 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 38. Other Tables: Attributes
• More familiar
• Many
relationships
• Defined
template
• Labor intensive
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 37 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 39. Prototype
Created with MindManager
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 38 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 40. `
Taxonomy Deliverable Design Tips
• Appropriate level of detail
• Don’t try to do it all in one
• Make it appealing to look at
• Make it familiar
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 39 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 41. `
Too Much Detail
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 40 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 42. `
Not Enough Detail
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 41 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 43. `
Taxonomy Deliverable Design Tips
• Appropriate level of detail
• Don’t try to do it all in one
• Make it appealing to look at
• Make it familiar
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 42 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 44. `
Multiple Deliverables Working Together
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 43 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 45. `
Taxonomy Deliverable Design Tips
• Appropriate level of detail
• Don’t try to do it all in one
• Make it appealing to look at
• Make it familiar
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 44 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 46. `
Hard To Look At = Hard To Understand
Too Busy Clean & Comprehensible
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 45 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 47. `
Taxonomy Deliverable Design Tips
• Appropriate level of detail
• Don’t try to do it all in one
• Make it appealing to look at
• Make it familiar
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 46 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 48. `
Use Design Elements Associated With The Project
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 47 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 49. Build Phase & Live
Key Question: How do we make sure this taxonomy
is used properly and is still relevant in six months?
Web Dev Build Live
Concept Wireframes Design
Phase
Taxonomy Detailed
Groundwork Dimensions & Usage &
Tasks Taxonomy
& High Level Relationships Maintenance
Communication
Tip: If they don’t own it, they won’t use it.
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 48 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 50. Get Ready to Hand It Over
• How to use the data for content creation
• How to maintain the taxonomy
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 49 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 51. Tagging Guidelines
• Define the terms
• How to apply
the tags
• Affect on the site
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 50 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 52. Change Management Plan
• Definitions and guidelines
• What kind of changes can be made
• Who can make changes
• How to assess the impact of changes
• How often changes will be made
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 51 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 53. • Introduction
• The Mission
• Approaches
• Future Directions
• Resources
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 52 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
Photo by Rachel Lovinger
- 54. Future Directions
• Best Practices
• Prototyping tools
– Easy to use
– Support flexible data structures
– User-friendly presentation
• Adoption of standards
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 53 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 55. • Introduction
• The Mission
• Approaches
• Future Directions
• Resources
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 54 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
Photo by Dave Gorman
- 56. Resources
• Glossaries
– Taxonomy Glossary on CMS Wiki
– Metadata? Thesauri? Taxonomies? Topic Maps! – A paper on Topic Maps that
includes a good overview of these terms. By Lars Marius Garshol of Ontopia.
• Selling Taxonomy
– Dublin Core Metadata Initiative – includes business cases, ROI presentation, etc.
– Taxonomy today, ROI tomorrow – By David Berlind, ZDnet
• Constructing Taxonomy
– ANSI/NISO Z39.19 - 2005 Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and
Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies (PDF)
– Developing and Creatively Leveraging Hierarchical Metadata and Taxonomy – by
Christian Ricci, Boxes & Arrows
• Existing Taxonomy Data
– Thousands of OWL documents are indexed in Google. Add “filetype:owl” to your
search and see what comes up.
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 55 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 57. Resources
• Prototyping
– MindJet® MindManger® - commercial mind mapping software
– FreeMind – open source mind mapping software
– Bubbl.us – an online brainstorming tool
– TopBraid Composer™ - a commercial tool for building ontologies and semantic
web applications
– Protégé – an open source ontology editor
• Shared Knowledge
– Taxonomy Community of Practice
– CM Pros – Content Management Community of Practice
– Semantic Web Interest Group
• Information Design
– Edward Tufte
– VisualComplexity.com
– Information Aesthetics
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 56 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 58. Thanks
To the colleagues who shared their examples, insights
and feedback.
And to these flickr.com users who made their images
available through Creative Commons:
Sarah Jane Rhee Some rights reserved.
Tom Mascardo Some rights reserved.
Yu Kizawa Some rights reserved.
Dave Gorman Some rights reserved.
Rachel Lovinger Some rights reserved.
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 57 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
- 59. Questions?
Rachel Lovinger
rachel.lovinger@avenuea-razorfish.com
©2007 Avenue A | Razorfish. All rights reserved. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Avenue A | Razorfish and
Page 58 may not be reproduced, distributed or disclosed, in whole or in part, without its express consent.
Photo by Rachel Lovinger