The document discusses tips and tools for creating taxonomy with the user in mind. It describes a case study of developing a new taxonomy for a portal containing content from six different sites. A multi-step process is outlined, including reviewing the existing taxonomy, conducting keyword research, user research with personas, term sorting, validation with subject matter experts, and adding synonyms and polyhierarchies to result in the new taxonomy. Taxonomy, navigation, and information architecture are distinguished in their roles for organizing content.

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Taming Taxonomy
Tips
&
tools
for
crea/ng
structure
with
the
user
in
mind
alberta
soranzo
|
@albertatrebla
UX
Cambridge
2013
–
Cambridge,
UK
photo: jessica duverneay/

2. taming
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TAXONOMY, NOT TAXIDERMY
photo: ifish.net

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YOU’RE IN LUCK

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CASE STUDY
CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY RESEARCH (CHPR)
CALIFORNIA HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY (CHIS)

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CLIENT

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SIX SITES ONE PORTAL

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SAY WHAT?

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TAXONOMY
Taxonomies
are
collec<ons
of
facets,
which
are
created
by
organizing
concepts
into
categories.

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2013
EXISTING TAXONOMY
Categoriza<on
and
meaning
How
users
consume
site
content
How
users
find
content

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NEW TAXONOMY
System
of
categories
and
labels
Parent-­‐child
rela<onships
Cross-­‐lis<ng
(poly-­‐hierarchy)
Synonyms
Governance

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THE PROBLEM

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THE PROBLEM

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THE PROBLEM
NO CANDY?

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THE PROBLEM
CHPR CHIS

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THE (MAIN) QUESTIONS
Which
exact
words
should
be
used?
Where
do
they
go
in
rela<on
to
the
others?
Are
there
excep<ons?

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WDTPBBS?
•Categories
should
be
mutually
exclusive,
unless
they
are
poly-­‐
hierarchical.
•Consider
the
balance
breadth
and
depth,
erring
on
the
side
of
broad
and
shallow
for
new
sites.
•Taxonomy
=
a
slow
layer,
while
naviga/on
may
be
slightly
faster

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TAXONOMY MATRIX
STRATEGY
User Centered Business Centered
SIZE
Scalable Finite
COVERAGE
Comprehensive Section Specific
APPLICATION
Cross-channel Web-centric
TIME
SENSITIVITY
Aspirational Current
METAPHOR
Uniform/Exact Mixed Approach
STRUCTURE
Poly-hierarchical Mutually Exclusive
LANGUAGE
SEO Preferential Natural
Branding Authoritative
Concept:
Jessica
DuVerneay
The
Understanding
Group

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1. CURRENT TAXONOMY REVIEW
CHPR CHIS

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2. KEYWORD RESEARCH
CHPR CHIS

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3. USER RESEARCH
John
Lu Leslie
Masterson Bob
SuFer
Researcher Marketer Legislator
Dr.
Lu,
a
postdoc
at
UCSF
is
performing
data
analysis
to
inform
his
research
on
the
the
correla/on
between
medical
costs,
early-­‐
onset
diabetes
and
residence
distance
from
parks.
He
has
billing
data
from
insurance
companies
that
he
can
link
to
geolocated
CHIS
data.
Before
he
submits
his
applica/on
for
analysis,
he
wants
to
create
a
table
of
childhood
diabetes
rate
in
areas
that
are
more
than
2
miles
away
from
a
park.
Leslie
is
the
Northern
California
marke/ng
manager
for
a
small
producer
of
air
filters.
She
is
looking
to
market
her
product
to
consumers
and
industrial
air
condi/oning
installers
and
prefers
to
concentrate
her
ini/al
efforts
on
areas
where
air
quality
causes
asthma
and
other
respiratory
condi/ons.
Bob
is
running
for
a
seat
in
the
California
legislature
and
the
focus
of
his
campaign
is
improving
health.
He
wants
to
understand
what
the
top
5
health
needs
within
his
legisla/ve
district
are.
Bob
has
no
sta/s/cs
background
but
understands
the
importance
of
data
and
wants
to
find
authorita/ve
informa/on
to
be
used
in
his
campaign
material.
GOAL
Create
map
to
prove
hypothesis
GOAL
Market
product
in
communi/es
affected
by
asthma
and
respiratory
condi/ons.
GOAL
Priori/ze
solu/ons
for
his
cons/tuents.
photo: flickr.com (j.spiridigliozzi, victor1558, niznoz)

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4. TERM SORTING/AFFINITY DIAGRAMMING
photo: christina tran

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5. SEO/SME VALIDATION
OPTIONS CHOICE
Benefit
Package,
Work
Insurance,
Employee
Insurance,
Employee
Health
Plan
Employment-­‐based
coverage
Poor,
Indigent,
Impoverished,
Below
Federal
Poverty
Line
Low-­‐income
Handicapped,
Disabled,
Blinds,
Deaf
Persons,
Persons
with
disabiliMes

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6. SYNONYMS & POLYHIERARCHY
MANAGED
CARE DISABILITY
=
=
Medicare,
Health
Insurance,
Comprehensive
Medical
Insurance,
Group
Medical
Insurance,
Health
Plan,
Medicaid,
Medi-­‐cal,
Indian
Health
Services,
Healthy
Families
Handicap,
Deficit,
Impairment,
Mental
Impairment,
Physical
Impairment,
Health
Problem,
Func/onal
Impairment,
Incapacity,
Ailment

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RESULTING TAXONOMY

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TAXONOMY. WHAT, HOW AND WHY
WHAT
(DELIVERABLES) HOW
(USES) WHY
(GOALS)
• Sitemap
• Content
Inventory
• Wireframes
• Controlled
Vocabulary
• Tags
• Categories
• Filters
• URLs
• Glossary
• Naviga/on
• Content
strategy
• Findability
• Organiza/on
• Cross-­‐channel
Consistency
• Governance
• Understanding
• Branding

26. taming
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SIX SITES ONE PORTAL

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TAXONOMY VS NAVIGATION VS IA
TAXONOMY
Metadata
(informa/on
about
informa/on)
NAVIGATION
Wayfinding
(how
visitors
move
around)
INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE
Structural
design
of
informa/on
(informed
by
taxonomy,
helps
build
navigaMon)

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CARD SORTING

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TAXONOMY
Taxonomies
are
collec<ons
of
facets,
which
are
created
by
organizing
concepts
into
categories.

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WHAT IS CARD SORTING?
Card
sor<ng
is
one
of
the
best
ways
to
idenMfy
categories
by
having
controlled
tests
with
groups
of
users
to
create
categories.
source thetaxonomyblog.com

31. taming
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WHY USE CARD SORTING?
•Input
into
informa<on
design
process
•Define
overall
content
hierarchy
and
structure
•Design
naviga<on,
menu
and
taxonomies
•Outline
users’
mental
models
source thetaxonomyblog.com

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HOW DO YOU DO CARD SORTING?
Par<cipants
organize
topics
into
categories
that
make
sense
to
them
and
may
also
help
label
these
groups.
source flickr.com/photos/nedrichards/

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OPEN CARD SORTING
Par<cipants
organize
topics
into
groups
that
make
sense
to
them,
then
name
the
groups.
source flickr.com/photos/nedrichards/

34. taming
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@albertatrebla UX
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CLOSED CARD SORTING
Par<cipants
organize
topics
into
predefined
groups.
source flickr.com/photos/nedrichards/

35. taming
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DESIGN THE TEST
•Create
list
of
content
topics.
•Prepare
the
cards.
•Email
par<cipants
a
link
to
the
study.
•Provide
instruc<ons
for
the
sort,
including
expected
length.
•Thank
the
par<cipant
for
their
<me.

36. taming
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GRANULARITY
•Individual
pages
•Func<onality
•Small
groups
of
pages
•Whole
sec<ons
of
the
site

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WHAT USERS SEE - CARDS

38. taming
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WHAT USERS DO - PUT CARDS IN GROUPS

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WHAT USERS DO - NAME GROUPS

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WHAT YOU SEE - CARDS

41. taming
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WHAT YOU SEE - CATEGORIES

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WHAT YOU SEE - SIMILARITY MATRIX

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WHAT YOU SEE - STANDARDIZATION GRID

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WHAT YOU SEE - DENDOGRAM

45. taming
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WHAT YOU SEE - DENDOGRAM

46. taming
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WHAT YOU SEE - PARTICIPANT CENTRIC ANALYSIS

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THE FUTURE
Predictive Cognitive Semantic Analysis

48. taming
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PCSA
Seamus
O’Leary,
PhD
Queen’s
University
Ins/tute
of
Cogni/on
and
Culture
Belfast
“Predic/ve
Cogni/ve
Seman/c
Analysis:
An
Algorithm
for
Place-­‐
Making
in
Cross-­‐Channel
Experiences”
(2010)
source gerard1972.deviantart.com

49. taming
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@albertatrebla UX
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2013
PCSA
PredicMve
CogniMve
SemanMc
Analysis
source gerard1972.deviantart.com
“I
had
an
intui/on
that
by
interpola/ng
results
of
best
merge
dendograms
with
an/-­‐pajern
libraries
and
text
readability
scores,
my
algorithm
would
accurately
predict
the
boundaries
of
cogni/ve
and
seman/c
mapping.”

50. taming
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@albertatrebla UX
Cambridge
2013
PCSA
PredicMve
CogniMve
SemanMc
Analysis
source gerard1972.deviantart.com
• Parallax
Theory
of
Brain
Modeling
(Johnston,
Neil
et
al.)
• Cogni/ve
Disenthropy
Theory
(Blake,
McGuinn)
• Systemic
Distribu/on
of
Neural
Pathways
Model
(Mould?)
• Fibonacci
Sequence
• Limit
of
Consecu/ve
Quo/ents
Paradox
(Kepler)
• Structural
Malta
Approach
to
Card
Sor/ng
(Mann,
Leo,
Penn)

51. taming
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PCSA
source gerard1972.deviantart.com
NDA

52. taming
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PCSA TOOL AND API
PredicMve
CogniMve
SemanMc
Analysis
(exp.
release
2014)
source gerard1972.deviantart.com
• Solid
taxonomy
• Comparable
sitemaps
(CI
97.2%-­‐99.71)
• Increased
findability,
bejer
SEO

53. IS THIS THE FUTURE?
Predictive Cognitive Semantic Analysis
taming
taxonomy
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@albertatrebla UX
Cambridge
2013
NO WAY!

54. taming
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WHAT CARD SORTING HELPS WITH
•VeZng
naviga<on
schemes
•Defining
informa<on
architecture
•Improving
findability

55. taming
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@albertatrebla UX
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2013
CARD SORTING GIVES YOU
•Data
to
support
decisions
•Cheap
method
of
tes<ng
labels
and
structure
•User-­‐centered
taxonomy

56. taming
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@albertatrebla UX
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BE A TAXONOMIST
(it’s your turn)

57. taming
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MEET THE TAXIDERMIST
photo: flickr.com : (cowgirljules)

58. 1.
Exis<ng
taxonomy
(new
site)
2.
Keyword
Research
3.
User
Research
4.
Term
Sor<ng/Affinity
Diagramming
5.
Taxonomy
6.
Naviga<on
taming
taxonomy
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@albertatrebla UX
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THE EXERCISE

59. taming
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USER RESEARCH
Doug
Rowland George
Byth Amanda
SuFon
Fishing
enthusiast Gamekeeper
and
guide Amateur
taxidermist
Doug
is
an
avid
fisherman
who
travels
extensively
to
fish
in
exo/c
and
some/mes
isolated
spots.
He
is
an
ajorney
in
Oxwich
and
has
just
bought
a
new
office
in
Edinburgh
which
he
would
like
to
decorate
with
his
prized
catches.
Doug
is
frustrated
by
the
lack
of
taxidermists
specializing
in
fish
in
the
UK
and
is
willing
to
travel
or
ship
his
specimens
in
order
to
get
what
he
wants.
He
is
also
looking
to
purchase
containers
to
preserve
his
catch
during
his
travels.
George
has
just
begun
working
as
gamekeeper
for
the
Forestry
Commission
Scotland
at
the
Loch
Lomond
and
The
Trossach
Na/onal
Park.
The
wildlife
exhibi/on
in
the
David
Marshall
Lodge
Visitor
Centre
where
he
is
based
contains
several
taxidermied
animals
in
poor
shape
and
George
needs
to
learn
how
to
properly
care
of
them.
Addi/onally,
George’s
boss
has
asked
him
to
research
taxidermy
professionals
to
engage
on
contract
and
for
a
series
of
lectures
in
the
na/onal
parks.
Amanda
is
a
re/ree
in
her
six/es.
She
lives
Thurso
and
owns
a
cojage
in
Kingussie
where
she
hunts
red
deer.
Now
that
she
has
/me
to
spare,
she
has
decided
to
appren/ce
with
a
taxidermist.
Amanda
would
be
willing
to
follow
an
online
course,
but
will
need
to
purchase
books
and
supplies.
Moreover,
she
has
a
deer
and
a
fox
in
her
freezer
that
she
would
like
to
get
stuffed,
but
can’t
find
an
affordable
taxidermist.
GOAL
Finding
fish
taxidermy
specialist,
buying
equipment.
GOAL
Learning
how
to
care
for
taxidermied
animals,
loca/ng
a
professional.
GOAL
Learning
taxidermy
either
in
person
or
online,
buying
supplies,
gerng
catches
taxidermied.
photo: flickr.com (charliereece, jonhoward, widnr)

60. GO!
taming
taxonomy
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@albertatrebla UX
Cambridge
2013
THE EXERCISE

61. taming
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@albertatrebla UX
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CARD SORTING & TAXONOMY RESOURCES
Books
Card
SorMng
-­‐
Designing
Usable
Categories
Donna
Spencer
Rosenfeld
Media,
2009
Mental
Models:
Aligning
Design
Strategy
with
Human
Behavior
Indy
Young
Rosenfeld
Media,
2008
The
Accidental
Taxonomist
Heather
Hedden
Informa/on
Today,
Inc.
2010
InformaMon
Architecture
for
the
World
Wide
Web:
Designing
Large-­‐Scale
Web
Sites
Peter
Morville
and
Louis
Rosenfeld
O’Reilly,
2008
Pervasive
InformaMon
Architecture:
Designing
Cross-­‐Channel
User
Experiences
Andrea
Resmini
and
Luca
Rosa/
Morgan
Kaufmann,
2011

62. taming
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CARD SORTING & TAXONOMY RESOURCES
Card
sorMng
tools
Online
conceptcodify.com
op/malworkshop.com/op/malsort.htm
simplecardsort.com
usabilitest.com/CardSor/ng
uxpunk.com/websort/
Offline
(spreadsheets)
Joe
Laman/a
–
boxesandarrows.com/?p=2803
Donna
Spencer
–
maadmob.com.au/?p=45
Mike
Rice
–
www.informoire.com/?p=162
How-­‐tos
op/malworkshop.com/help/kb
op/malworkshop.com/blog/how-­‐to-­‐pick-­‐cards-­‐for-­‐card-­‐sor/ng

63. Illustration: Dan Willis
taming
taxonomy
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@albertatrebla UX
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2013
THANK YOU!
alberta
soranzo
@albertatrebla
albertasoranzo.com