A taxonomy framework is an enabling tool that delivers on multiple fronts: standardising language, enhancing governance requirements, supporting collaboration and sharing, enabling search and analytics.
The term taxonomy is now used widely used across a range of contexts and depending on which discipline you follow you will encounter multiple definitions.
According to Wikipedia, the word taxonomy finds its roots in the Greek language: taxis (meaning ‘order’, ‘arrangement’) and nomos (‘law’ or ‘science’).
Originally, taxonomy referred only to the classifying of organisms or a particular classification of organisms. Now in a wider, more general sense, taxonomy refers to a classification of things or concepts, as well as to the principles underlying such a classification.
Taxonomy concepts and principles vary according to discipline you belong to (scientist, librarian, records manager, whatever) and the standards you adhere to.
How to resolve these when you are given the task of building and deploying an enterprise wide taxonomy?
We’ve developed this Taxonomy Framework to demonstrate how you can integrate the needs of your various stakeholders into a robust framework that delivers on multiple fronts.
It illustrates a data flow where:
- Terms are harvested into a repository,
- then sorted into preferred (approved) terms and their variants (non-preferred terms),
- which are connected using relationships to build thesauri and ontologies,
- to be deployed into search engines and information systems.
- Preferred terms are organised into a library of controlled vocabularies,
- and managed by term governance stewards,
- in accordance with appropriate standards,
- From this library information architects can build data structures (lists, facets, trees, hierarchies, matrices, and maps)
- to be deployed into information systems,
- and published for all to refer to.
The Framework is scalable, extensible and provides the flexibility to meet all the needs of information developers, producers and consumers.
And it can all be built and managed using a.k.a.® software.
