Taxonomies Presentation

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Taxonomies & Classification

Shannon LucasInformation Architecture

INF 389F


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Classification

Classification theory refers to a cognitive process, not aphysical one (i.e., arranging books).

Is basically categorization and aims at making informationmore accessible.

Humans tend to classify almost universally at the genuslevel.


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Genus-Level Classification

Animal

Vertebrate

Reptile

Lizard

Bearded Dragon


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Exact Schemes

Divide along sections that are well defined or mutuallyexclusive.

Usually involve known-item searching. Common exact schemes:

Alphabetical - White Page residential listings,employee directories.

Chronological - Time lines, news coverage, web logs. Geographical - Travel planners, bus routes, travel

directions.


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Ambiguous Schemes

Organization based on subjective areas that people maybe more familiar with.

Common ambiguous schemes: Subject Task Audience

Metaphor


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Subject Classification

Also called topical classification. Rooted in Aristotles idea of perfect categories. Categories based on external characteristics or

subjectively determined aboutness.

Allows users to find by browsing. Made more powerful through cross-referencing.


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Yahoo Social Science Directory


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Yahoo LIS Directory 01


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Yahoo LIS Directory 02


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Problems With Subject Classification

Some categories group items with few (or no) similarfeatures.

Wittgenstein noticed this with the category games. J. L. Austins word study also exposed further problems

caused by property names.


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Task-Based

Focuses on activities users are expected to perform. Task-based schemes are familiar from desktop

applications.


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Task-Based Classification


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Audience-Based

Organizes content based on expected user type. Often placed on top of another classification system.

Can also offer per user customization.


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Epson Main Site


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Epson North America


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Epson Ireland


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Epson Japan


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Metaphors

Use concepts which users may already be familiar with. Desktop metaphor use in most operating systems. Spatial metaphors very common.

Often focus more on perception thanconceptualization.


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Oscar Mayer


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Apple eWorld


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Lipton Favorites


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Taxonomies

No agreed upon definition, but is manifestation of aclassification system.

Most people familiar with hierarchies and parent-childrelationships.

Two main types of web taxonomies: Descriptive Navigational


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Descriptive Taxonomies

Use a controlled vocabulary to allow retrieval bysearching.

Can be made more user-friendly by indexing synonymsand common misspellings.

Are easily grown by adding by adding parent-child orthesaurus relationships.

Data management vocabularies allow a bottom-upapproach.


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Mayo Clinic


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Navigational Taxonomies

Focus is user and not content. Generally a top-down approach using ambiguous

classification system.

Language used for links different from descriptivetaxonomy.

Architect must decide on breadth and depth. Broad and shallow generally considered better.


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Deep Hierarchy

Transport

Air Sea

Planes Balloons Submarines Boats

Powered Unpowered

Human

Powered

Fueled

Powered Unpowered

Human

Powered

Fueled


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Wider Hierarchy

Transport

Air Sea

Planes Balloons Submarines Boats

UnpoweredHuman

PoweredFueled


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ThylacineTaxonomies & Classification


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References

Benyon, D. R., (1998). Beyond Navigation as Metaphor. Retrieved October 25, 2003 fromhttp://www.dcs.napier.ac.uk/~dbenyon/EuroDL.html

Conway, S., & Sligar, C., (2002). Unlocking Knowledge Assets. Redmond, Washington. MicrosoftPress.

Cooperating Systems, Inc. (2003). HelloWorld Overview. Retrieved October 26, 2003 fromhttp://www.cooperatingsystems.com/helloworld/overview/index.html

Neural Networks Research Center (NNRC) at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). (1999).WEBSOM - A novem SOM-based approach to free-text mining. Retrieved October 25, 2003 fromhttp://websom.hut.fi/

Norman, D.A., (1990). Why Interfaces Dont Work. In B. Laurel (Ed.), The Art of Human-ComputerInterface Design (pp. 209-219). Reading, Massachusetts. Addison-Wesley

Raskin, J., (2002). The Humane Interface.. Boston. Addison-Wesley.


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References (continued)

Rosenfeld, L., & Morville, P. (2002). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Cambridge:OReilly.

Taylor, Arlene G. (1999). The Organization of Information. Westport, Connecticut: LibrariesUnlimited.

Van Duyne, D., Landay, J.A., & Hong, J.I. (2003). The Design of Sites. Boston: Addison-Wesley.

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Taxonomies Presentation