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Simmons
Graduate School of Library and Information Science Continuing Education
Online
Workshop: Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies
Welcome!
This online workshop will teach you want you need to know to
get started in creating taxonomies or controlled vocabularies, whether
you need to create a taxonomy to organize information on a web site, classify
information in a content management system, or establish a controlled
vocabulary for a periodical or database indexing project.
The content of each new lesson will be posted weekly.
Lesson 1: Introduction to taxonomies
Types of taxonomies and controlled vocabularies, their definitions, and
uses. Links to examples on the Web are provided for various types.
- Definitions of taxonomy, controlled vocabularies, thesauri, etc.
- Types and applications of taxonomies and controlled vocabularies
- Controlled vocabulary displays and organization: A-Z, hierarchies,
categories, and facets
Lesson 2: Software for creating taxonomies
A brief overview of the various software tools to help create web thesaurus-type
taxonomies and descriptions of several single-user desktop programs. Students
are encouraged to download at least one free or demo software package
of their choice to use for practice thesaurus creation in lessons 3 and
4.
- Over view of the different kinds of software tools
- MultiTes
- WebChoir TCS-10
- Term Tree 2000
- Freeware: TheW32 and Protégé
- Software for larger team projects: Synaptica, Wordmap, Data Harmony
Thesaurus Master
Lesson 3: Hierarchical structure and term
relationships
Best practices for structuring a taxonomy or thesaurus according
to recognized standards
- Broader/narrower relationships
- Related/associated relationships and complex variations (ontologies)
- Issues in determining top level terms/facets and issues deciding
on hierarchy depth and broadness
Lesson 4: Wording of terms and their variants
Deciding how to name preferred terms and non-preferred terms in the controlled
vocabulary
- Issues in wording terms (style and format, pre- vs. post-coordination,
homonyms)
- Coming up with variants/non-preferred terms
- Differences in term names and variants needed for human vs. automated
indexing; and for thesaurus vs. hierarchy vs. facets.
Lesson 5: Concluding topics and issues
- Taxonomy creation skills
- Processes for enterprise taxonomy implementation
- Taxonomy governance (ownership and maintenance)
- Folksonomies or social tagging
- Freelancing
- Resources
Lessons: Weekly lesson texts are comprised of a set
of three to six web pages, one for each chapter of the lesson. Each lesson
has links, and some have associated graphics of screenshots. It is not
necessary to go through an entire lesson at one sitting, but each chapter
page is designed to be read at one sitting. The lessons and chapters vary
in length, depending on the topic. Lessons and associated information
will be posted on the Simmons Moodle online course service, not at this
Web site.
Exercises/Assignments: Some lessons have assignments.
Although you are not required to submit the assignments, you are welcome
to submit them, as e-mail attachments, to the instructor, if you would
like feedback. Questions to the instructor are welcome at any time.
Discussion Group: A discussion group is part of this
workshop. Students are encouraged to post lesson comments and questions
to the Discussion Board first before e-mailing the instructor directly,
since other students might have similar issues.
As you cannot post attachments to the Discussion List, you should also e-mail
me directly when you have attached files of your work.
You may post to the Discussion List comments or questions about any lesson
at any time. You do not need to post on topics related to the current
lesson or the immediate past lesson. Unanswered questions to lessons several
weeks behind are still welcome.
If you post a message that is not a reply to one of the pre-posted messages,
it will be displayed at the bottom of the list. Please go to the Discussion
List frequently to see if other students or the instructor have posted
any comments or questions. I suggest that you visit the Discussion List
each time you sit down to work on the course.
Software: Special software does not need to be purchased
to complete the workshop, but students should download a free demo version
of one or more of the software tools discussed in lesson 2.
Readings: The required reading is: ANSI/NISO Z39.19
(2005) Guidelines for Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual
Controlled Vocabularies, which will be provided as a freely downloadable
pdf.
Other recommended, but not requried, books are:
- Aitchison, J., Gilchrist, A. & Bawden, D. (2000). Thesaurus
construction and use: a practical manual (4th ed.). Chicago, IL,
USA: Fitzroy Dearborn.
- Lambe, Patrick. (2007). Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge
and Organisational Effectiveness. Oxford, England: Chandos Publishing.
Links to additional articles on the Web are provided within each lesson.
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© 2008 Heather
Hedden |