Online Workshop: Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies

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Hedden Information Management

Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science

Online Workshop: Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies

Five weekly lessons, online at any time (no live component)

Next sessions:
~~July 1 - August 4, 2013~~ (full)
September 1 - October 5, 2013

Workshop Description and Outline
Course Preview Page
Workshop Basics
Registration
Continuing Education/Professional Development
Comments from Past Students
Simmons GSLIS Workshops site (external link)

Workshop Description

Taxonomies are structured sets of terms used for tagging or categorizing content. They are used in a wide variety of applications ranging from document indexing, digital asset management, enterprise content management, commercial product categorization, online news service interfaces, and web site information architecture.

This course provides a basic introduction to taxonomies, discusses best practices for creating terms and relationships, and provides some practice to start working on taxonomies and thesauri. This course also includes exclusive student trial access to some taxonomy management systems.

Course Preview Page

Workshop Outline

Lesson 1: Introduction to taxonomies
Types of taxonomies and controlled vocabularies, their definitions, and uses. Links to examples on the Web will be included 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
An 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
Cognatrix
Data Harmony
Synaptica
Freeware
Other software

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
Other term issues, include pre- and post-coordinating, term notes and attributes, and term categories

Lesson 5: Concluding topics and issues

Taxonomy project planning and implementation
Taxonomy governance (ownership and maintenance)
Folksonomies or social tagging
Types of work and freelancing
Resources

Workshop Basics

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: Most lessons have assignments. Although you are not required to submit the assignments, you are welcome to submit them, either as e-mail attachments to the instructor, attachments to Discussion Forum postings, or to the course site, if you would like feedback. Questions to the instructor are welcome at any time.

Discussion Forums: Discussion Forums are a part of this workshop. Each lesson has its own forum in order to group discussion topics by lesson topics. Students are encouraged to post lesson comments and questions to the appropriate lesson forum first, prior to e-mailing the instructor directly, since other students might have similar issues. You may post to the appropriate Discussion Forum any 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. Lingering questions to lessons several weeks behind are still welcome.

Software: Special software does not need to be purchased to complete the workshop, but students are expected download a free demo version of one or more of the software tools discussed in lesson 2 for the purpose of understanding thesaurus management software. Such software may be used when completing assignments in subsequent lessons, but it is not required.

Readings: The required reading is: ANSI/NISO Z39.19 (2005) Guidelines for Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies, which will be made available as a freely downloadable pdf.

Other recommended, but not required, books are:

Hedden, Heather. (2010) The Accidental Taxonomist. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.
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.

Hours Expected: The number of hours put in depends on whether you choose to complete all the assignments, how many demo software packages you chose to try, the extent that you work on a taxonomy project of your own, and how much optional reading you want to do. Past students have put in from 2 to 8 hours per week, with 4-5 hours per week being the average.

Registration

Simmons Continuing Education online registration form (external link)

Please also indicate the desired session's month along with the course name in the Workshop Title field.

Cost is $250 full price, or $200 for Simmons GSLIS alumni.
Payment may be made by credit card, electronic bank payment, or check.

If paying by check, make it out to “Simmons College” and mail it to:

Kris Liberman, Program Manager
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
The Office of Continuing Education
Simmons College
300 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115-5898
P: 617-521-2803
F: 617-521-3192
gslisce@simmons.edu

All registration questions should be directed to Kris Liberman.

Continuing Education/Professional Development

All enrolled attendees will receive a Certificate of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for one unit, which will be mailed to them after the workshop.

Simmons College provides Professional Development Points (PDPs) according to the Massachusetts Department of Education requirements for certification. Attendees who request PDPs for (re)certification will earn 15 PDPs for this workshop.

Comments from Past Students

I just wanted to say Thanks to Heather for the abundance of information she was able to share in such a short time frame, all re: Taxonomy.

I agree with you about the benefits of this course, and Heather's invaluable assistance. There is a lot to learn! I'd started the Accidental Taxonomist book before registering for this course. Now I'm going back and start from page one again. The two complement each other perfectly.

Found this workshop to be valuable; smoothly-run website, and course material and format very clear. Thank you!

Enjoyed the course, well-run, good review.

Just wanted to say thanks so much for a great workshop. I really got a lot out of it and enjoyed the rigorous pace and the depth of information you provided. I'm starting a taxonomy project in my workplace now, to implement in a new, currently under development, intranet. I'm referring to your weekly lessons quite a bit (!)

I've really enjoyed taking this workshop. I was a little intimidated because I don't have a library science background, but Heather is a great teacher and I learned a lot. Thanks!

Very pleased overall--I'm always surprised how effective and instructive online courses are. Well done.

It was in-depth and challenging. I liked how seriously the subject matter was taken and how much one was expected to learn during the workshop.

Very clear, well managed. Instructor responded very quickly and was quite helpful.

I appreciated the great organization of materials, and the scope of references and additional sources of information--as well as demo software. Instructor was responsive.

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