One of the challenges in creating hierarchical taxonomies is that there can be multiple ways to categorize concepts and thus design hierarchies. There are multiple methods to deal with this, including polyhierarchy and facets. Now that taxonomies are more often extended with ontologies, attributes can also be used for additional…
Category: Hierarchical taxonomy
Narrower Terms vs. Alternative Terms
A narrower concept could be either a variant term or a hierarchically narrower term.
Customizing Taxonomy Hierarchies
Taxonomies need to be custom-created for their purposes to be most effective. Basically, a taxonomy comprises the concepts or terms that reflect the subject domain of the content that will be tagged and retrieved with the aid of that taxonomy. Taxonomies must also be customized to the requirements (or limitations)…
History of Modern Information Taxonomies
Despite their name, information taxonomies are closer to subject heading schemes and thesauri, than they are classification systems.
Taxonomies and ChatGPT
Although we may think of generative AI for providing answers to questions, it can do a lot more, including tasks related to taxonomies.
Polyhierarchy in Taxonomies
A defining characteristic of taxonomies is that terms/concepts are arranged in broader-narrower hierarchies, which may resemble tree structures. A limited number of top concepts each have narrower concepts, which in turn may have narrower concepts, etc., and the narrowest concepts at the bottom of the hierarchy are sometimes referred to…
Hierarchies in Taxonomies, Thesauri, Ontologies, and Beyond
Hierarchies vary depending on the kind of knowledge organization system, so you cannot assume that a hierarchy in one system converts to a hierarchy in another system
When a Taxonomy Should not be Hierarchical
The traditional taxonomy is hierarchical. Thus, after it is determined a taxonomy is needed, often it is thought that it should be designed as a hierarchy. However, in practical terms, a hierarchical taxonomy might not be the kind that is appropriate. A taxonomy provides value (1) as a controlled vocabulary…
Taxonomy Hierarchical Relationship Issues
A common feature of taxonomies is the hierarchical relationship between terms. Terms are linked to each other in a relationship that indicates that one is the broader term (BT) of the other, and in the other direction, one is the narrower term (NT) of the other. You don’t need to…
Taxonomy Hierarchy Levels
A taxonomy comprises a hierarchy of concepts (terms), and those hierarchies can be considered to be in different levels. In actuality, levels are somewhat artificial, and its important not to think of levels too strictly. In some taxonomies the levels are even named (for example: Domain, Category, Subcategory, Topic), but…