Taxonomies and Faceted Navigation Getting the Best of Both

1. Taxonomies and Faceted Navigation Getting the Best of Both Tom ReamyChief Knowledge Architect KAPS Group Knowledge Architecture Professional Services http://www.kapsgroup.com

2. Agenda • Introduction: Essentials of Facets and Taxonomies • Implementing Facets and Taxonomies • Combining Taxonomies and Facets • Conclusion

3. KAPS Group: General • Knowledge Architecture Professional Services • Virtual Company: Network of consultants – 12-15 • Partners – Convera, Inxight, FAST, etc. • Consulting, Strategy, Knowledge architecture audit • Taxonomies: Enterprise, Marketing, Insurance, etc. • Services: • Taxonomy development, consulting, customization • Technology Consulting – Search, CMS, Portals, etc. • Metadata standards and implementation • Knowledge Management: Collaboration, Expertise, e-learning • Applied Theory – Faceted taxonomies, complexity theory, natural categories

4. Faceted Navigation: The Next Revolution • Faceted navigation will change enterprise search! • Faceted navigation will change the way business works! • Faceted navigation means the end of taxonomies! • Faceted navigation means no more metadata! • Faceted navigation will eventually replace search! • Faceted navigation will remove rust, polish your silver, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and bring world peace! • To All the Above – NAH!

5. Essentials of Facets • Facets are not categories • Entities or concepts belong to a category • Entities have facets • Facets are metadata - properties or attributes • Entities or concepts fit into one or more categories • All entities have all facets – defined by set of values • Facets are orthogonal – mutually exclusive – dimensions • An event is not a person is not a document is not a place. • Facets – variety – of units, of structure • Numerical range (price), Location – big to small • Alphabetical, Hierarchical - taxonomic

6. History of Facets • S. R. Ranganathan – 1960’s (Taxonomies – Aristotle) • Issue of Compound Subjects • The Universe consists of PMEST • Personality, Matter, Energy, Space, Time • Classification Research Group- 1950’s, 1970’s • Facet analysis as basis for all bibliographic classifications • Based on Ranganathan, simplified • Principles: • Division – a facet must represent only one characteristic • Mutual Exclusivity • More flexible, less doctrinaire • Classification Theory to Web Implementation • An Idea waiting for a technology - Multiple Filters / dimensions

7. Essentials of TaxonomiesInternal Organization • A hierarchy does not a taxonomy make. • Taxonomy, browse structure, file structure • Thesaurus, catalog, controlled vocabulary • Two basic meanings – Formal and Browse • Formal Taxonomy – parent – child relationship • Is-A-Kind-Of ---- Animal – Mammal – Zebra • Partonomy – Is-A-Part-Of ---- US-California-Oakland • Browse Classification – cluster of related concepts • Food and Dining – Catering - Restaurants

8. Essentials of Taxonomies • Taxonomies are multiple purpose • Indexing, browsing, communication, applications • Taxonomies deal with complex, not compound • Conceptual relationships – category membership • Contextual relationships – Computers & Software • Taxonomies deal with semantics • Facets are mostly about things and their properties • Taxonomies applied to documents • Multiple meanings and purposes • Essential attributes of documents are not single value

9. Taxonomies and Facets – SummaryIs This a Facet? • Important! A facet is not the same as top level categories in a taxonomy. • Simple View: • Taxonomies = complex concepts that are applied to documents • Facets = one dimension of things • More Complicated • Documents are things – can have facet attributes – example – ContentType (format to purpose) • Facets can have hierarchical structure • Hybrid facets can have a taxonomic structure

10. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies Essentials of Faceted Navigation • Not a Yahoo-style Browse • Computer Stores under Computers and Internet • One value per facet per entity • Faceted Navigation • Facets are filters, multidimensional • Browse within a facet, filter by multiple facets • Facets are applied at search time – post-coordination, not pre-coordination [Advanced Search] • Faceted Navigation is an active interface – dynamic combination of search and browse

11. A Sideways Look at Faceted NavigationMiles wants a Pinot NoirAnd he doesn’t want any ____________ Merlot!

12. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies Faceted Navigation: Advantages • More intuitive – easy to guess what is behind each door • Simplicity of internal organization • 20 questions – we know and use • Dynamic selection of categories • Allow multiple perspectives • Ability to Handle Compound Subjects • Trick Users into “using” Advanced Search • wine where color = red, price = x-y, etc. • Click on color red, click on price x-y, etc.

13. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies Faceted Navigation: Advantages • Systematic Advantages: • Need fewer Elements • 4 facets of 10 nodes = 10,000 node taxonomy • Content Management Advantages: • Easier to “categorize” – not as conceptual • Fewer = simple, can use auto-classification better • Flexible – can add new facets, elements in facet

14. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies Faceted Navigation: Disadvantages • Lack of Standards for Faceted Classifications • Every project is unique customization • Difficulty of expressing complex relationships • Simplicity of internal organization • Loss of Browse Context • Difficult to grasp scope and relationships • Essential Limit of Faceted Navigation • Limited Domain Applicability – type and size • Entities not concepts, documents, web sites • Trade off between simplicity (power and ease of understanding) and complexity (real world)

15. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies When to Use Faceted Navigation • Type of Collections • Small to medium sized sets of things • Homogenous set of entities • Arbitrary Categorization of Domain • Taxonomy of Office Supplies – yes • Taxonomy of Life, Life Insurance – no. • Nature of the domain and tasks • Multi-dimensional area – no single hierarchy • Nature of Important distinctions • Can Create a Complete Set of Facets • 3 or more mutually exclusive dimensions

16. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies Taxonomy: Advantages • Rich Context • Related concepts – Generalization and specification • Browse – variety of types of relationships • Standard taxonomies available • Build on work of others • Communication with others • Multi-purpose • Search – indexing, keywords • Semantic signature of document • Browse – conceptual context • Applications - Alerts based on meaning in a document

17. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies Taxonomy: Advantages • Knowledge Representation • Higher level relationships • User focus – their concept levels, nomenclature • Faceted Taxonomies • Advantages – smaller, scalability, conceptual clarity • More complex, conceptual entities and relationships • When to use: • Size of element set • Complexity of domain – concepts, documents, web pages

18. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies Taxonomy: Disadvantages • Large, difficult to develop • Pre-coordinated - can’t anticipate all of user’s needs • Formal taxonomies do not represent user’s perspective • Taxonomies are more difficult to use – often not clear where to go • More difficult to use with auto-categorization • Expensive

19. Implementing Facets and Taxonomies When to Use Taxonomies • Complex Relationships • If target is understand a rich set of related resources – yes • If target is to buy an object - no • Semantic • If meaning in documents is primary – yes • If targets are things or data documents - no • Primary content is rich collection of documents • Documents not about two or three things – multiple concepts, aboutness and minor topics • Full text index mapped to taxonomy – support multiple perspectives into content, different purposes

20. Combining Facets and TaxonomiesDevelopment Issues – Facets • Reflect current usage – expert community and user community • Flexibility – allows for additions of new subject, facets, entities at any point in the system • Match the structure to domain and task • Users can understand different structures • General: chronological, alphabetical, spatial, simple to complex, size or quantity, hierarchical, canonical • Precision of unit values – very important!

21. Combining Facets and TaxonomiesDevelopment Issues – Facets • Facetization of Taxonomy • Same structure in multiple places in a taxonomy • Hidden elements – get at with user focus • Content type – Presentation, Well Report • Level of Structure related to size of domain • Alphabetical – list, range • Number of Facets vs. Internal structure • People – list or sub-structure – organizations, functions, etc. • Labeling • Systematic coherence vs. user labels, tasks

22. Combining Facets and TaxonomiesDesign Issues • Bad • Single set of facets, select and browse • It’s just another category • “Faceted” Search • It’s just advanced search • Better • Combination of single facet browse and search • Good • Multiple facet browse and search • Balance – purity of facets (easy to understand) with reflecting user’s world view and tasks

23. Combining Facets and TaxonomiesDesign Issues • Dominant Dimension • Semantic focus • Single Facet – Hotel = location • Equal facets or Main and Secondary facets • Number of facets, user population • Mixed paths or dedicated facet interface • Wine.com – specials, time sensitive facets • Facets within taxonomy – browse by wine type, then apply price, region facets

24. Facets and Taxonomies – Sample ImplementationsRich Information Access • Combining Subject Matter and Topical Facets • Organization, Assets, Activities + Topics • Browse Topics and filter by Assets & Activities • Quality control for drilling new well in region X • Geography facet and terrorism taxonomy • Bomb making in Sudan • Adding Attributes – Global and Local • Content Types – presentations, well reports, policy • Price – only shows up if intersection contains items with price metadata

25. Facets and Taxonomies – Sample Implementations Complex Work Space • Combine faceted taxonomies, attribute facets, file structure • People, Things, Events + Content Type • File structure – where local group stores sets of related documents • Links to wider universe • Targeted links – by category, facet dimensions • Find related people or policy documents • Advantage of global context and local fast access

26. Facets and Taxonomies – Sample Implementations Ontologies and Alerts • Ontology is a model of the relationships of a particular domain. • Vice President – Related to • Other people, HR policies, business activities • Security rights, other implied behaviors • Alerts – Software – entity extraction, facet extraction • Old – if terms x,y,z appear • Better – complex search – Near, Not, InSentence • Better – Contains any of type x entity or facet (products), plus complex conceptual content, plus certain values within a facet (buying activity), then send alert

27. Basic Six Dimensions People individuals and communities Event Location Time Entities/ Things Information Resource – types Custom Facets / Taxonomies Products / Services Applications / Technologies Combine with subject matter taxonomies (MESH, etc.) Ontologies General Business relationships Industry specific Biotech Research Pipelines Faceted Taxonomy – ExampleKAPS Group Enterprise Taxonomy

28. Conclusion • Taxonomies and facets are both part of intellectual infrastructure – supports multiple approaches, applications • Dynamic classification is better than pre-coordinated structures • Combine formal power with ability to support multiple user perspectives • Formal taxonomies are best for dynamic classification • Find the right blend of pure facets, hybrid facets, taxonomies, faceted taxonomies, ontologies, etc. • Design for your situation – eCommerce or Enterprise • Compound and Complex work, Complicated doesn’t

29. Questions? Tom Reamytomr@kapsgroup.com KAPS Group Knowledge Architecture Professional Services http://www.kapsgroup.com