Assessment of taxonomy building tools
| Published date | 16 November 2010 |
| Pages | 769-788 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471011093480 |
| Date | 16 November 2010 |
| Author | Abdus Sattar Chaudhry |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Assessment of taxonomy
building tools
Abdus Sattar Chaudhry
Department of Library and Information Science, College of Social Sciences,
Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait
Abstract
Purpose – The main objective of the paper is to assess selected taxonomy building tools to review
their features and capabilities for supporting development and deployment of taxonomy functions.
Design/methodology/approach – A checklist of desirable features and capabilities of taxonomy
tools was used for assessment focusing on development, deployment, display, and information
environment supported. White papers and product information datasheets on vendor sites were
consulted to analyze features and capabilities of selected taxonomy tools.
Findings – The review indicates that more than 50 per cent of the selected tools support automatic
and hybrid taxonomy building; about 80 per cent allow import and export of taxonomies and
vocabularies; and all tools reviewed support classification and tagging. User interfaces, for
maintenance, and display in facets, are supported by some tools, while, some have also integrated
other visualization tools, or modules to provide clear representation of contents, and relationships.
Research limitations/implications – Analysis is based on review of white papers and product
information sheets and is therefore limited to indication of availability features and capabilities. The
review does not assess performance of tools which would require use of tools and feedback from actual
users.
Practical implications – The checklist used for assessment provides a useful template for
organizations interested in assessing tools for taxonomy implementation. A summary of features and
capabilities of selected taxonomy tools may also be useful in selecting tools for taxonomy application
projects.
Originality/value – Little research has been reported in the literature on assessment methodology
and evaluation of taxonomy tools. This study makes a good contribution to the literature on this
important aspect of research and makes available useful practical information as well.
Keywords Knowledge management, Information strategy, Knowledge organizations,
Classification schemes
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The term taxonomy is used with different meanings in different contexts. For some
industries and organizations, it can be a simple collection of keywords commonly used
to group information resources (Holsapple, 2003). In the domain of knowledge
organization, taxonomy refers to listing of topics or categories often used to provide a
structured navigational path in a content collection (Chaudhry and Goh, 2005).
National Information Standards Organ ization (National Information Standa rds
Organisation, 2005) defined taxonomy as a collection of controlled vocabulary term s
arranged in a hierarchical order. Lambe (2007) stated that an effective taxonomy has
three key attributes: a form of classification scheme, semantics and a knowledge map.
In general, thereare two primary motivations for organizingthe information by using
taxonomy tools. First, information retrieval, as the hierarchically arranged information
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Assessment
of taxonomy
building tools
769
Received 21 July 2009
Revised 10 November 2009
Accepted 10 November 2009
The Electronic Library
Vol. 28 No. 6, 2010
pp. 769-788
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/02640471011093480
allows users to easily find information as well as look for related information. Second,
taxonomy helps realize value from discovering relationships in content and affinities
between people (Lamont, 2003). In addition, taxonomies are useful tools for creating
metadata and categories supporting browsing and navigation (Jagerman, 2006).
Creating taxonomy and deploying it in an organization can be a daunting task. A
Delphi Group (2002) report stressed that having a taxonomy construction tool was
critical in building taxonomies and improving the information architecture. There
appears to be a strong preference to have some assistance in taxonomy development
through the use of taxonomy tools. These tools can help to speed up the process of
taxonomy construction and aid in taxonomy maintenance. Deployment of taxonomy in
an organizationinvolves tagging or classifyingthe contents, which can also be verytime
consuming and tediouswithout the help of automated tools.As classification technology
improves, usersare beginning to realize the usefulnessof such tools even better. Another
Delphi Report (2004)stated that 29 per cent of respondents in their surveyindicated that
having automatedclassification is critical to theinformation architecture strategy,47 per
cent indicated they preferred having automated classification, 23 per cent indicated it is
nice to have, and only 1% indicated not necessary.
There are many taxonomy tools available in the market and various listing of
taxonomy productshave been compiled. Some useful referencesinclude Lovinger (2008);
Search Tools Listing (www.searchtools.com/info/classifiers-tools.html) and Taxo Tips:
Resources to helpwith your taxonomies and vocabularies(www.taxotips.com/resources/
tools/). Each tool hasits strengths and weaknesses. It is difficult to determine which tool
is suitable for taxonomy implementation in a particular environment. Sia (2002)
conducted a study to evaluate ten frequently cited taxonomy tools. Many mergers and
takeovers havetaken place and new products havebeen introduced into the marketsince
2002. This studyhas become outdated by these recentdevelopments, although it is stilla
very valuable source of information on taxonomy tools. Also, several new tools have
become available during the last seven years. These tools use different technology and
different approaches towards taxonomy development and deployment. A new study
therefore is expected to make more useful and updated information available. Also, the
checklist used by Sia (2002) needed to be expanded to incorporate new information
organization and architecture concepts.
This paper reports results of an assessment exercise conducted to review
taxonomy-building tools. The review of current taxonomy builders was carried out
using criteriaof desirable features and capabilities. The study helpeddevelop a checklist
that can assist in assessment of taxonomy tools for application in different information
environments.At the same time, in the course of assessmentexercise, useful information
about features and capabilities of selected tools also became available as a by-product.
The assessment focused on the areas of developing,deploying, display and maintenance
of taxonomies. Steps taken to develop the checklist and conduct the review are
elaborated and features of selected taxonomy products are described in this paper.
Research procedures
Process
In total, 12 tools were shortlisted for evaluation. This list consisted of newly identified
tools and those reviewed in previous studies but had introduced further enhancements.
The new tools were identified by searching the internet for taxonomy building tools. A
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