Taxodiary – Taxonomy

Raising a Glass to Rich and Complicated Words

By Melody Smith|December 29th, 2014|Access Insights, Featured, Taxonomy, Term lists|Comments Off on Raising a Glass to Rich and Complicated Words

As we anticipate the approaching new Gregorian year, those of us who are taxonomists are looking forward with renewed anticipation to the taxonomic challenges that certain kinds of words bring. Take “glass”, for example. “Glass” is one of those words that contain an abundance of possible meanings. Ironically, this poses the potential for ambiguity. What makes this particular situation even more ironic is that this ambiguity clouds the very clarity that the word often symbolizes. Ambiguous words are tricky to work with in constructing and developing taxonomies and thesauri. Moreover, they make the writing of effective indexing rules challenging. Taking care in the crafting of those rules becomes all the more important, because of the need for disambiguation.

The Value of Taxonomies

By Melody Smith|December 24th, 2014|indexing, News, Taxonomy|Comments Off on The Value of Taxonomies

The release of SemantiCz™ v2.0 with new features can help generate relationships with precise, subject-specific contextual accuracy. Users will be able to manage multiple versions of domain-specific ontologies and vocabularies in various languages, as well as extract relationships from content using advanced text mining algorithms.

Book on Classification and Data Mining an Interesting Read

By Melody Smith|December 23rd, 2014|News, Taxonomy|Comments Off on Book on Classification and Data Mining an Interesting Read

Every once in awhile we discover an interesting read that we think you might find interesting.

The Ghosts of Concepts Future

By Melody Smith|December 22nd, 2014|Access Insights, Featured, indexing, Taxonomy, Term lists|Comments Off on The Ghosts of Concepts Future

As taxonomists, we have a responsibility to discern those future concepts, although they may still be invisible to most. We can save the various expressions of those concepts in search logs from being rejected from consideration for a vocabulary simply on account of their as yet infrequent appearance. In a taxonomy or thesaurus, we can provide labels that will consolidate the indexing for a concept for which researchers have not yet settled on a name. In some cases, especially with widely used vocabularies, we can perhaps determine the name by which a concept will be known on a standard basis.

Bringing Art Out Into the Open

By Melody Smith|December 22nd, 2014|metadata, News, Taxonomy|Comments Off on Bringing Art Out Into the Open

The first Smithsonian museum to digitize their collections calls the project Digital Zero. They have photographed and uploaded the entire collection into a digital asset management (DAM) system. That is more than 40,000 objects and almost double that number in images. This is a great opportunity for scholars and researchers as well as everyday virtual visitors to have 24/7 access to this collection of art.

Content Migration Success Relies on Solid Taxonomy

By Melody Smith|December 17th, 2014|indexing, metadata, News, Taxonomy|Comments Off on Content Migration Success Relies on Solid Taxonomy

Installing a new digital asset management (DAM) system can be a challenge. After a great deal of planning and coordination across multiple departments and groups, the biggest task is left - the migration of existing assets from one or more sources into the new DAM system.

Additional Active Searching Techniques for Taxonomy Resources

By Melody Smith|November 24th, 2014|Access Insights, Featured, Taxonomy|Comments Off on Additional Active Searching Techniques for Taxonomy Resources

To continue our theme from last time: “For every minute spent in organizing an hour is earned” (Unknown). This quotation helps us remember the importance of developing online search techniques that will help you “save” time (or, at least allocate your time wisely!). Previously, we looked at keyword searching on the open web and in full-text search environments. Today, let's consider another active search technique. This one takes advantage of online website directories.

Word of Another Kind

By Melody Smith|November 21st, 2014|News, Taxonomy|Comments Off on Word of Another Kind

If you are like me, words intrigue and inspire you. I could be called a thesaurus nerd, reading and researching words synonymous with one another to add impact to my writing and tell my stories with more emotion, detail, and energy.

Identifying New Life

By Melody Smith|November 14th, 2014|News, Taxonomy|Comments Off on Identifying New Life

After all these years, decades, and centuries of scientific investigation, new living organisms are still being discovered and identified. The hope that new life brings as other animal species are becoming extinct brings hope. At least twelve new species of butterflies/moths have been identified just this month.

Hands-on Learners Unite

By Melody Smith|November 13th, 2014|News, Taxonomy|Comments Off on Hands-on Learners Unite

Some people earn better when they are hands-on with a project. If that is the case for you, then this interesting and humorous exercise from The Biology Corner just might interest you.