How Useful Are Taxonomies in Search?

By Melody Smith | February 1, 2011 |

Recall, precision and relevance are factors that figure heavily in search, yet they are often missing from taxonomies. In the second of a four-part webinar series co-hosted by Access Innovations and the American Society of Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Margie Hlava will explore how search can potentially be improved by applying subject metadata and how taxonomies can be used on the front-end or attached to records at the time they are created and loaded.

Read More

Using Subject Matter Experts

By Melody Smith | January 31, 2011

There are many approaches to the building of a thesaurus and taxonomy. No absolutely right or absolutely wrong methods exist but there are some that are not as efficient as others. Some which lead to bias in the resulting work. Some which will not work with the data the client actually wants to surface on a website or data mine or tag. There are some very expensive approaches and some very practical approaches to doing the work.

Read More

US Census Bureau Using Endeca Technology

By Melody Smith | January 31, 2011

Endeca Technologies has launched the US Census Bureau’s new American FactFinder application built on Endeca Latitude. American FactFinder makes more than 250 billion decennial census facts available and navigable to the average American, civil servants and skilled statisticians alike.

Read More

Mobile App Adds Custom Taxonomy

By Melody Smith | January 28, 2011

Appolicious is debuting a new categories feature that adds custom taxonomy for both iOS and Android. For the social media app director, there are now 1,400 individual categories for iOS apps on Appolicious and about 700 for Android apps listed on the app directory. That is one big…fruit?

Read More

Taxonomy Webinar Series

By Melody Smith | January 26, 2011

ASIS&T and Access Innovations are hosting a webinar series comprised of four sessions, spaced a week apart – beginning Thursday, January 27, 2011. They will examine ways that taxonomies are used to enhance search, involve users, and increase the value of information assets Semantic integration. The sessions are free to ASIS&T Members and for non-members, the cost will be $49 per session. Sign up for all 4 and receive a 20% discount, or become a member today and register at no cost.

Read More

Establishing a Usable Metadata Model

By Melody Smith | January 17, 2011

We all know that one of the biggest hurdles in implementing an effective content management application is to establish a usable metadata model. It is a waste of time to have a repository of data that users cannot search and access information. Building a strong foundation – taxonomy — to index against makes your data truly findable and useable.

Read More

Using Taxonomies to Create Business Opportunities

By Melody Smith | January 17, 2011

The economics of the Web have reversed the original business model for online information upon which businesses like LexisNexis and Dialog were built. Through those services, users paid up to $4 for individual articles from daily newspapers that originally cost 25 cents on the newsstand. That model is obviously dead today, where the cost of an individual article – even articles from leading trade magazines and scholarly journals – is effectively zero. Does that mean that publishers, aggregators, and other content owners should police the Web to insure their content is not freely distributed? Not at all – one needs only look at the recent case of Wikileaks to see that it will be impossible to keep any content from showing up freely on the Web. As they say, the Genie is already out of the bottle, so the only logical step is figuring out how to make money in the current environment. This is where taxonomies can add value – by enabling the creation of new information products that connect disparate pieces of content with high-value applications and new markets.

Read More