Creating Taxonomies: Methods and Processes

Creating Taxonomies

Presented by Fred Leise
ContextualAnalysis
ASI Upper Midwest Chapter Fall Meeting
September 14, 2013
© 2013 by ContextualAnalysis

1

Presentation Overview
1.

Working Example: GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com

2.

Methodology Overview

3.

Business Context

4.

User Context

5.

Content Analysis

6.

Facet Development

7.

CV Creation

© 2013 © 2013 by ContextualAnalysis
by ContextualAnalysis

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GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com
[This doesn’t exist, but we’ll use it for
exercise purposes throughout the
workshop.]
Purpose: a new website to help U.S.
travelers plan trips to Europe


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Methodology: Overview
1. Context: stakeholder interviews;
comparative/competitive analysis
2. Context: user demographics
3. Context: user mental models


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4

Methodology: Overview
4. Context: content audit/review
5. Facet creation (and testing)
6. Vocabulary development and testing


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CV Development Methodology
Identify patterns
in content

Determine how
stakeholders want to
organize and present
their information

Determine how
target audience(s)
search for and
use information

Explore what other,
similar organizations/
businesses do

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CV Development Methodology
In every decision, always consider the
user first. Can real users actually use
what we are constructing?
CVs must reflect users’ terminology,
mental model.


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Methodology: Context
Stakeholder Interviews
5–10 individuals: project sponsors, project
owners, project leaders, project team
members
Goals
Understand business perspective behind
taxonomy development

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Stakeholder Interviews: Methods
One-on-one interviews
In-person or via phone
No longer than one hour
Use open-ended questions
Prepare interview script/validate with client,
project team

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Stakeholder Interviews: Content
What is the larger project that taxonomy
development is part of?
What are the “pain points” that are driving
taxonomy development at this time?


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Stakeholder Interviews: Content
Challenges in/to project?
Other relevant projects?
Purpose for taxonomy?


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Analysis using spreadsheet
Trends and commonalities
Areas of agreement/disagreement


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Content: will not include cruises or river barge
trips; will focus on non-hotel accommodations
Educational activities, e.g., museums not
Disneyland Paris


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User Demographics
Audience segments/roles
(important for later user interviews)
Age
Experts/lay individuals
(affects terminology)
Computer experience

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User Demographics
Location: local/global
Number of site visitors
Returning vs. new site visitors


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Target audience
singles, groups, families
experienced travelers
age: 25–65
household income > $50K


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User Research
Importance
You do not
See things like they do
Know what they know
Want what they want
Work how they work


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User Research: Interviews
Potential Interviewees
Representative sample of all users, including
demographics
5–8 users from each audience segment
Users (potential users) of website
Current or potential customers or clients


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Recruiting Screener
1. Self-completed questionnaire or
2. Phone questionnaire
Weed out individuals not meeting the
qualifications for participation
Obtain demographic information
Get agreement to participate in research

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User Research: Screener
GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com will be conducting user
research into how people think about European
vacations. If you would like to participate in these
individual, one-hour calls, please complete the
questions below.
Because we are looking for a mix of people with
different demographics, you may or may not hear
anything further from us about your participation.
Please check answers to questions as appropriate.


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1. How old are you?
 17 or younger
[Disqualification]
 18–25
[No more than 2]
 26–35
[No more than 5]
 36–45
[No more than 5]
 46–55
[No more than 5]
 56–65
[No more than 5]
 66 or older [No more than 3]
2. Are you:
 Male
 Female

[No more than 6]
[No more than 6]

3. Do you have any children under the age of 18 living in your home? 
Yes. If so, how many? __________
 No
[No more than 6]

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4. In the last 12 months, have you booked a European vacation (including
flight and accommodations)?
 Yes What was your destination? _________________
 No
[Disqualification]
5. How would you rate your own travel expertise? [Recruit mix]
 Beginner
 Intermediate
 Expert
6. Do you usually travel:
 By yourself?
 With a spouse or partner (no kids)?
 With your family?
 With friends?

[No more than 2]
[No more than 4]
[No more than 4]
[No more than 4]
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7. What is your household income?
 Less than $50,000/year
[No more than 2]
 Between $50,000 and $100,000/year [No more than 5]
 Over $100,000/year
[No more than 5]
8. What is your highest educational level?
 Did not graduate high school [No more than 2]
 Graduated high school
[No more than 2]
 Some college
[No more than 5]
 Graduated college
[No more than 6]


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9. Where do you live?
 East Coast
[No more than 4]
 South
[No more than 4]
 Midwest
[No more than 4]
 Southwest
[No more than 4]
 West Coast [No more than 4]
10 How often do you buy items Amazon.com or eBay?
 Never
[No more than 4]
 Sometimes [No more than 4]
 Frequently
[No more than 4]
11. Do you or anyone in your family work in the travel industry?
 Yes
[Disqualification]
 No

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12. Do you or anyone in your family work in marketing or public relations?
 Yes
[Disqualification]
 No
13. Have you participated in any user research, including focus groups, in
the last 12 months?
 Yes
[Disqualification]
 No


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Methodology
One-on-one interviews
In-person or via phone
No longer than one hour
Use open-ended questions
Prepare interview discussion guide/validate
with client, project team

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Methodology
Compensation for participation
~$100/hour
Paid at end of session
Recruit on own or using recruiting company


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Use “ethnographic inquiry” techniques
Encourage open answers, rather than to lead
the interviewee in any preconceived direction
Use predefined questions as prompts in a
conversation, not a verbatim script
Allow the interviewee to direct the flow of
conversation


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What is a Mental Model?
Grocery Shopping
Talk to spouse
Look in fridge
How much time do I have?
Does the car need gas?
Clip coupons
Plan meals

Look for discounts

Prepare shopping list

Walk the store aisles

Illustration by
Adaptive Path

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User Interviews
Need a volunteer to be user for a 15-minute
interview about planning travel to Europe
You can be as creative as you’d like in your
answers.


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Content Analysis
Discussion with content authors
Size of content (number of pages/documents
to be analyzed)
Content stable or constantly changing
ROT (redundant, outdated, trivial)
New content or content areas

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Content Audit/Review
Goal: Become familiar with current content
Method: Visit every piece of content (or a
representative sample) by following site links in
order


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Content Audit/Review
Information to capture
URL
Page/document title
Document type
Description of document content
Keyword extraction

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Content Review (Content Sampling)
Be sure to include breadth of content
Visit different content types
Visit as many sections of the site as possible
Ask about important content


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Technology
Taxonomy interface with Technology
Capability for handling hierarchies or flat lists
only?
Number of hierarchy levels?
Indication of related terms?
Can system handle CV maintenance?


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Facet Creation
Facet Analysis
Detailed analysis of user interview transcripts to
determine the kinds of information users look
for
Compile list of every type of information
mentioned, including examples
Arrange like types together

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Facet Creation
Determine facets based on groupings of
information types
Assign preliminary labels to facets
Follow principles of facet creation


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Principles of Facet Creation
Principle of Differentiation
When dividing an entity into its component
parts, it is important to use facets that will
distinguish clearly among these component
parts.
Good: height, width, weight, color
Bad: dimensions, height, color

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Principle of Relevance
Facets should be chosen for their relevance to
the purpose, subject, and scope of the
particular context.
Facets must be relevant to the tasks users will
be completing.


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Principle of Ascertainability
It is important to choose facets that are definite
and that can be ascertained.


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Principle of Permanence
Use facets that reflect permanent qualities of
the entity in question.


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Principle of Mutual Exclusivity
The values in any two facets should not
overlap.


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Principle of Fundamental Categories
There exist no categories that are fundamental
to all subjects; categories should be derived
based upon the nature of the subject being
classified.
“There are no rules, there are only contexts.”
Fred Leise’s Rule #1 of Indexing


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Exercise: Facet Creation
What are some of the facets that should be
created for GoToEuropeTravelPlanner.com,
based on what you heard in the interview?
What are some other facets that logically should
also be created?


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CV Creation
Content Analysis/Term Extraction
Using content audit results, revisit
representative sample of content
Identify potential vocabulary terms based on
preliminary facets, e.g., doc type, products,
services, etc.


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CV Creation
User Interviews
Analyze user interviews for specific search or
content terms mentioned


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CV Creation
Search Log Analysis
What terms to do users use when they are
searching?
With what frequency are terms used?
Are there groups of related/alternate terms
(including common misspellings)?


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CV Creation
Publicly Available Taxonomies
www.TaxoBank.org
Taxonomywarehouse.com
Thesauri on-line
(www.fbi.fh-koeln.de/institut/labor/
Bir/thesauri_new/thesen.htm)
competitor sites (view source)


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CV Creation
Publicly Available Taxonomies
Getty vocabularies
Art and Architecture Thesaurus
Union List of Artist Names
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names


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CV Creation
Free Listing
Purpose
Identify user terms, core concepts
Understand structure of a domain
May be used to explore differences in
audience segments


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CV Creation
Free Listing
Methodology
Start by interviewing 5-6 users
“Name all the [X] you know.”


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CV Creation
Free Listing
Analysis
Note early occurrences of a term
List items by frequency mentioned; more
frequent = more central to domain
Note co-occurrences of terms; may indicate
logical term grouping


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CV Creation
Free Listing
Analysis
Note any differences by audience segment


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Reference
Rashmi Sinha. “Beyond cardsorting: Free-listing
methods to explore user categorizations”
BoxesandArrows.com, 24 February 2003
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/beyond-cardsortingfree-listing-methods-to-explore-user-categorizations


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Free Listing Exercise
Take about two minutes to list all the types of
accommodations you know in Europe that are
not hotels
Write them down first, then we’ll go around the
room and compare the lists.


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CV Creation
CV Organization
Given the vocabulary terms identified, what type
of CV is necessary for this facet?
Is the facet required or optional when tagging
content?
Who needs to review the CV before
finalization?

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CV Creation
CV Organization
Is this facet for administrative purposes only, or
will it be visible to users?
How will the facet be used? browsing? filtering
search results?


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CV Creation: Spreadsheet


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Resources
Databases
Michael J. Hernandez, Database Design for
Mere Mortals, 3d ed.


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Contact Information
Fred Leise
6530 N. Greenview Ave., #2
Chicago, IL 60626
773.764.2588
www.ContextualAnalysis.com
fredleise@contextualanalysis.com


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Creating Taxonomies: Methods and Processes

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