Taxonomies should be designed with enough flexibility and transition points to be a bridge to other taxonomies and datasets. Enabling your taxonomy to fit into the larger universe of partner companies, industry standards, federal requirements and complementary term sets gives it a solid foundation for future growth. We explore which vocabulary sets are available for reuse by the enterprise information architect and demonstrate how thinking about semantic integration from the beginning of the design process helps build a taxonomy that endures.

1. First
Name
Last
Name
Title can go here
email@designforcontext.com
@design4context
Jayne
Dutra
jaynedutra100@gmail.com
@JayneDutra
Duane
Degler
duane@designforcontext.com
@ddegler
Building
Bridges
with
Taxonomy
Enabling
Seman6c
Integra6on
Taxonomy
Boot
Camp
2
November,
2015

2. 2
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Presenters
TAXONOMY
AND
METADATA
DESIGN
Design metadata models and
taxonomy sets that help
users intuiCvely understand
their content.
Jayne
Dutra
Photo
of
addi6onal
presenter
here
(in
grayscale)
INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE
/
DESIGN
Understand the models that
make informaCon Cck, and
help people get things done.
Duane
Degler

3. 3
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Scoping
Out
a
New
Taxonomy
Project
● What’s
needed?
Iden6fy
the
priority
informa6on
goals
● Search,
data
clean
up,
data
integra6on
across
systems,
work
flows
● What's
broken?
Iden6fy
pain
points
in
your
organiza6on
● Inefficiencies
due
to
poor
search
func6onality,
data
fragmenta6on,
inconsistent
data
maintenance
processes,
non-­‐
compliance
issues
● What
is
in
my
domain?
● What
informa6on
is
generated
inside
your
company
and
specific
to
your
use
cases?
● What
is
external?
● What
informa6on
is
available
outside
your
company
that
is
needed
to
resolve
or
complete
internal
requirements?

4. 4
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
The
Challenge
● The
amount
of
informa6on
inside
the
company
is
exploding
● The
amount
of
informa6on
outside
the
company
is
exploding
● You
want
your
informa6on
to
have
strategic
value
● How
can
a
taxonomist
take
advantage
of
vocabularies,
knowledge
models,
and
informa6on
rela6onships
to
give
richness
and
organiza6onal
context?

5. 5
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Vocabularies
and
Knowledge
Models
…Need
to
Describe…
Content
Concepts
in
content
Synthesis
across
content
Tasks
and
collabora6ons
in
context
Retrieve
Valuable
Informa6on

6. 6
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Vocabularies
and
Knowledge
Models
General
and
domain-­‐shared
terms
&
models
Your
organizaLon’s
unique
terms
&
models
ConnecLng
relaLonships
“Linked
Data”
as
the
bridge…
Using
ontologies
and
common
vocabularies

7. 7
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Crea6ng
Linked
Data
Rela6onship
Statements
Subject
(a
noun)
Object
(a
noun)
Predicate
(a
verb)
A
“triple”
Focused
on
expressing
meaning
of
a
statement
(beyond
“broader
than”
or
“related
to”)

8. 8
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Person
ontology
Business
ontology
Educa3on
ontology
Person
OrganizaLon
Post-­‐Grad
Degree
University
QualificaLon
Line
of
business
Business
area
Products
Hobbies
Manager
Works
as
Has
job
role
Has
degree
Confers
Controls
Operates
in
Knows
Makes
Valid
type
of
PracLces
Requires
More
Disciplined
Structures

9. 9
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Understanding
the
Rela6onships
Business
Product
Buys
Business
Product
Sells
Has
customer

10. 10
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Avoiding
Duplica6on,
Adding
Richness
Business
Business
Product
Sells
Has
customer
Buys

11. 11
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Person
ontology
Business
ontology
Educa3on
ontology
Person
OrganizaLon
Post-­‐Grad
Degree
University
QualificaLon
Line
of
business
Business
area
Products
Hobbies
Manager
Works
as
Has
job
role
Has
degree
Confers
Controls
Operates
in
Knows
Makes
Valid
type
of
PracLces
Requires
But
where
are
the
Taxonomies???

12. 12
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
How
Do
a
Taxonomy
and
an
Ontology
Fit
Together?
Taxonomy
A
controlled
(hierarchical)
classifica6on
structure,
usually
with
thesaurus
rela6onships
Ontology
A
model
that
describes
concept
and
en6ty
rela6onships,
with
formal
classes
and
proper6es
Organization
Company 1
External
Other
Internal
Company 2 Can use to populate
For example, use the taxonomy to manage
controlled vocabularies that populate instances and properties lists

13. 13
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Types
of
Knowledge
Models
(ontologies)
and
Vocabularies
Upper
Level
Local
Domain
General
Bridging
Ontologies
Local
Vocabularies
Common,
Available
Vocabularies
● Interconnected
informa6on
● Connec6ng
disparate
concepts
and
re-­‐forming
them
in
new
ways
● Insights
emerge
over
6me
Bridging
Ontologies
Bridging
Ontologies

14. 14
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Local
Vocabularies
-­‐
When
YOU
are
the
Expert
● Examine
what’s
special
about
your
organiza6on
and
design
Local
Vocabularies
for
that
● Some
candidate
facets
could
include:
Organiza6on,
Content
Type,
Life
Cycle,
Project
Names,
Product
Lines
● Share
the
specific
exper6se
of
your
organiza6on

15. 15
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Domain
Vocabularies
-­‐
Tailored
for
a
Specific
Field
● Look
for
common
standards
and
terms
used
in
your
field
● Good
for
sharing
across
systems
or
organiza6ons
in
the
same
field
● Such
as:
● UMLS
/
MeSH
/
SNOMED
/
HL-­‐7
/
ICD
● Gemy
Art
&
Architecture
(AAT)
● CATT

16. 16
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
General
Vocabularies
● Concepts
that
are
commonly
understood
across
communi6es
● Examples
of
General
Vocabulary
Standards
● Lexicon
- WordNet
● People
- VIAF (virtual internaConal authority file), ORCID
● Loca6on
and
Places
- ISO 3166, FIPS, GeoNames, Lat Long, Gey TGN
● Language
- ISO 639
● Industry
- NAICS

17. 17
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Linked
Data…
The
Core
of
the
Seman6c
Web
What
exactly
is
the
Seman6c
Web?
● A
way
to
make
statements
about
things
● More
than
just
a
classifica6on
vocabulary
list
or
pile
of
keywords
● RDF
(Resource
Descrip4on
Framework
–
the
triples)
allows
us
to
express
rela6onships
between
en66es
-­‐
increases
the
level
of
"about-­‐ness"
● A
way
to
make
web
content/data
understandable
to
machines
● A
way
to
share
and
re-­‐use
data
by
following
standard
web
publica6on
rules
● Stable
URIs
and
non-­‐proprietary
formats

18. 18
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Linked
Data
Resources
Examples
of
sources:
• LinkedData
hmp://linkeddata.org
• LOV
from
Open
Knowledge
Founda6on
hmp://lov.okfn.org
• BioPortal
hmp://bioportal.bioontology.org

19. 19
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
● Sponsored
and
developed
by
the
W3C,
approved
2009
● Compa6ble
with
ANSI/NISO
Z39.19-­‐2005
Controlled
Vocab
Standards
● SKOS
allows
transla6on
of
taxonomies
into
a
format
that
can
be
shared
and
linked
on
the
web
● SKOS
expresses
● Defini6ons,
notes,
change
notes
● Preferred
and
Alternate
terms
● Hierarchical
Rela6onships
● Schemas
have
a
permanent
URI
which
can
be
used
to
map
concepts
to
each
other!
● Also
allows
for
fuzzy
matching
(close
or
exact)
● SKOS
Primer
-­‐
hmp://www.w3.org/TR/2009/NOTE-­‐skos-­‐primer-­‐20090818/
SKOS
–
Simple
Knowledge
Organiza6on
System

20. 20
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
● Be
found
-­‐
Linked
data
ontologies
for
search
engines
Schema.org
• Use
their
schema
as
a
star6ng
point
• Add
your
organiza6on's
special
vocabulary
values
using
SKOS
files
• Use
General
and
Domain
vocabularies
where
it
makes
sense

21. 21
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
● Types
of
Organiza6ons
● Airline,
Corpora6on,
Educa6onal
Organiza6on,
Government
Organiza6on,
Local
Business,
NGO,
Performing
Group,
Sports
Organiza6on
● Types
of
People
(par6al)
● Actor,
Author,
Broker,
Buyer,
Candidate,
Character,
Colleague,
Compe6tor,
Customer,
Director,
Employee,
Founder,
Landlord,
Member,
Organizer,
Par6cipant,
Seller,
Spouse
● Also
● Products,
Places,
Events,
Ac6ons,
Intangibles,
Bibliographies…
Schema.org
-­‐
a
Rich
Resource
Recognized
by
the
major
search
engines!

22. 22
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Crea6ng
Bridges,
in
Prac6ce
(Sample)
NASA Content Types
- Designs and Specifications
- Quality Control
JPL Content Types
- Problem Failure Report
- Incident Surprise Anomaly
- Corrective Action Notice
Kennedy Content Types
- Quality Control Record
- Error Log
- Engineering Change Request
Combined through SKOS format
One
Search
Finds
Them
All!

23. 23
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Take-­‐Aways
● Using
Linked
Data
formats
to
publish
your
informa6on
is
a
powerful
way
to:
● reduce
overhead
● increase
integra6on
and
harmoniza6on
poten6al
● Be
the
authority
for
your
domain
vocabularies
● Know
what's
out
there
for
CV's
and
models
you
can
adopt
● Be
aware
of
some
important
standards
like
SKOS
for
taxonomies
● Use
common
approaches
where
it
makes
sense,
like
Schema.org
● Increase
your
data’s
richness
and
context-­‐building
possibili6es

24. 24
Enabling SemanCc IntegraCon w Taxonomy Boot Camp 2015
@design4context
Summary:
Vocabularies
and
Knowledge
Models
General
and
domain-­‐shared
terms
&
models
Your
organizaLon’s
unique
terms
&
models
ConnecLng
relaLonships
“Linked
Data”
as
the
bridge…
Using
ontologies
and
common
vocabularies

25. First
Name
Last
Name
Title can go here
email@designforcontext.com
@design4context
Jayne
Dutra
jaynedutra100@gmail.com
@JayneDutra
Duane
Degler
duane@designforcontext.com
@ddegler
Building
Bridges
with
Taxonomy
Enabling
Seman6c
Integra6on
Taxonomy
Boot
Camp
2
November,
2015