Upgrading a legacy taxonomy system OR

Resuscitating a Dinosaur

Robert G. Harp & Heidi Snead

(For review purposes only. Permission to copy, publish or present all or any part of this material is specifically reserved to the

authors and to no others.)

ECLKC, managed by Head Start Knowledge and Information Management Systems, is the central repository for Head Start resources.

These resources underwent a large scale restructuring and overhaul in 2007 – 2008.

Content was broken down into revised and often new categories.◦Organization: Domain, Topic, Subject,

Item, Sub Item, Focus…

Content is assigned several pieces of metadata based on its location, purpose, language, status etc.

The creation, editing and removal of metadata is fundamental to robust and accurate search processes.

Focus: Subject level Taxonomy

Domain

Topic Subject

Revised Content OrganizationRevised Content Organization

Content restructuring created hundreds of instances of defunct metadata: topics became subjects, domains became topics…etc

Previous metadata assigned based on folder structure

Outdated metadata resulted in difficult and often impossible searching

◦ Impaired keyword searches, site navigation No workflow in place for updating since 12/06 Attempts to set a taxonomy workflow process

failed due to over-complication and staff bewilderment.

Resources left after said attempt: 1.Master Taxonomy 2 years to develop, complex, opaque,

intimidating.2. Implemented Taxonomy (Existing.

Outdated & Useless)3.Operational Taxonomy Reflected current content structure

With the given resources and

background, what would you do?

Options: Keep the old, legacy taxonomy

Not intuitive & poorly understood.

Make changes to legacy taxonomy Lacked a key to color coded system on doc

Lacked access to creator of doc Author took the right steps, but got out of control

What do we do now?

Creating a new foundation◦Dealing with technical implications◦Meeting with SMEs to discuss essentials. What did they need?

Function over Form: What works and why?◦Discarded top down taxonomy◦Created ground up taxonomy◦Ultimately more user friendly and accessible

Creation of a governance structure. The Taxonomy Group

◦ Composed of interested parties from content/SMEs, technical and supervision teams

◦ Set up policy and rules for allowances in edits, new additions, metadata removal

Establishment of the Workflow◦ SMEs - Domain Manager - Taxonomy Chair -

Technical Team – Testing - Ready for Prime Time

The mission of the Taxonomy Group is to ensure the development, evolution and the maintenance of the HSKIMS controlled vocabulary.

It evaluates proposals for new terms and modifications to existing terms in the vocabulary through oversight of the various communities and arbitrates disputes.

It provides methods for assuring clarity, usefulness and minimizing overlap with existing terms.

The Taxonomy Group strives for consensus on terms and justifies its decisions and interpretations of definitions in cooperation with HSKIMS Organizations.

HSKIMS provides new metadata structure and TAX IDs for a Domain (sometimes auxiliary)

Cleverex further defines into a spreadsheet readable by the content system◦ Content in domain folder stripped of all metadata via

script◦ New metadata uploaded into Taxonomy structure◦ Content in domain folders assigned higher level of

metadata manually◦ Metadata is populated to all content in the folder

structure via script◦ TEST

Defined workflow and open communication 10 Domains and auxiliary metadata areas

(and counting) have been updated to meet the current content setup.

SMES now have process of reorganizing content without negatively affecting user’s search experience

Creation of an Global Metadata application Automates technical process to allow for

non-technical domain managers to add/edit/move/remove metadata

Based on same structure as the current process, taking out the time consuming manual work

Will save time/resources

Decentralize process Involve all stakeholdersEncourage input. Reassure principals that responsibility is local, not global.

Disseminate InformationSimplify process.

Best Practices