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Ten Taxonomy Myths

“Taxonomies have recently emerged from the quiet backwaters of biology, book indexing, and library science into the corporate limelight. They are supposed to be the silver bullets that will help users find the needle in the intranet haystack, reduce “friction” in electronic commerce, facilitate scientific research, and promote global collaboration. But before this can happen, practitioners need to dispel the myths and confusion, created in part by the multi-disciplinary nature of the task and the hype surrounding content management technologies.” (Montague Institute Review)

I got to experience this first hand recently; we were ordered to “hire a taxonomist” without having a clear understanding of what a taxonomist does or is supposed to deliver. I wish I’d had this article back then… it would have been easier to explain the concept. (Of course, it would have to have been summarized into a 5-bullet-point “executive review”.)

December 6, 2002 | Archived in Information Architecture