Enterprise Search: Parametric and Faceted Search and Taxonomies

Enterprise Search: Parametric and Faceted Search and Taxonomies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceted_classification

Faceted search is a good idea, and more realistic a way of classifying information.

Mark Bower : Taxonomy in a Digital World Part 2

Mark Bower : Taxonomy in a Digital World Part 2

Taxonomy on the Web

Taxonomy on the Web So, why are both spiders and lobsters arthropods?

Taxonomy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taxonomy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's a bit basic, but it's useful. Taxonomy is categorisation, but I think of it as a schema for all corporate data.

Taxonomy came from Biology, here`s the science...

http://anthro.palomar.edu/animal/animal_1.htm

Here is a nice link showing how whne they started trying to classify all the animals on Earth, they assumed it had always been that way and always would be because er, god made everything. Then Darwin and Evolution showed how really complex it was. Genetics has helped simplify things again.

The lesson here is, when planning the information structure for your organisation, realise you are not god, there can be no simple hierarchical structure. Rather, realise that the relationship between information is primarily the people who create it, and also that it will always, always change.

Where to start...

The best place is the Wikipedia`s page on what taxonomy means in the general sense. Which is that it is the rules of classification, or the systems or theories of how to organise stuff. It comes form the greek words meaning classify and law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy

I intend this blog to be a repository for whatever I can collect on this subject. I think it is something I have always been interested in and even enjoy, and the fact that it is an important part of the work I do with SharePoint does not surprise me.

I will have a lot more to say on this subject over time, but keep in mind that I think while the 19th century struggled to organise the plant and animal kingdoms, the 21st will struggle to organise all of the information it can access thanks to the internet. So on I go! I will start with a fictional ancient Chinese classification system for animals that goes to show taxonomy is just a wierd construct of the human mind in the end...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Emporium_of_Benevolent_Recognition

Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Recognition is a parody of classification schemes or taxonomy, in the form of a fictitious Chinese encyclopedia created by Jorge Luis Borges in the essay "John Wilkins' Analytical Language" on language and epistemology 1. Animals are classified into the following categories:

Those that belong to the Emperor
Embalmed ones
Those that are trained
Suckling pigs
Mermaids
Fabulous ones
Stray dogs
Those included in this classification
Those that tremble as if they were mad
Innumerable ones
Those drawn with a very fine camel's hair brush
Others
Those that have just broken a flower vase
Those that resemble flies from a distance