1、The structure of taxonomies: Facets and hierarchy,Dagobert Soergel College of Information Studies University of Maryland,Objectives,Understand the full range of functions served by taxonomies. Understand the principles of meaningful conceptual structure. Be able to apply these principles to develop
2、a meaningful structure of a domain.,Method,Present many examples from which attendees can construct their own understanding. Example slides are meant to be read by the audience. Ask questions.,Outline,Functions of taxonomies in business Facets: Aspects of meaning Hierarchy: Packaging & interlinking
3、of meaning Definitions: Clarification of meaning Concept analysis and synthesis exercise and examples Conclusion,Functions of taxonomies in business,Design for multiple functions to maximize return on investment,Functions of taxonomies in business 1,Support intellectual work in the organization Supp
4、ort learning in training applications Help decision makers to sort out the dimensions of a problem Support shared conceptual models in collaborative work Help authors to write well-structured documents,Functions of taxonomies in business 2,Support information organization and search Organize intrane
5、ts for query-based retrieval and browsing Support user-centered indexing Support query formulation, elicit user needs (applies equally to controlled-vocabulary and free-test search) Support organized display of retrieval results Support search for external information Organize data dictionaries,User
6、-centered indexing 1,Also called request- or problem-oriented indexing Principles Construct a taxonomy based on user queries and interests. Thus provide a conceptual framework that organizes user interests and communicates them to indexers. Index materials from users perspective: Add need-based retr
7、ieval clues beyond those available in the document. Increase probability that needed retrieval clues are available. Indexing = judging relevance against user concepts. Relevance rather than aboutness,Request-oriented index terms,Competitors technologies Technological developments that might put us o
8、ut of business Ideas for improving our products New uses for our products,Request-oriented index terms,Sample user concepts for indexing images Good scientific illustration Useful for advertising brochure Useful for newspaper ad Useful for banner ad Cover page quality,User-centered indexing 2,Implem
9、entation Index language as checklist Knowledgeable indexers Expert system using syntactic and semantic analysis and inference Statistically-based classifiers trained on examples,Taxonomies for meaning,Taxonomies must convey meaning to help learners assimilate information to help decision makers to s
10、ee all dimensions of a problem to help indexers consider all important aspects to help users analyze the query topic to help users process search results,Facets: Aspects of meaning,Facets for defining non-profit service options,1 Population served/affected2 Location3 Type of need addressed / area or
11、 type of service4 How we address the need5 Funding model6 Other service characteristics These facets can be applied to any type of product marketing,Facets for defining service options,1 Population served/affected 1.1 By economic status 1.2 By ethnicity 1.3 By age 1.4 . . .,Facets for service option
12、s,3 Type of need addressed / area or type of service 3.1 Pre-natal care 3.2 Comprehensive services for 0 - 3 3.3 Preschool 3.3.1 Preschool for 3s 3.3.2 Preschool for 4-5 3.4 Follow-up assistance with school 3.5 Adult education 3.5.1 Parenting education, general life skills 3.5.2 ESL 3.5.3 GED 3.6 So
13、cial services 3.7 Job services 3.7.1 Job training what careers? 3.7.2 Job placement 3.8 Health services 3.9 Parent association, community empowerment,Facets for service options,The scheme presented can be used for systematic analysis of a service or marketing problem problem-centered organization an
14、d retrieval of information,Dimensions for business processes,What?How?Who?,Facets to describe businesses,application contexts of business knowledge . branches of industry and trade . . primary industries (agriculture, mining, chemical, etc.) . . secondary industries (banking, insurance, wholesale, e
15、tc.) . type of business or organization (a group of facets) . . public versus private corporation . . publicly versus privately held corporation . . profit vs. not-for-profit corporation . . large versus small corporation . . corporation by geographical scope . traditional versus electronic business
16、 activity Copyright 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College,Facets to describe businesses,application contexts of business knowledge . traditional versus electronic business activity . . traditional business activityST physical business activity . . electronic combined with traditional busines
17、s activityST click-and-mortar business . . electronic business activityST virtual businessST ebusiness . . . ecommerceST electronic commerce Copyright 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College,Semantic factoring,The elemental concepts listed in each facet can be combined into compound concepts,
18、such asagriculture banke-banksmall private agriculture bankagriculture insurancechemical bank etc. Conversely, compound concepts can be semantic factored into their elemental constituents. A small number of elemental concepts can be used as building blocks to build many compound concepts.,Facet prin
19、ciples,A facet groups concepts that fall under the same aspect or feature in the definition of more complex concepts; it groups all concepts that can be answers to a given question. : Each facet is a slot in a frame, e.g., a type of business frame; a facet groups all concepts that can serve as fille
20、rs in one slot. Using elemental concepts as building blocks for constructing compound concepts drastically reduces the number of concepts in the taxonomy and thus leads to conceptual economy. It also facilitates the search for general concepts, such as searching for the concept small business, which
21、 occurs in many combinations.,Facets to describe change,by direction of changeno changechange upchange downchange up then downchange down then up by magnitude of changesmall changemedium changelarge change Copyright 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College,by rate of changeslow changemoderate s
22、peed changefast changesudden change by promulgated vs organic changepromulgated changeorganic change,Hierarchy: Packaging & interlinking meaning Ordered arrangement to convey meaningExamples,E business functions E2 . business finance, accounting, and control E4 . human resources E6 . internal relati
23、ons E8 . Operations (see next slide) E10 . marketing (expanded) E10.2 . . market research and product planning E10.4 . . pricing E10.6 . . promotion, advertising E10.6.2 . . . sales and selling E10.8 . . customer relationship management E12 . external relations (expanded) E12.2 . . public relations
24、E12.4 . . government relations E12.6 . . relations with other organizationsCopyright 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College,E business functions. . . E8 . Operations E8.2 . . internal infrastructure E8.4 . . research and development E8.6 . . supply chain E8.8 . . production E8.10 . . distribu
25、tion E8.12 . . InventoryCopyright 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College,Polyhierarchy,business functions (internal),Economics (external),labor and work,human resources,part-time employees,part-time work,labor economics,part-time labor market,themes cutting across,Copyright 2002 President and
26、 Fellows of Harvard College,E business functions (internal) E4 . human resourcesBT G4 labor and work E4.2 . . part-time employeesBT G4.2 part-time work F economics (external) F4 . labor economicsBT G4 labor and work F4.2 . . part-time labor marketBT G4.2 part-time work G themes cutting across G4 . l
27、abor and workNT E4 human resourcesF4 labor economics G4.2 . . part-time workNT E4.2 part-time employeesF4.2 part-time labor market Copyright 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College,Polyhierarchy example,E business functions E8 . Operations E8.6 . . supply chainNT E8.12.2 pre-production invento
28、ry E8.8 . . production E8.10 . . distributionNT E8.12.4 post-production inventory E8.12 . . inventory E8.12.2 . . . pre-production inventoryBT E8.6 supply chain E8.12.4 . . . post-production inventoryBT E8.10 distributionCopyright 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College,Functions of hierarchy,
29、Provide an overview of an area, a framework Facilitate request-oriented indexing Assist in query formulation hierarchy for browsing Allow for inclusive (hierarchically expanded searching Collocate related objects,Definitions: Clarification of meaning,JC basic prevention categories JC2 . prevention b
30、y timing of the intervention JC2.2 . . primary prevention JC2.4 . . secondary prevention JC2.6 . . tertiary prevention JC4 . prevention by scope of recipient group JC4.2 . . universal prevention JC4.4 . . targeted prevention JC4.4.2 . . . selective prevention JC4.4.4 . . . indicated prevention,JC4 P
31、revention by scope of recipient group SN This scheme is based on the intended recipients and the cost-benefit analysis of preventive interventions as it relates to universal or limited recipient groups. An intervention that has a low per-capita cost can be applied to a large recipient group which st
32、atistically has a small percentage of members who are at risk and still have a good ROI. Contrariwise, an intervention that has a high per-capita cost is worthwhile only if it is targeted at a smaller group which has a high percentage who are at risk.Note: For prevention you can read advertising and
33、 marketing,JC4.2 universal prevention SN Directed at the general public or a population group that has not been identified on the basis of individual risk. The intervention is desirable for everyone in that group and has a low per-capita cost. JC4.4 targeted prevention SN Targeted at subgroups of th
34、e population or at individuals who are at high or very high risk. There are two subordinate categories which are distinguished by the specificity of targeting (the precision of selection into the recipient group), the degree of risk, and the warranted cost per recipient.,JC4.4.2 selective prevention
35、 SN A measure that is desirable only when the individual is a member of a subgroup of the population whose risk of developing the disorder is above average. The subgroups may be distinguished by age, gender, occupation, family history, place of residence or travel, or other evident characteristics (
36、as opposed to characteristics whose determination requires individual examination). JC4.4.4 indicated prevention SN Targeted to high-risk individuals who are identified, through individual examination, as (1) having biological markers indicating predisposition for a disorder or (2) having minimal bu
37、t detectable signs or symptoms foreshadowing a disorder whose symptoms are still early and are not sufficiently severe to merit a diagnosis of the disorder.,Concept analysis and synthesis Exercise and examples,securities market securities trading aggressive portfolio online securities trading stock
38、redemption futures market insured bonds high-risk derivatives stock issuance stock options pricing regional stocks futures trading,Concept analysis and concept discovery,Consider the following list of termsparking garagebus stationtrain stationharborairport What is the common semantic factor (a more
39、 abstract concept in common to all of them)?,Concept analysis 2,Considerwageprice/costinterestrentfees(insurance) premium Common conceptpayment in exchange for some consideration (the “consideration” is different in each case),Concept analysis 3,Considertransactional analysis, dream analysis, insigh
40、t therapy, Gestalt therapy, reality therapy, cognitive therapy Umbrella concept for structuring the hierarchy and for retrieval: analytic psychotherapy (methods that seek to assist patients in a personality reconstruction through insight into their inner selves),Conclusion,Systematic discovery and s
41、tructuring of meaning through facet analysis and hierarchy building empowers users to orient themselves and move in a concept space analyze the dimensions of a problem and determine what information is needed; formulate a query that will find that information or browse productively move at ease in an information spaceFor an example see the Alcohol and Other Drug Thesaurus (search Google for AOD Thesaurus),
