The first step in developing a taxonomy is gathering candidate terms. The underlying intent is to identify the terms, users use to describe information, for inclusion in the taxonomy. Gathering candidate terms are a significant part of the taxonomy development process because these same users will be using the taxonomy to organize and access information. Therefore, it is important to have a systematic approach to gathering candidate terms.
There are two fundamental principles to keep in mind while gathering candidate terms. First, a candidate term should reflect the core use-case of the taxonomy and second, the taxonomy users should be able to recall the terms easily. A manual review of the content is the first step in the process of selecting terms for the taxonomy. It is one of the efficient methods to understand the content. Further, a manual review will reveal the different terms used for describing one thing and different things described by one term.
Next, analyzing existing taxonomies, such as those available on a company’s website can also be a starting point for identifying candidate terms. User-interviews are excellent gateways to understand how information is used, and the choice of words and terms used to describe the information. For example, user-interviews will reveal the folder in which a given piece of information will be stored or the folder they should access to find a specific kind of information or the term they should use to search it. Furthermore, user-interviews will help spot subtle differences in how terms are being used. This will help to identify the premier term and add the synonyms and alternative terms as metadata in the taxonomy. Incorporating such minor differences will make communication efficient; reduce errors, and align the whole organization.
Finally, in taxonomy design, user- experience is important. Therefore, when there are trade-offs to be made, select the terms that users use to describe the information and not the academically correct terms for the information. In sum, it is important to follow a systematic and consistent approach to identifying candidate terms.
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