A taxonomy is a method of classification. It helps in making content findable irrespective of the means — browsing, searching, asking— employed by users. How is it then possible to know which among the four types — flat, hierarchical, network and faceted — of taxonomy is the most ideal for your enterprise? Specifically, how do you decide when to use a hierarchical taxonomy or a faceted taxonomy?
A simple rule of the thumb is if your subject matter fits well into a taxonomy, implement a hierarchical taxonomy. While developing a taxonomy, if you have to force the content in to say a category or if you are duplicating items everywhere, then use a faceted taxonomy.
To elaborate, hierarchical taxonomies are best suited to things where the relationships are explicit. Typically, a hierarchical taxonomy can be visualized as a parent or a taxonomic group having several child taxa. The hierarchies divide and redivide things into groups where each new group is a sub-species of its parent group. Consequently, what holds for a group is equally true for its sub-groups.
A faceted taxonomy can be used when multiple, similar values can be applied to dissimilar items. It allows a subject material to be classed under more than one facet. In other words, facets can handle more than one dimension of a classification. Consequently, facets can be used to organize entities by three or more mutually exclusive or jointly exhaustive categories.
Adopting the right type of taxonomy, be it hierarchal, facetted, or any of the other two types has its own advantages and disadvantages. This is where user expectations and the experience of the taxonomists come into play. The design of the classification must achieve its purpose of making content findable irrespective of the means employed by users.
Click here to read the original article published by Key Pointe Consulting .
Please give your feedback on this article or share a similar story for publishing by clicking here.
