Taxonomy Myths
The Montague Institute Review has published an article on the Ten Taxonomy Myths. They are:
- Myth #1: A taxonomy can only be expressed as a hierarchical list of topics.
- Myth #2: There is only one "right" taxonomy for each organization.
- Myth #3: You can shortcut the taxonomy development process by wholesale adoption of someone else's taxonomy.
- Myth #4: Taxonomy applications (what the user sees) must conform to the same rules as the underlying taxonomy structure (how the data is stored in the computer).
- Myth #5: You can create cost-effective taxonomies by investing in the end of the information life cycle (post-publication) and ignoring the beginning (content creation).
- Myth #6: A corporate taxonomy should be derived solely from the content in a repository.
- Myth #7: It's OK to create separate taxonomies for people and documents.
- Myth #8: Personal and departmental taxonomies do not need to be integrated with other corporate taxonomies.
- Myth #9: Taxonomies should always be tightly integrated and computerized to achieve maximum efficiency.
- Myth #10: Taxonomies should be funded and managed by a centralized IT function.
This isn't a "Taxonomy 101" type piece, but it does raise some useful points.