2020 was a year like no other – a year of massive change forced upon as we collectively reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Much has been written about the way in which we adapted to our changing circumstances, in particular, the need to pivot our business models to...
Classification definitions and sources
In my next few posts I'm going to write about building classification schemes. So it's probably a good idea to explain the definitions I use upfront. Before you take me to task, bear in mind that my context is the information governance space, and while I make...
The dark art of classification
Everywhere I go people are creating classification schemes. All sorts of people are doing it: programmers, business and data analysts, information and enterprise architects. Mostly they are doing it because they are in the process of building an information system and...
Metadata and taxonomies – who’s in control?
Take a look at any organisation and you will find thousands of taxonomies in every database and information system across the enterprise expressed in the form of lists, lookup sets, metadata, tags, taxonomies, file plans, classification facets etc… Who’s in control?...
Understanding metadata
The third article in a series of insights about metadata. We’ve talked a lot about language, but language is just one, albeit a big one, of the metadata elements we use to manage information objects. In fact there is a whole range of terms and Identifiers which make...
The metadata challenge
What exactly is the metadata challenge? As discussed in our insight the language of metadata, using precise and consistent language as a business tool is a vastly different concept to using it as an expression of social behaviour, as a means of differentiation between...
The language of metadata
The first in a series of insights about metadata; the challenges, how to use it to your advantage manage it over time. Why do we all get so confused about metadata – after all it’s really just words, right? Right! But how many different ways are there to describe the...
Classification – more than just searching
Some of my favourite quotes about classification are from Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness by Patrick Lambe. Taxonomies are at the same time deceptively simple and fiendishly complicated. They are simple because they are...
A is for aggregation
Aggregation: a collection: several things grouped together or considered as a whole. I’ve always considered aggregation a cornerstone of records management. Conceptually, aggregations make sense to me – records or “the record” of a particular transaction or event...
Taxonomy software vs the spreadsheet
You may wonder why anyone would want to spend money on specialist software for building taxonomies or metadata when you could just use a spreadsheet. Here are 5 good reasons: Relationships and mapping There are many more relationships to a taxonomy/thesaurus than...
Do you see what I see?
What we need in 2013 vs. what the industry thinks we need! At the start of each year, it’s customary for the oracles to gaze into their crystal balls, and pronounce their 5 (or 10) technology predictions that become the want list for the coming year. Big data, apps...