From a meat-and-potatoes (a delicious meal) introduction to taxonomies (from the indefatigable Seth Earley) to BBC’s proof-of-concept demonstration of harvesting Wikipedia’s structured URL’s to import as controlled vocabularies, to analysis of auto-categorization and auto-classification tools available on the market, the conference covered a wide swath. An archive panel even delved into the challenges of raising money for digitisation projects which, while not exactly a metadata or taxonomy topic, resonated as a common ROI dilemma.

It was my first time chairing a conference and I enjoyed myself much more than I thought. Mostly because it was an absolute joy to be in a room with information architects, taxonomists, library scientists, information technologists, XML specialists, and knowledge organizers with such keen and sustained focus. There in the middle of the room were Leonard and Sheena Will, who have been doing information management and thesaurus work since way before the first publication of Wired. Next to them was Stella Dextre-Clarke, the award-winning information consultant who is currently advising the Bridgeman Art Library. Yeah, you heard me right. There are awards for information retrieval!

Unlike other conferences dedicated to taxonomy or search, this small and intimate gathering felt more like a professional association that allowed non-members in for the sake of edification. Even the obligatory vendor presentations were low key and casual.

Here’s what others are saying:

The importance of Taxonomy and Metadata

Semantic Revolution

I am in Framingham working with the Bose Company and SEW Consulting discussing the role of metadata and taxonomy in managing their advertising and marketing content. And I cannot help but make correlations with their noise reduction headphones and content management.

The wave technology developed by Dr. Bose is based on a principle that mere mortals such as myself (not those super audiophiles that tend to flame Bose), can only perceive sound on a fairly limited basis. By focusing on that very narrow margin, his technology eliminates the noise waves of what is superfluous to our ears and delivers an enhanced audio experience through his headphones.

Not surprising, the biggest complaint I am hearing from the company is data overload. No conventions, no metadata, no taxonomy and just an overall mess of digital assets in a folder structure (at best).

Taxonomy and metadata strategies work on the same principle: eliminate the data that is superfluous and manage the data that is within our narrow margin of comprehension. How best to proceed with data reduction? Through collection management, metadata standardization, and a polyhierarchical faceted classification; streamline workflows and allow for electronic annotations to alleviate the cumbersome email approval process. Did you know that Dr. Bose has sole ownership of the company? 100% ownership. It is a unique cultural environment.