Taxonomy Management

'Taxonomy' derives from Greek 'taxis' (meaning arrangement or division) and 'nomos' (meaning law). It describes the the science of classification according to a pre-determined system, with the resulting catalogue used to provide a conceptual framework for discussion, analysis, or information retrieval.

In theory, the development of a good taxonomy takes into account the importance of separating elements of a group (taxon) into subgroups (taxa) that are mutually exclusive, unambiguous, and taken together, include all possibilities. So, in practice, a good taxonomy should be simple, easy to remember, and easy to use. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and where complex taxonomies are involved, taxonomy management is necessary.

Smartlogic's Semaphore allows any enterprise or organisation to build and manage large subject taxonomies with powerful, simple to use enterprise software. The Semaphore Ontology Manager provides a user interface in which to develop a taxonomy, a logic layer that ensures the consistency and accuracy of the information entered (ideally conforming to the ISO 2788 standard 'Guidelines for the establishment and development of monolingual thesauri') and an application interface for other programs to interrogate the taxonomy as required.

The Semaphore Ontology Manager is a multi-user system that manages the entire taxonomy life-cycle. From design, enhancement and enrichment to ongoing upkeep and maintenance, this tool provides a workbench that increases the productivity of information professionals.

• A management environment for of all types of Knowledge Organization Systems (taxonomy, thesauri, ontology, controlled vocabulary, etc.)
• Intuitive interface - drag and drop hierarchy creation and synonym addition. Multiple term sorting and filtering options, etc.
• Integrity of the model assured within ISO standards
• Productivity tools for the information scientist
• Visibility to and feedback mechanisms from subject experts
• Support for open standards
• Integrated with the rest of Semaphore to deliver ontology-driven classification and ontology-powered navigation
• Easy integration with search and content management systems