A pre-conference workshop covering taxonomy basics to bring you up to speed, and kick-start your Taxonomy Boot Camp conference experience. This full day workshop is ideal for those who have little experience with taxonomies, or for those who would like to know more about how to design and create a taxonomy from scratch, with a focus on best practices for creating terms and relationships between terms. This workshop will include exercises on creating terms and relations, and live demonstrations of several taxonomy management software products. There will be ample time for questions.

Topics covered include:

• Definitions and types
• Applications, uses, benefits
• Creating and wording of terms
• Synonyms, alternative labels, nonpreferred terms
• Sources for terms
• Term relationships
• Hierarchy design
• Facet design
• Software tools
• Project process and management
• Governance

It is not enough to know how to build a technically robust taxonomy. Taxonomy projects are complex and often difficult. Scoping and planning a project can have a lot of impact on the conduct and effectiveness of the taxonomy. Business purpose needs to be carefully defined, stakeholders consulted and managed, misconceptions and expectations addressed, appropriate methods identified, robust evidence gathered, use cases, designs and hypotheses tested, and implementation and governance carefully considered.

In this workshop Patrick will work with participants through the key steps in a scoping process, using practical examples, and the situations and contexts that workshop participants bring.

Congratulations! You’ve just been given the responsibility for search at your organisation! Perhaps there is a new initiative to improve search, perhaps the connection between taxonomy and search has made you the natural candidate, or perhaps the previous search manager mysteriously disappeared. In any case, you’ve discovered that search is a deceptively tricky domain.

This workshop will provide an orientation and exposure to the key issues, effective processes, and technology – regardless of what brand of search engine you use. We’ll provide lay-of-the-land information and approaches to get you off to a good start.

Topics covered include:

• How to get started and where to find practical guidance in search management
• What kind of tasks and roles are involved in managing search; ways to build a cross-functional team
• How to assess the current state of search, and create a findability strategy
• Applying your skills and background in taxonomy to search, in particular e-commerce search
• How to get stakeholders together and constructively involved; discovering and managing expectations
• The top misconceptions about search and how to educate your organisation