Zenome: Human indexing for the web

Zenome: What is Zenome?:

"We'd like you to help us build the largest, most comprehensive directory in the world. Our goal at Zenome is to "sequence the Web." That means building a dynamic, digital library of web pages to provide the best, most relevant search results. Since we believe directories indexed by humans are far more effective than those managed by software, we're enlisting the help of the Web community. We need people like you to help us grow our digital library by informing us of new, important and interesting web pages."

Zenome.com is a new web directory with a number of pre-set categories and human editors who review the listings in each category and decide which links are the best fit for a given search topic. A more selective complement to Google, Zenome is similar to the Open Directory Project (ODP) but structured to overcome some of ODP's problems. You can sign on as an editor for a category.

Teragram: another taxonomy management software vendor

Teragram Unveils TK240 Version 5 Taxonomy Management Software EContentMagazine

Teragram, a provider of multilingual natural language processing technologies, has announced the general availability of Teragram TK240 Version 5, the company's flagship taxonomy management software. Teragram TK240 Version 5 allows content management specialists to develop, test, and deploy taxonomies using Teragram's categorization and concept extraction technology that is designed to enable faster and more accurate classification of vast amounts of information in real-time.

SchemaLogic partners with Intellisophic

SchemaLogic and Intellisophic Join Forces to Offer a Taxonomy Solution.EContentMag.com

SchemaLogic, a provider of enterprise metadata and taxonomy management software, has announced that it has partnered with Intellisophic, a leading publisher of taxonomic content, to deliver a comprehensive taxonomy solution to global 1000 companies. The partnership will offer customers taxonomic content, coupled with a platform to view, manage and disseminate the taxonomies to its search and content management applications.

Taxonomy Balance

Taxonomy turmoil: Should taxonomies be condemned in an age of sophisticated search? Maybe not. By Patricia Beelby & Marcel Roy Information Highways, March-April, 2005

"The answer to the question of whether organizations need taxonomies or search engines is that they need both. Both systems can be inherently complementary: the taxonomy supports the engine in its organization and the search engine compensates for any omissions by finding information outside the taxonomy."

A more balanced perspective on the need for taxonomies from two records management consultants.

Taxonomies: To Be Or Not To Be

Contrarian - I hate taxonomies! By Huw Morgan, CTO of Torstar Digital Information Highways, May-June, 2005

"Why do I hate static taxonomies so much? Because I don't think like a librarian and I like to find stuff I'm looking for..... Taxonomies are too rigid and limit the usability of Web sites. Search engines are good, but functionality may be limited by small content collections. Filtering and sorting engines are a lot better than taxonomies. They let people find things the way they want to."

A strong opinion piece designed to peak your interest or get you riled up. An example of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Taxonomies aren't the only solution in all situations. Searching, filtering, and sorting are other tools. It depends on the content, the audience, the user requirements. Beware of over simplification.

Factiva Acquires Synapse

In a move to beef up an important part of its enterprise service and consultancy business, Factiva has acquired Synapse, a leading taxonomy software and consulting firm. With this deal, Factiva will bring in Synapse’s founding team of Trish Yancey and Dave Clarke to lead Factiva’s Taxonomy Services Group, and will add its Synaptica suite of software for building and maintaining taxonomies as well as the Taxonomy Warehouse, a directory of over 500 taxonomies and other classification schemes.

The lion’s share of Factiva’s business is in the enterprise space, which is the hot spot for content integration and role-based information applications. Factiva’s recent initiatives such as SalesWorks and its Insight suites are all built for enterprise applications that require consulting and customization from Factiva’s consulting and services organization. Taxonomies are a growing part of those content integration projects, so this acquisition is a natural jump-start for that part of Factiva, and another sign of Factiva’s continuing commitment to the enterprise market. Factiva is one of the few companies that are really doing what it takes to enable the role-based products and custom content integration that are critical in that market.

[Outsell Now]

Taxonomies vs. Folksonomies

Bloug: Folksonomies? How about Metadata Ecologies?: Jan 06, 2005: Folksonomies? How about Metadata Ecologies?

"Lately, you can't surf information architecture blogs for five minutes without stumbling on a discussion of folksonomies (there; it happened again!). As sites like Flickr and del.icio.us successfully utilize informal tags developed by communities of users, it's easy to say that the social networkers have figured out what the librarians haven't: a way to make metadata work in widely distributed and heretofore disconnected content collections."

This is a good starting point for finding reasoned discussion by knowledgeable people on the pros and cons of taxonomies vs. folksonomies (AKA "mob indexing")

Taxonomy Experts

Bloug: Taxonomy Experts "Seems like I get asked for names of taxonomy specialists frequently, so I thought I'd just publicize my list here on Bloug."

Here is a list of taxonomy experts compiled by one of the early pioneers in information architecture - Louis Rosenfeld. Mostly US consultants but consultants from other countries are being added as they identify themselves.