Two years ago when I began blogging for the Gilbane Group on enterprise search, the extent of my vision was reflected in the blog categories I defined and expected to populate with content over time. They represented my personal “top terms” that were expected to each have meaningful entries to educate and illuminate what readers might want to know about search behind the firewall of enterprises.

A recent examination of those early decisions showed me where there are gaps in content, perhaps reflecting that some of those topics were:

  • Not so important
  • Not currently in my thinking about the industry
  • OR Not well defined

I also know that on several occasions I couldn’t find a good category in my list for a blog I had just written. Being a former indexer and heavy user of controlled vocabularies, on most occasions I resisted the urge to create a new category and found instead the “best fit” for my entry. I know that when the corpus of content or domain is small, too many categories are useless for the reader. But now, as I approach 100 entries, it is time to reconsider where I want to go with blogging about enterprise search.

In the short term, I am going to try to provide entries for scantily covered topics because I still think they are all relevant. I’ll probably add a few more along the way or perhaps make some topics a little more granular.

Taxonomies are never static, and require periodic review, even when the amount of content is small. Taxonomists need to keep pace with current use of terminology and target audience interests. New jargon creeps in although I prefer to use generic and terms broadly understood in the technology and business world.

That gives you an idea of some of my own taxonomy process. To add to the entries on terminology (definitions) and taxonomies, I am posting a glossary I wrote for last year’s report on the enterprise search market and recently updated for the Gilbane Workshop on taxonomies. While the definitions were all crafted by me, they are validated through the heavy use of the Google “define” feature. If you aren’t already a user, you will find it highly useful when trying to pin down a definition. At the Google search box, simply type define: xxx xxx (where xxx represents a word or phrase for which you seek a definition). Google returns all the public definition entries it finds on the Internet. My definitions are then refined based on what I learn from a variety of sources I discover using this technique. It’s a great way to build your knowledge-base and discover new meanings.

Glossary Taxonomy and Search-012009