IA Summit 2006: Poster Descriptions
Yahoo! Network Diagram
| H. Andrew Lynch, Frank Ramirez, Sarah Ramirez, James Young, John Boyd, Paul Kim, Matt Leacock, Erin Malone |
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How do you visualize one of the largest, most complex networks in existence? How does one represent the information, interaction and brand architecture for over 100 similar-yet-distinctive websites, applications and tools with varying degrees of integration? How much coffee would this require? Could this network diagram influence decisions about how the brand should be used? The Yahoo! Network Diagram, in addition to the requirements mentioned above, includes traffic data such as top 5 referring URLs and countries of origin. It measures 3.5' high by 12' wide. Document: Yahoo! Network Diagram |
A Comparative Study of User Evaluation Methods
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Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Marcelo Garrido- Amable, Javier Velasco-Martin: Center for Web Research, Department of Computer Sciences, Universidad de Chile |
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User studies are fundamental tools for Information Architects to learn about their users, and develop their criteria for design. The several kinds of user studies can be generally categorized as Automated (or semi-automated) or Human processed. We will combine the backgrounds of our team to compare methods from Computer Sciences and Social Sciences. User testing and web mining are some of the most useful, proven and popular tools for observing users. Apart from the differences in procedures of acquirement and analysis of data, each approach offers advantages and limitations in how they can produce suggestions for the design of a Website. This study compares the variables involved in both techniques and evaluates the effectiveness of the changes suggested by each method, using a financial website as case study. This study will allow us to derive models that suggest how to best combine these methods. In particular, Web Mining can help focalize User Testing in order to best apply the available resources. Our results can provide value to Information Architects allowing focusing the observation tools for their optimal performance. |
Taxonomy Development and Metadata Application at the Federal Reserve Bank
| Keith P. DeWeese |
GOAL OF PRESENTATION To interact with interested members of the IA community and present information on how the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is addressing opportunities and challenges in developing its taxonomies and applying and leveraging metadata as part of its overall information access strategy. DESCRIPTION In keeping with the IA Summit's theme of 'Learning, Doing, and Selling' the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is actively addressing issues related to taxonomy and the application of metadata by learning about our users' need for organized, navigable information; doing or improving information access by applying metadata, derived from controlled vocabularies (taxonomy), to content using semi-automated processes; and selling IA principles to our colleagues. Specifically, I will present information showing and describing how the Bank is:
Document: Taxonomy Development and Metadata Application at the Federal Reserve Bank |
Applying (Banner) Marketing to a Customer Centered Design
| Almar van der Krogt, Mark Geljon |
LEVERAGE USER DEFINED SCENARIOS Earlier this year our client implemented a user defined, scenario based navigation on its global website. This additional navigation provides users context sensitive links to other relevant parts of the site. The main rationale for this addition was the fact that the site could not easily be navigated bottom-up. Next, users commented that, when navigating top-down, they were confronted with a lot of so-called 'marketing fluff' that obstructed the content they are interested in. The follow-up project that we discuss here presents a solution that leverages the user-defined navigation by integrating marketing messages. SIMPLY INSPIRING THE SENSES The key to letting marketing messages reach their intended target is to communicate them at the right place and at the right time. This is more intricate then it sounds because, although a user may be on a specific page at a certain time (and even with a certain goal; e.g. selecting a product to buy), he/she may still not be open to the message. Next trust is a key factor; you have to be transparent about your intentions. Make a clear distinction between the customer centric navigation aids, and your attempt to inspire them and attract them to other stuff that could be useful to them. Marketing messages and especially banners are a truly underestimated aid to attract people to what they want. And banner clicks are highly overestimated as an indicator of the usefulness of banners. Being really Customer Centric also includes giving your customers what they do not want. Inspire your customers, attract them towards items related to their original goal and they will be thankful for it! SELECTIVE INTEREST: SEEING ONLY THAT WHAT IS RELEVANT Users of information rich websites or sites with very selective content usually have a quite definitive goal when they access these sites. They are looking for a specific piece of information; they are 'on a mission' so to say. Any information that is not directly related to the needed information is discarded or not perceived; it is literally 'out of scope'. Unfortunately, most marketing information, especially in form of banners etc., falls out of scope because of this very reason. NARROWCASTING: DELIVER A SPECIFIC MESSAGE TO A SPECIFIC AUDIENCE In the new Internet age (Web 2.0), users will create their own information spaces, to which information suppliers will have to adapt. This means not only the content of the message but also the delivery of the message will have to be personalized. In the transition towards this new way of travelling the virtual space, information gathering on visitor's behaviour has never been more important. Finding ways in which a visitor's activity can be defined is crucial for adjusting to their information need and giving them the support they need. The challenge is to foster a dialog where both company and customer trigger and inspire each other. IDENTIFYING INFORMATION 'HOTSPOTS' A hotspot is defined as a certain place, time and moment where a visitor really is as open as he will ever be for your marketing message: after he reached his initial goal and before he starts his next activity (both Internet related or not). Because of a detailed mental model of visitor's behaviour, we can specify on which moments (= after which activities) visitor's are open for new messages. We also can determine the nature of these messages. So instead of placing certain (banner) messages on high profile (from an internal viewpoint) pages like the homepage and productcategory pages, it is determined to which user-scenario a marketing message AND to which direct-marketing or product category it is related. Then this banner is dynamically created on all the pages that both have the specific scenario on them (which in itself is determined dynamically, for it depends on previous page visits) and belong to the specified category. 'AMBILIGHT' BANNERS In addition to the position and the message of the banners we also looked into the configuration of the banners. The intention is to attract attention at the right time. Attracting attention at the wrong time is actually distraction, which of course we wanted to prevent. Document: Applying (Banner) Marketing to a Customer Centered Design |
Layout patterns for multiple flows
| Bruce Esrig |
What are the essential features that determine the layout of multiple flows in a single output? Where is the necessary information specified? Document: Layout patterns for multiple flows |
Sorting, Organzing, and Labeling the Experience
| Stephen P. Anderson |
What follows is my attempt to resolve personal, conflicting opinions as to “what creates a great experience...” For example:
The model that follows illustrates My view of what constitutes a great experience... |
The 7 Navigation types for Information Architecture
| Atsushi Hasegawa |
We have developed a pattern system for designing site navigations. This system contains seven navigation types and three area definitions. This system applies for any standard sites such as a company's site, and basic EC sites. We have categorized the links of standard sites into seven types by usage. And we have prepared three areas to allocate these navigations. On this system, navigations (semantic structure and function) and area definitions (presentation) are independent. Therefore this system is clear, easy to use and flexible. This system helps information architects to build a consistent navigation policy. And this system would be also useful for learning how to design navigation systems. A. 7 Navigation types
B. 3 Area definitions
Document: The 7 Navigation types for Information Architecture |
A Case Study for Architecting to Users Concerns
| A'lan Abruzzo, Christian Crumlish |
DESCRIPTION The poster illustrates an analysis of three primary audience segments and their separate and overlapping concerns, and the development of a simplified three-tier structure for product and solution navigation, using the middle tier for the "telescoping" variable number of distinctions. The poster also shows a set of master wireframe templates from which all the specific wireframe schematics could be derived. Finally, the wireframes themselves illustrate the drilldown process and the parametric search and ordering process customers use to identify the specific products they wish to order. CONTEXT OF THE WORK The Poster demonstrates how an information architecture was derived for a client with a complicated (microchip) product offering, requiring customer drill-down ranging from three to seven tiers of differentiation and involving a variable set of up to 16 different sales "tactics" (such as white papers, environmentally friendly factors, and so on) that need to be presented for each product. To further complicate the ordering process, the client wanted to develop a solution-oriented taxonomy for finding products based on the applications the microchips could be used for. Document: A Case Study for Architecting to Users Concerns |
Mapping Activities of a Project to the User Experience
| James A. Brennsteiner |
| The Mapping Activities of a Project to the User Experience (or MAPUEx) chart illustrates elements of the user experience, ties project team roles to elements, ties project activities to elements, ties project phases to activities, and ties outputs to activities. I use the illustration as the guiding framework for development projects within our company, these projects include from web sites, computer-based training and desktop software applications. Document: Mapping Activities of a Project to the User Experience |
Why are people using the text only version of bbc.co.uk?
| Sandra Green |
The BBC website includes a text only version of the site. This is powered by an application called Betsie which was developed around 6 years ago. It was originally developed as an accessibility solution when screen-readers found it difficult to deal with tabulated websites. However, coding standards have moved on in the industry which, if followed, make it unnecessary to provide a text only version of the site. Server logs showed that the use of Betsie was quite high, however, the community of screen-reader users anecdotally expressed that they didn't like having what is perceived as a inferior site. A project was launched which tried to find out who was using betsie and why. This presentation looks at the results of this project which were both surprising and enlightening and showed that these days, accessibility is about more than disability. It explores the growing variety of users and why they require an alternative presentation for the information they receive. What core IA related issues are addressed? User analysis. What the audience will learn/take-away from the poster An insight into a new definition of website accessibility. How the presentation will reflect the theme? This poster investigates the reasons why people require a text only version of the BBC website. It looks at their reasons and needs and shows that accessibility now encompasses a much broader range of users than traditionally thought. It relates to the 'learning' thread. Document: Why are people using the text only version of bbc.co.uk? |
Toward a Pragmatic Understanding of the Implications of Web 2.0 for Information Architects
| Amy M. A. Vickers |
Document: Toward a Pragmatic Understanding of the Implications of Web 2.0 for Information Architects |
Methods for Improving IA Deliverables - less explaining, more doing
| Todd Warfel |
Information architects are the champions for creating clarity from chaos. We preach from our pedestals that 'Thou shalt know they audience.' But for all our championing and preaching, we seem to forget who the audience is for our wireframe decks, what their goals are, and rarely observe how they use them. This poster will provide valuable insight into methods we've used over the past several years to improve our wireframe decks. We've spent countless hours talking to our customers, other industry veterans, and watching developers and designers with our wireframe decks alongside their functional requirements and visual designs. And while we haven't quite reached that 'perfect deck,' we have found several methods that have made significant improvements. We'll reveal the methods we use to spend less time explaining and more time doing. |
Enterprise IA Toolkit Under the Hood (aka Intranet Extreme Makeover)
| Billie Mandel |
The poster visually demonstrates the presenter's approach to redesigning an enterprise intranet or software application. It shows the three major areas of difference for an IA working on enterprise applications and sites, on the one hand, and working on consumer-focused products, on the other:
Specifically, the presenter's approach defines two core personas for any enterprise application or web site: the content reader or consumer, who corresponds to the 'end user' in a consumer-based application, and the content writer or provider, who has no common analog in most consumer-oriented apps. To include the content provider's needs in the enterprise design process, the author has made specific modifications to our standard IA toolkit. The poster is a process map that shows this entire approach to enterprise IA, including these new steps and modifications. Corresponding handouts will be provided to spell out the methods in greater detail. Rat holes and dangers to avoid, based on the presenter's experience, are also marked on this process map. At the end of the process: enterprise applications that work, happy users with more fulfilling jobs, a more efficient company with higher valuation, and a happy, successful IA with broader career path options. Document: Enterprise IA Toolkit Under the Hood (aka Intranet Extreme Makeover) |
Taming the 800 pound gorilla: Some insights on managing a multiple-IA project
| Anthony Hempell, Eiko Kawano |
Many Information Technology projects (and specifically web projects) continue to increase in size, complexity and scope. While the IA typically is one member of a larger team, what happens when the scope of the project requires more than one IA to handle the work? The core IA-related topics for this presentation are Business and IA and IA In Practice. The target audience will be professionals who either work for large companies or who work on large projects that span over months or years. This presentation will revolve around a case study of a recent project undertaken by the presenters: a major media company's web site's migration to a content management system that required over 400 pages in wireframe documentation and over 2500 person-hours in effort to create the information and interaction architectures. Not only was this a Herculean effort to document, it required the IA team to improvise strategies to manage many unforeseen issues along the way. In this session you will learn some of the methods we employed to effectively divide the work amongst our team, how we attempted to maintain both internal document uniformity and project design consistency, and our approach to designing for a CMS system. We will also discuss the many problems we faced along the way: conflicting feedback from client stakeholders, task crossover, diverging documentation and annotation styles, and many unforeseen hours spent on project management and communication. In addition, reaction from other team members (project mangers, visual designers, systems analysts, technologists and programmers) to our approach and methods will be included. Time will also be allotted for audience reaction, discussion and participation. The sharing of others' experiences with large projects (both positive and… not so positive) will be encouraged. By the end of the session attendees should have a clear picture of the kinds of challenges an IA can face on a large project, but also feel confident that there are workable strategies and tactics that can be employed to cut even the largest and unruliest project down to a manageable size. Document: Taming the 800 pound gorilla: Some insights on managing a multiple-IA project |
Social Software and Selfish Information Architecture
| Jenny Spadafora |
This poster and accompanying handout materials will map the emerging social software landscape in the context of content flow, and explore how information architecture can serve "selfish" ends and enrich the larger information ecology. Document: Social Software and Selfish Information Architecture |
Global Meets Local: How to Create and Implement a Core Corporate Vocabulary with Allowances for Extensive Business Unit Variation
| Marti Heyman, Peter Doliska |
Deloitte is a multinational organization with more than 100 member firms, each offering services within any of five competencies (Audit, Consulting, Financial Advisory, Legal and Tax). Each member firm has a high level of autonomy so as to ensure they have the flexibility and adaptability required to respond rapidly to changing conditions within their local markets. An unintended consequence of this high level of autonomy is the proliferation of varied information technology solutions in response to similar business needs. Within the realm of knowledge management, the results have been large numbers of intranets and knowledge repositories constructed with little or no eye towards interoperability, knowledge sharing or knowledge discovery across resources. While many of the solutions are very effective in meeting the needs of their users because of their ability to be highly customized and targeted to a relatively small group, that customization inhibits and in some cases prevents the sharing of data, information and knowledge across resources. This inhibition presents a significant barrier for Deloitte to reap the full benefits of its intellectual property and knowledge. This presentation will describe the solution to effective knowledge sharing being developed at Deloitte. We quickly learned that simply owning state-of-the-art search technology alone was not a solution. Federated search (search across multiple repositories) can only be effective when select metadata fields are defined in a consistent manner and populated with controlled vocabulary. To reduce the barriers to knowledge discovery, we needed an enterprise-wide taxonomy as an inherent component of the infrastructure. However, a single, global taxonomy alone would never be an acceptable solution. (Remember the autonomy aspect of our firm culture . ) We needed the ability to create a multi-lingual, controlled vocabulary as flexible and adaptable as our firm structure, as our knowledge bases, and as the information technology platforms which support those knowledge bases. We needed the ability to have a core, global taxonomy upon which 'local' extensions could be built without being in conflict with each other. These extensions can be defined by either geography or by one of the five competencies (business units) of the firm, and be in any of twenty-two languages. We will present in detail: development of an enterprise-wide taxonomy strategy; processes and techniques used to develop both the global taxonomy and the local extensions; adoption and implementation of the taxonomy; and the vocabulary management software tools critical to the successful enablement of our taxonomy strategy. |
IA Meets Content Publishing: Expand Your Influence to Ensure Design Success
| Katrina Alcorn |
Why should you care about content publishing? • Nothing can destroy a great design like a poorly planned and managed content process.• Good content is often what stands between a great design and a great site. • Most companies are 'accidental publishers;' they know even less about the process than you do. • You might be wrong! (Your design may work in theory, but not in practice.) What can you do to expand your influence? • Plan for content creation and migration• Oversee this process • Protect the integrity of IA when content and tech issues arise Here’s what we did: Hot was hired to redesign a 300-plus page corporate site for a large Document: IA Meets Content Publishing: Expand Your Influence to Ensure Design Success |
Social Software in the Enterprise
| Christian Crumlish |
The web is a social medium. Most Information Architect and Document: Social Software in the Enterprise |
Taking Care of Business: how IAs can get more involved in strategic planning
| Katie Pula |
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Document: Taking Care of Business: how IAs can get more involved in strategic planning |
Next Generation Search
| Marianne Sweeny |
How often did you use a search engine today? 1x? More than 1? Did you use the search engine to make your travel arrangements to this conference, look up additional information on speakers, find the answer to a specific question, find information on a certain topic, locate restaurants in this area or your own neighborhood? The emergence to intrusion of search engines complicates as much as complements our relationship with the Web. St. Teresa of Avila may have been thinking of search engines when she said that there are more tears wept over answered prayers. Search engines help us find what we want while lacking the ability to understand the context of our needs. Machine mediated search is now the dominant form of information seeking. It is a tool whose usability we have little input into yet must account for in almost all online design projects. The purpose of this poster session is to examine the development of search and understand its liabilities alongside its assets for information architecture. Taking Paul Saffo's advice not to 'walk backwards towards the future' we'll take a look at the emerging generation of search and speculate on its influence on the next generation of information architecture. Document: Next Generation Search |
The Use of Controlled Vocabualries in Interfaces to Canadian Digital Library Collections
| Ali Shiri |
The presentation will focus on: the ways in which controlled vocabualaries including taxonomies, thesauri and classification schemes have been used to organize and present information on digital library collection interafces in Canada; interface features developed to allow users to browse, search or navigate digital collections using controlled vocabualries; ideas and issues on how to make controlled vocabularies available for browsing and searching digital materials. The audience will become familiar with a catgory of web-based resources called digital library collections which have employed controlled vocabularies for the purpose of resource description and discovery. They will also gain some knowledge of widely used controlled vocabualries in digital libraries and also issues involved in making the most out of controlled vocabuarlies for web-based resource organization and presentation. Document: The Use of Controlled Vocabualries in Interfaces to Canadian Digital Library Collections |
The Changing Role of the Consumer in Interactive Brand Promotions
| Melissa Goldstein |
A new promotion environment exists that encourages consumers to interact with a digital medium in a public space. This new dynamic allows consumers to broadcast personal messages to a larger audience through a branded experience. Two recent promotions have demonstrated these environments: • Yahoo! Auto used the 23-stories-tall Reuter's sign in Times Square to promote the redesign of its automotive web site. The billboard displayed a live action video game allowing pedestrians to race cars via their cell phones. • Nike iD promoted the relaunch of its personalization Web site via the same interactive billboard in Times Square. Pedestrians could use their cell phones to interact with the billboard, customizing the shoes displayed on the building. That user would then receive text message containing a cell phone wallpaper of the shoe and a pin number for the user to retrieve and purchase the customized shoe from the web site. By providing individuals with the control to influence and interact with marketing in a public space, users feel a new sense of empowerment that encourages them to engage with the marketing. Advertisers have found a way to capitalize on this desire by making the consumer part of the campaign messaging. The poster will examine this trend and explore the consumer's role in these new interactive promotion environments. Document: The Changing Role of the Consumer in Interactive Brand Promotions |
The Pragmatic IA living in harmony in the new Information Age
| Laurie Gray |
Today's IA's are often communicating with various departments and need to be masters of diplomacy, shepherds of corporate values, and champions of good user experience without alienating colleagues and stalling development. The perspective from which this talk is drawn is that of a solo-act IA in a mid-sized dot-com development organization – and the benefits and challenges of that environment. Sample roles discussed will include:
Document: The Pragmatic IA living in harmony in the new Information Age |
Building a Liaison Role with Business Teams
| Louise Allen, Suzanne El-Moursi |
Internal consulting groups face ongoing challenges selling the value of their IA work to their own organizations. This paper reports on one strategy – the role of Business Unit Liaison – developed by the User-centered Design (UCD) team at HSBC, the world’s third largest bank. Specifi cally, this paper describes fi ve activities within the Liaison role that the UCD team has used to sell its services to HSBC business units, and the internal consulting model that this strategy came out of. Insights and results from the initial implementation of this strategy should help experienced IA practitioners and managers create better strategies for selling the value of their work to their own organizations. |
Talking to developers about...
| Bryce Johnson, Joanna Briggs |
When you're working within a large team, it's a developer who's going to turn your diagram into something that people can use. Where can information architects and developers meet? How much do you need to know about a developer's process? How much do they need to know about yours? Drawing on our experiences with great, average and challenging developers, we will discuss how we have engaged developers in our own processes. And, we will provide some examples when it hasn't gone as smoothly as it could have. Document: Talking to developers about... |
Implementing Automatic Classification The IA Perspective
| Helen Lippell |
Automatic classification, machine indexing, computer assisted indexing, it's all a bit of a tag soup. Many organisations are currently looking at implementing some kind of automated indexing or cataloguing system. In this session, Helen will present a software-neutral guide to automatic indexing systems for IAs or anyone who cares about metadata management. She will give a brief overview of the industry and its key players, followed by information on some of the tools and functionality that IAs should demand from their system, such as reporting and exporting tools. Helen has worked with automatic indexing systems for years, and is well placed to share some of her experience from the Financial Times and the BBC. There are aspects of building indexing rules that are common to most applications which she will go through. Automatic indexing systems are only as smart as the people who train them, something that is often forgotten in marketing speak and hype. Helen will take a wry look at some of the linguistic banana skins that have kept her and her colleagues on their toes, from generically-named companies such as Gap, to the notorious 'turkey and Turkey' disambiguation problem. Finally, she will assess the role of information architects in all this. We have our feet in the camps of technology, design and language, and it is up to us to demonstrate the value of our discipline. Document: Implementing Automatic Classification The IA Perspective |
Only One IA Deliverable
| Jacco Nieuwland |
Problems
Idea
Document: Only One IA Deliverable |
Great IA Sells Itself: How to Make it Happen
| Charles Berg, Sam Levy, Sara Scott-Harper |
For internal consulting teams, the sale of service doesn’t end once the project begins. This poster demonstrates opportunities in which the IA professional is able to positively influence stakeholders while working on the project. Although this task sounds simple, when one starts dealing with an organization as large as HSBC, one of the largest banks in the world with over 110 million customers in 77 countries, affecting change once the project is underway can sometimes be a challenge. Over the course of working on a project, the UCD (User-centered Design) team at HSBC make frequent suggestions that point the client towards the best possible user experience. We do this to give the client an opportunity to think about the big picture of the project at hand and to start them thinking about further engagements. Often due to project plan constraints the client will listen to the suggestions and then file them away for consideration in a subsequent project phase. With this poster, we will illustrate two case studies in which the unexpected happened: rather than applying 'big picture' suggestions in future phases, the business instead decided to expand the scope of the project immediately. We will examine the factors surrounding those decisions and what the UCD team did to help sell the business on bigger and better service. The first case is about an HSBC business unit, Credit Card Services, who decided to engage UCD on a large scale after hearing the team’s conclusions and ideas stemming from a smaller engagement. This marks one of the first times that the business was so moved by our analysis to rework and greatly expand scope immediately. The second case deals with a project whose stakeholders had different concepts about the ultimate product, an enterprise-wide complaint management product. Through synthesis of work that had already been conducted earlier in the project, the UCD team delivered a presentation compelling enough to bring the stakeholders into agreement. This case study will show the rationale behind repackaging IA standard deliverables in such a way to help the clients make more informed decisions. |
Information Continuity: Making the Impossible Possible: A Fortune 100 Case Study
| Jodi Dugger, Trevor Rodgers, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Kevin Nichols, Amara Cohen, Molecular |
This presentation will discuss the problem, approach, and solution that Hewlett-Packard's Image and Printing Group (IPG) faced in seeking to reduce the time and complexity of producing marketing content for a product from its inception to release to obsolescence. In particular, the challenges of developing an enterprise information architecture and taxonomy will be examined, and a blueprint for how these issues are tackled, using real-world examples at HP, will be provided. IPG has nearly 20,000 employees with more than 30 separate marketing functions and 200 plus separate systems and repositories. IPG's information and content management environment throughout the marketing organization is manual and complex, lacking the scalability to meet IPG's emerging business needs. The processes for creating and re-using content vary across product lines and product marketing managers. IPG also has a very strong need to shift from a Tornado-centric system to a Mainstreet-centric system to meet the emerging needs of Consumer Core and Business Transactional vertical transformation work streams . HP selected Molecular, a Boston-based Internet consulting company, to lead the IA and taxonomy efforts for the content management initiative that would provide the structure upon which the overall process would rest. Document: Information Continuity: Making the Impossible Possible: A Fortune 100 Case Study |
The challenges of developing a global Taxonomy
| Fabrice Druelle |
Embarking on a global project has always been a tricky business for the corporations willing to extend their activities. New challenges are lying ahead: from the language differences, to the 'Exotic' market needs without forgetting the respect of cultural differences…potential issues are numerous. Relying on a personal global experience, within LexisNexis, I am proposing to explore the different issues and challenges that can be encountered on a global taxonomy project. How to handle English legal content was no mystery to LexisNexis; however dealing with News content in several languages was a fairly new challenge. The origin of this project was uncommon to start with: an Ohio team of taxonomists needed to go global and adapt their knowledge to some remote European markets (mainly Germany and France). The different stakeholders were located on both sides of the Atlantic, o With on one hand the Dayton team who had already developed a News Taxonomy available on a live product. o On the other hand few Local business units who had hardly any experience in the News & business information world. They were the one to convince of the added value that could bring a global Taxonomy to their news product. o In order to build bridges, a team of native speakers was brought in and had the task to tackle all the cultural and linguistic differences. Based in London, these Austrian, German, Belgian and French indexers and librarians were to play a key role in this global taxonomy project If adapting a US taxonomy to the need of European markets was as simple as translated a couple of labels, this project could have been finished well ahead of schedule. Unfortunately (or fortunately) not all the answers about this project could be found in a bilingual dictionary. From the structure to the form, the whole work was to keep focused on the need of our European markets. o The structural adaptation had mainly to do with the selection of categories and terms. Which ones were to be prioritized? Was that vital for a French user to find some manufacturing terms such as Peanut butter mfg when once couldn't actually find this sort of delicatessen in any French supermarket. How could we develop any coherent and Global taxonomy around the concept of Government organization when there are so many different political organizations on earth? What to do with some concept such as Laicité, vital for a French audience, but so alien for some other markets that any good translator would suffer to find a correct equivalence in English. The task was huge and constant collaboration between US based team and European business units were required at this level o The look and feel of the product was another issue that needed to be assessed as well between the taxonomy people on one hand and the engineers & UI people on the other hand. Basic questions such as why if the Americans are using MFG for manufacturing you French guys cannot shorten the word Fabrication. Or do you actually use all these accents in French? This presentation will tend to demonstrate that the process of developing a global taxonomy is heavily based on few ideas:
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