Section 12.7. Controlled Vocabularies


12.7. Controlled Vocabularies

There are two primary types of work products associated with the development of controlled vocabularies. First, you'll need metadata matrixes that facilitate discussion about the prioritization of vocabularies (see Table 12-1 for an example). Second, you'll need an application that enables you to manage the vocabulary terms and relationships.

Table 12-1. A metadata matrix for 3Com
VocabularyDescriptionExamplesMaintenance
SubjectTerms that describe networkingHome networking; serversDifficult
Product typeTypes of products that 3Com sellsHubs; modemsModerate
Product nameNames of products that 3Com sellsPC Digital WebCamDifficult
Product brandBrands of products that 3Com sellsHomeConnect; SuperStackEasy
TechnologyTypes of technologies associated with productsISDN; Broadband; Frame relayModerate
ProtocolsTypes of standards and protocols associated with productsTCP/IP; EthernetModerate
HardwareTypes of devices that products are used inPDA; Wireless phone; Internet appliances; PCModerate
Geographic location: regionName of geographic regionEurope; APREasy
Geographic location: countryName of countryGermany; Czech RepublicEasy
LanguageName of languageGerman; CzechEasy
Technology applicationsNames of applications for technologiesCall center; e-businessModerate
IndustriesTypes of industries that 3Com works withHealthcare; governmentEasy
AudiencesKinds of audiences the 3Com site attractsConsumers; First-time visitors; mediaEasy
Customer group: workplaceType of workplace that customers work inHome; officeModerate
Customer group: businessSize or scale of business that customers work inSmall business; large enterprise; service providerModerate
RolesType of role that people have in their businessIT manager; consultantModerate
Document typePurpose of content objectForm; instructions; guideEasy


As you can see from Table 12-1, there's no shortage of possible vocabularies. The information architect's job is to help define which vocabularies should be developed, considering priorities and time and budget constraints. A metadata matrix can help you to walk clients and colleagues through the difficult decision-making process, weighing the value of each vocabulary to the user experience against the costs of development and administration.

As you shift gears from selecting vocabularies to building them, you'll need to choose a database solution to manage the terms and term relationships. If you're creating a sophisticated thesaurus with equivalence, hierarchical, and associative relationships, you should seriously consider investing in thesaurus management software (see Chapter 16 for further discussion). However, if you're creating a simple vocabulary with only preferred and variant terms, you should be able to manage with just a word processor, spreadsheet program, or basic database package.

When we created a controlled vocabulary to be used by thousands of representatives at AT&T's inbound call centers, we managed the accepted and variant terms in Microsoft Word (see Table 12-2).

Table 12-2. Excerpt from a controlled vocabulary database created for AT&T
Unique IDAccepted termProduct codeVariant terms
PS0135Access DialingPCA35810-288; 10-322; dial around
PS0006Air MilesPCS932AirMiles
PS0151XYZ DirectDCW004USADirect; XYZ USA Direct; XYZDirect card


For this project, we were dealing with 7 distinct vocabularies and around 600 accepted terms.

  • Products & Services (151 accepted terms)

  • Partners & Competitors (122 accepted terms)

  • Plans & Promotions (173 accepted terms)

  • Geographic Codes (51 accepted terms)

  • Adjustment Codes (36 accepted terms)

  • Corporate Terminology (70 accepted terms)

  • Time Codes (12 accepted terms)

Even given the relatively small size and simplicity of these vocabularies, we found Microsoft Word was barely sufficient for the task. We created one very long document with tables for each vocabulary. This document was "owned" by a single controlled vocabulary manager and shared via our local area network. Our team of indexing specialists was able to search against accepted and variant terms in the "database" using MS Word's Find capability. And we were able to output tab-delimited files to assist the programmers who were building the site at AT&T.




Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites
ISBN: 0596527349
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 194

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