Category: Taxonomy

Meet the 2023 Taxonomy Practitioner of the Year

Posted by on in Taxonomy

We have a winner!
Fran Alexander, Taxonomist at the Expedia Group

Taxonomy Boot Camp‘s Taxonomy Practitioner of the Year Award is designed to highlight the very best practitioners working with taxonomies today and is presented to someone who has gone the extra mile to support their organisation.

The winner of the 2023 Award was announced the recent Bite-sized Taxonomy Boot Camp London webinar on Wednesday 11th October 2023.

Congratulations Fran Alexander!

The judging panel included our very own Marc Stephenson, Director here at Metataxis, along with last year’s winner, Chantal Schweizer, Practice Director of Data Services at Pivotree and information architecture professional, Adrian de Luca, Head of Digital Information Management at Condé Nast.

After careful consideration of all the nominees, Fran was selected for her exceptional contribution to the taxonomy community, from sharing conversations and educating others, to hosting regular get-togethers and special sessions with external and in-house speakers on hot topics. Of particular note was the governance model that Fran built herself to coordinate different teams and taxonomy owners to review and close gaps in the knowledge system.

“It was an honour to be part of this year’s judging panel for Taxonomy Boot Camp,” Marc comments. “There were several admirable taxonomists who have all worked hard, supporting their teams to successfully leverage the value of taxonomy in their organisations. It was fantastic to learn all about them and their work, and I am delighted to recognise Fran with this prestigious award.”

We would also like to give a special mention to the four other candidates who made it onto this year’s shortlist: Manisha Sanghavi of Sage Publishing, Jo Chapman of RWS, Jack Bruce of Access Innovations, and Bree Mahlum from Expedia.

Find out more about this year’s Taxonomy Boot Camp’s Taxonomy Practitioner of the Year Winner. 

Taxonomy Boot Camp London Practitioner of the Year Award

Posted by on in Taxonomy

Winner to be announced on 11 October 2023

Taxonomy Boot Camp’s Taxonomy Practitioner of the Year Award is designed to highlight the very best practitioners working with taxonomies today and is presented to someone who’s gone the extra mile to support their organisation.

This year, our very own Marc Stephenson, Director here at Metataxis, is thrilled to have been appointed as one of the judges at the forthcoming Taxonomy Boot Camp London Practitioner of the Year Award for 2023.

At the request of Helen Lippell, Chair of the judges and Boot Camp programme chair, Marc joins a panel of recognised taxonomy and information architecture experts who will evaluate all the 2023 nominees worthy of this prestigious award.

Armed with a clear description of each nominee and projects delivered to date, Marc has undertaken a comprehensive review of their work. Commencing with the initial starting point of each nominee’s project, such as whether there was poor search in place or no taxonomy in the organisation, he has also looked at how they worked together with colleagues and the community, as well as the impact of their work on the organisation and if any initiatives and innovation were introduced to deliver successful and sustainable taxonomies.

“I’m delighted to be part of this judging panel for Taxonomy Boot Camp,” Marc comments. “There are many admirable candidates who have worked hard to successfully manage taxonomy and contribute to the wider taxonomy practice. It’s been an honour to evaluate all the 2023 nominations and select this year’s winner.”

The winner of the Taxonomy Practitioner of the Year Award 2023 will be announced the next Bite-sized Taxonomy Boot Camp London webinar on Wednesday 11th October 2023 and you can register your place now!

Good luck to all the nominees!

Bite sized taxonomy bootcamp

Posted by on in Knowledge Management, Taxonomy

Techniques, tips and tools for taxonomists and knowledge managers.

Our very own Noeleen Schenk spent an excellent afternoon listening to taxonomy experts and practitioners from around the world, including Canada, USA, Germany and the UK – at the recent bite sized Taxonomy Bootcamp.

This virtual event, held this March, included three compelling case studies from taxonomy professionals presenting how they have put taxonomies into practice within their organisations to make their information more accessible and findable.

Our top three takeaways 

1) How to introduce taxonomies and ontologies
Taxonomist & Information Architect, Fran Alexander, revealed tips to explain taxonomies and ontologies and their benefits to stakeholders. She suggested looking at stakeholders as personas to help craft your story to best suit your audience and ultimately drive buy in and project support.

2) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) metadata
Erica Hornung, an Insights & Analytics Associate talked about DEIA metadata, and how organisations need to consider what DEIA metadata is applied in order avoid marginalising identities. She also shared best practices how taxonomy and metadata can better reflect the needs of diverse audiences.

3) Climate change taxonomy
Thomas Bahr, Knowledge Management Officer, United Nations, presented the climate change taxonomy created for the United Nations Climate Change. With over 60,000 official and unofficial documents on their website, he revealed how they developed a taxonomy made up of 12 different facets and 3,226 terms to organise their documents by topic, conference/sessions, keywords and country to support findability as well as joining up climate change information both inside UNCC and with external bodies.

Explains Noeleen: “These online practical sessions are a great way to hear real life challenges, top tips and success stories around the use of taxonomies and how they can facilitate findability, research and discovery for all types of business. I’m really looking forward to the next session soon!”

Whether you are new to taxonomy; perhaps struggling to explain taxonomies to budget holders; or even a seasoned professional seeking tips, look out for other bitesize online bootcamps taking place in 21 June 2023 and 11 October 2023. 

Taxonomy expertise delivers single version of truth

Posted by on in Information Architecture, Information Management, Taxonomy

Metataxis taxonomy expertise improves information management for Central Government department.

Metataxis is delighted to be helping a UK Central Government department to improve the management of its information.

Our experts have been commissioned to create a single taxonomy for use across the entire organisation.

This new taxonomy will name, describe and classify all information held by the department. Once defined, the taxonomy will enable a “single version of the truth” for the improved handling, analysis, and interpretation of the information they hold.

It will also support a real cultural change towards end-to-end system management as well as consistency and standardised working for data, information, and records management. 

This six-month project will consist of phases to collate, validate, and deliver the taxonomy. 

The Metataxis team of experts will then go on to provide key recommendations on its transition to real-life operation and its ongoing maintenance moving forward, to maximise value.

If you would like to learn more about how we help both public sector organisations and private businesses address the challenges of information management simply contact us.