Description

Where the knowledge applies:
Knowledge management systems that are designed without a rigorous organizational framework become unsearchable faster than their designers anticipate. This module covers the taxonomy and metadata disciplines that prevent that outcome — producing knowledge organization systems that serve the retrieval needs of the people who depend on them.

What the module works through:
– Taxonomy development methodology: the principles behind building hierarchical and faceted classification systems that reflect how users search rather than how content is produced — covering term selection, relationship mapping, and scope note construction
– Controlled vocabulary construction: building authority files, thesauri, and synonym rings that extend retrieval to content that terminology variation would otherwise make unfindable
– Metadata schema design: defining the metadata elements, value standards, and input controls that make content consistently described and therefore consistently retrievable across a knowledge system’s full content range

Module duration: +/- 6 hours

What changes in practice:
Knowledge organization systems designed around retrieval effectiveness rather than storage logic — producing information architectures that remain useful as content volume grows and user populations change, rather than becoming progressively less navigable over time.