Here you'll find links to guidance on getting started with vocabulary creation using good practice. Contact services@ands.org.au to suggest additions.
Content developed for this page was originally an output of an AVSIG working group comprising Rowan Brownlee and Les Kneebone.
Introducing vocabularies. What are they and how are they used?
Name | URL | Description |
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Introduction to vocabularies | URL | Presentation to the September 2016 AVSIG meeting |
How to design a vocabulary
Name | URL | Description | Library |
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The Accidental Taxonomist | URL | - A guide to building information taxonomies
- "Drawing on numerous real-world examples, Hedden explains how to create terms and relationships, select taxonomy management software, design taxonomies for human versus automated indexing, manage enterprise taxonomy projects, and adapt taxonomies to various user interfaces"
- Published 2016
| Trove |
Construction of Controlled Vocabularies. A Primer | URL | - Based on ANSI/NISO Z39.19-2005. Topics include principles of controlled vocabularies, their structure, semantic relations, and display.
- Published 2015
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Essential Thesaurus Construction | URL | - "This practical text examines the criteria relevant to the selection of a subject management system, describes the characteristics of some common types of subject tool, and takes the novice step-by-step through the process of creating a system for a specialist environment. The methodology employed is a standard technique for the building of a thesaurus that incidentally creates a compatible classification or taxonomy, both of which may be used in a variety of ways for document or information management."
- Published 2006
| Trove |
Organising knowledge : taxonomies, knowledge and organisational effectiveness | URL | - "Taxonomies are often thought to play a niche role within content-oriented knowledge management projects. They are thought to be ‘nice to have’ but not essential. In this ground-breaking book, Patrick Lambe shows how they play an integral role in helping organizations coordinate and communicate effectively. Through a series of case studies, he demonstrates the range of ways in which taxonomies can help organizations to leverage and articulate their knowledge. A step-by-step guide in the book to running a taxonomy project is full of practical advice for knowledge managers and business owners alike."
- Published 2007
| Trove |
The Taxobook. Part 2. Principles and practices of building taxonomies | URL | - "This book outlines the basic principles of creation and maintenance of taxonomies and thesauri. It also provides step by step instructions for building a taxonomy or thesaurus and discusses the various ways to get started on a taxonomy construction project."
- Published 2014
| Trove |
Thesaurus construction and use : a practical manual | URL | - "A practical guide to the construction of thesauri for use in information retrieval, written by leading experts in the field. Includes: planning and design; vocabulary control; specificity and compound terms; structure and relationships; auxiliary retrieval devices; multilingual thesauri; AAT Compound Term Rules. The US ANSI/NISO Z39.19 Thesaurus construction standard is also covered."
- Published 2000
| Trove |
Thesaurus construction guidelines: An introduction to thesauri and guidelines on their construction | URL | - "This guide was constructed as part of MoTIF (Mo Thesaurus of Irish Folklore), a collaborative project led by the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) and the National Library of Ireland (NLI). One of the project aims was to produce guidelines on the construction of thesauri for librarians, archivists, museum professionals and other information professionals. The guidelines are contained in this document and are accompanied by a pilot thesaurus of Irish folklore."
- Published 2014
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Thesaurus construction. Introductory tutorial | URL | - "The purpose of this module is to teach you the basics of constructing an information retrieval thesaurus."
- Topics include an introduction to to thesauri, selection of terms, and semantic relations.
- Last updated 2008
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How to encode or implement a vocabulary
Name | URL | Description |
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Free taxonomy management software | URL | - 2016 blog posting from the author of "The Accidental Taxonomist" describes TemaTres, ThManager, VocBench and Protoge
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Software for building and editing thesauri | URL | - Listings provided by Taxobank (hosted by Access Innovations). Latest update appears from 2013.
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Taxonomy management software | URL | - Listings provided by Taxonomy Warehouse (hosted by Synaptica)
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Introduction to SKOS
Name | URL | Description |
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Introduction to SKOS. Using SKOS to formalise vocabularies | URL | - Presentation to the March 2017 AVSIG meeting
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SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System) | URL | - "Introduces the various features of SKOS, illustrating how they can be used to represent existing KOS data. Presents how the vision of leveraging existing KOS on the web of data is being adopted in a number of projects, in the Cultural Heritage sector and beyond. Discusses available tooling and methods for creating and publishing SKOS as well as porting legacy KOS data to SKOS"
- Slides from DC-2011 conference tutorial
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SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Primer | URL | - "This document is an implementors guide for those who would like to represent their concept scheme using SKOS."
- Published 2008
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How to discover if the vocabulary you want to create already exists
Name | URL | Description |
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Basel Register of Thesauri, Ontologies & Classifications (BARTOC) | URL | - Vocabularies are categorised by subject and searchable by properties including language, type (e.g. classification, name authority) and format.
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Compendium of Vocabularies | URL | - Maintained by CSIRO, the list is organised by categories including "general research", "earth and environment", "detailed science", and "general purpose".
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Linked Open Vocabularies (LOV) | URL | - "LOV focuses on a subset of vocabularies for the description of RDF data. It does not include any Value Vocabularies such as SKOS thesaurus."
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Research Vocabularies Australia (RVA) | URL | - Provided by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), the RVA discovery portal includes facetted search on subject, publisher, format, access method and licence.
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Taxonomy Warehouse | URL | - Alphabetic listing. Vocabulary descriptions include link to publisher.
- Hosted by Synaptica
- Please note: this link seems to fail in some web browsers
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How to publish a vocabulary
Name | URL | Description |
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Publishing controlled vocabularies for access and reuse | URL | - Presentation to the COAR Controlled Vocabularies Interest Group.
- Published 2016
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Research Vocabularies Australia (RVA) | URL | - Vocabulary service provided by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS)
- "Research Vocabularies Australia (RVA) makes it easy to find and use controlled vocabularies used in research. It also makes it possible for Australian research organisations to publish, re purpose, create, and manage their own controlled vocabularies."
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SISSVoc | URL | - "SISSVoc is a Linked Data API for accessing published vocabularies. SISSVoc provides a RESTful interface via a set of URI patterns that are aligned with SKOS. "
- Users include AuScope and ANDS
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SKOSMOS | URL | - Open source SKOS browsing and publishing tool.
- Users include finto and FAO
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Training materials
Name | URL | Description |
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Practical taxonomy creation | URL | - 3 part recorded webinar series sponsored by the American Society for Indexing and presented by the author of "The Accidental Taxonomist"
- "Practical Taxonomy Creation is aimed at beginners or others seeking practical training. Whether you are new to taxonomies or are familiar with taxonomies in theory but have minimal experience, this course is for you."
- Topics include taxonomy types, gathering terms, and taxonomy management software.
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Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies. Self-Paced Online Course | URL | - 5 self-paced online modules, from the author of "The Accidental Taxonomist"
- "This course provides both a basic introduction to taxonomies, discusses best practices for creating terms and relationships, and provides some practice to start working on taxonomies and thesauri."
- Topics include an introduction to taxonomies, hierarchical relationships, and deciding how to name taxonomy terms.
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Taxonomy and Metadata | URL | - Provided by the Association for Information and Image Management (aiim)
- "Students can go at their own pace and have six months to complete the course and take the final exam to earn their Taxonomy and Metadata Specialist certificate."
- Topics include scoping a taxonomy project, understanding design principles, deciding whether to create or adopt, facet analysis.
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Standards
Name | URL | Description |
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ANSI/NISO Z39.19-2005 (R2010) Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies | URL | - "Presents guidelines and conventions for the contents, display, construction, testing, maintenance, and management of monolingual controlled vocabularies. It focuses on controlled vocabularies that are used for the representation of content objects in knowledge organization systems including lists, synonym rings, taxonomies, and thesauri."
- Published 2010
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ISO 25964 – the international standard for thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies | URL | - "Part 1 of the standard, published in 2011, covers all aspects of developing a thesaurus, monolingual or multilingual. It has replaced the previous standards ISO 2788 and ISO 5964."
- "Part 2 of the standard ... main aim is to encourage high quality information retrieval across networked resources that have been indexed with different vocabularies. It explains how to set up mappings between the concepts in such vocabularies, and other forms of complementary use."
- Published 2011 & 2013
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Consultation and support
Name | URL | Description |
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Taxonomists and controlled vocabulary editors | URL | - Listings provided by the Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies Special Interest Group of the American Society for Indexing
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Taxonomy design and construction consulting | URL | - Listings provided by Taxonomy Warehouse (hosted by Synaptica)
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Taxonomy and metadata consultants | URL | - A list of consultants from The DAM Directory, "a vendor-neutral collection of curated resources on topics related to the multidisciplinary practice of digital asset management (DAM)."
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Taxonomy and metadata listings | URL | - Consultancy listings from the Association of Information and Image Management (aiim). Listings are part of the aiim Buyers' Guide.
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