Robin Macrae's Tags and Categories presentation at PodCamp 2012 in Toronto. Converted from HTML Slidy.

1. Tags
and
Categories
PodCamp
2012
Robin
Macrae
|
robinmacrae@workspacebuilders.com
Copyright
2012
Robin
Macrae.
All
Rights
Reserved .

2. Overview
and
background
(A)
Is
this
you?
(1)
• finding
informaJon
in
your
space
is
difficult
• it's
easy
to
lose
track
of
where
you
are
• Jme
onsite
is
not
as
high
as
it
could
be
• you
take
authoring
seriously
• you
have
valuable
content
• you
plan
on
being
around
for
a
while
Make
the
case
that
tagging
and
categorizaJon
are
essenJal
to
any
serious
web-­‐based
work.
The
more
complex
a
hypertext
space
—
a
site
—
the
more
important
the
role
of
these
two
key
informaJon
architecture
elements.

3. The
plan
(2)
• Overview
– Why
are
you
here
– Background
– A
few
caveats
– My
Tags
and
Categories
thesis
• A
basic
orientaJon
to
tags
and
categories
– A
tag,
a
Category
and
a
taxonomy
– What
is
a
tag,
a
category?
– A
custom
taxonomies
diagram
– The
case
for
Categories,
categorizaJon
is
hard
wired
– Categories
at
work

4. The
plan
(2)
• The
blogosphere
– 95%
of
blogs
use
tags
and
categories
ineffecJvely
– A
few
good
examples
• Blog
stages
of
growth
model
– The
issues
– A
blog's
evoluJon
– RecommendaJons
– The
long
term
benefit
– Go
forth
and
categorize!

5. Study
that
scheme
(3)
• we've
just
used
our
first
categorizaJon
scheme,
a
classificaJon
of
the
slides
by
topic
• compare
its
informaJonal
value
to
– a
search
box
– a
sidebar
widget
and
its
list
or
cloud
of
keywords
– a
presentaJon
with
slide
bullets
but
no
slide
Jtles
The
authoring
of
a
presentaJon
is
a
good
example
of
content
and
classificaJon
iteraJons
(PowerPoint
outlines).

6. My
background
(4)
• my
experience
as
a
pracJJoner
vs
theory
• one
massive
integrated
personal
workspace
or
site
• built
many
large
content
heavy
sites
for
every
size
from
individuals
and
workgroups
to
enterprises
• my
consulJng
pracJce
– content
strategy
and
development,
the
CMS
pa^ern
– informaJon
architecture
—
organize
and
structure
informaJon
– metadata
and
taxonomies
integral
aspect
– complex
informaJon
products
and
content
applicaJons
• WordPress
bias
and
limitaJons

7. Caveats
(5)
What
are
you
building?
• you
need
structure
and
organizaJon
when
you
something
worth
organizing
• discover
the
underlying
order
and
then
nurture
and
culJvate
iteraJvely
• new
content
extends,
explains
or
relates
in
some
other
way
to
exisJng
content
• our
primary
interest
today
is
navigaJon
and
findability
• this
applies
to
any
content
management
system
(CMS)

8. My
Tags
and
Categories
thesis
(6)
TaC
means
the
tags
and
categories
in
a
blog
such
as
WordPress
or
any
CMS.
• TaC
are
important
but
poorly
understood
and
used
—
confusion
is
understandable
• TaC
essenJal
to
effecJve
blogging
for
readers
and
authors
• usage
changes
as
blog
grows
and
evolves
• authors
must
use
them
in
creaJng
content
(ea:ng
your
own
dog
food)
• these
organizing
tools
are
late
to
the
authoring
party
• authoring
driven
classificaJon
schemes
essenJal
to
SemanJc
Web

9. A
basic
orientaJon
to
TaC
(B)
A
tag,
a
Category
and
a
taxonomy
(8)
• WordPress
enables
and
promotes
the
use
of
tags
and
Categories
(Add
New
Post
panel)
– two
of
the
four
steps
in
authoring
a
post
(the
other
two
are
a
post's
Jtle
and
body
content)
– what's
OOTB:
three
taxonomies,
an
API,
lots
of
plugins
• In
WordPress,
we're
surrounded
by
classificaJon
schemes
– for
example,
edit
panel's
columns
—
tracking
posts
by
date,
author,
revision
– but
it's
water,
water,
everywhere
but
not
a
drop
to
drink
– the
primary
scheme
for
posts
is
Categories
and
is
poorly
used
as
a
rule

10. What
is
a
tag?
(9)
• Is
a
tag
just
a
cute
name
for
a
keywords
index?
• fast,
easy
and
cheap
way
to
organize
post
content
• the
poor
relaJve
of
indexing
• uncontrolled
vocabulary
• high
risk
of
proliferaJon
and
eventual
chaos
• progress
from
trivial
and
helpful
to
specialized
and
invaluable
– some
use
in
early
blog
stage
especially
given
alternaJves
(date,
etc.)
– very
useful
when
used
for
indexing

11. What
is
Categories
(10)
• Categories
—
the
builJn
WordPress
hierarchical
taxonomy
for
posts
• Categories
is
a
taxonomy
– a
classificaJon
mechanism
– the
basic
procedures
– the
Taxonomy
API
(no
UI,
hacks
and
plugins
required)
• a
taxonomy
is
– a
method
of
organizing
by
grouping
things
which
share
idenJfied
characteristcis
– can
and
oeen
is
hierarchical
– a
WordPress
blind
spot
(Codex,
etc.)

12. What
is
Categories
(10)
con:nued
• topical
is
most
common
but
infinite
number
of
ways
to
classify
including
– temporal
(date,
Jme
period,
etc.)
– author
– physical
(length,
size,
scope)
– stage
or
type
of
work
or
process
– relaJonships
– geographical
• the
book
pa^ern
– book
pa^ern
is
helpful
in
thinking
about
categories
and
tags
– chapters
are
categories
and
indexes,
tags
– when
would
I
use
a
book's
table
of
contents
vs
the
index?
– Lorelle
credit

13. Custom
taxonomies
diagram
(11)
This
diagram
is
from
What
are
"custom
taxonomies"?
(Joost
de
Valk),
the
developer
of
the
Simple
Taxonomies
plugin.

14. The
case
for
Categories
(12)
• informaJon
architecture
(IA)
—
this
is
metadata
—
that's
the
key
– organizaJon
and
structure
– findability
– navigability
– reuse
– hypertext
quality
• Categories
are
the
key
to
creaJng
an
informaJon
space
• use
it
in
order
for
it
to
be
useful
– invest
in
and
commit
to
using
it
yourself
– find
it
useful
yourself
before
readers
will
find
it
useful
• depth
deepens
context
and
improves
usefulness

15. CategorizaJon
is
hard
wired
(13)
• to
categorize
is
an
innate
human
characterisJc
and
capability
tagging
is
not
a
natural
ability
• classificaJon
schemes
the
builJn
ones
in
WordPress
• recipes
(meals,
ingredients,
season,
cuisine:
Epicurious:
Thai;
browse)
• library
catalog
vs
coffee's
800
facets/a^ributes
• paradigm
shie
from
physical
to
faceted
classificaJon
(Wikipedia)
Everything
is
Miscellaneous
book
by
David
Weinberger

16. More
Categories
capabiliJes
(15)
• Categories
may
be
used
for
various
purposes
• navigaJon/finding:
browsing
a
hierarchy
• Category
specific
templates
• list
selecJvely
(metadata
filtering:
Category
Tagging)
• populate
navbar
in
themes
(e.g.,
Tarski)
• create
and
use
a
content
type
(Asides)
• control
a
private
set
of
posts
(Category
doesn't
display
if
all
posts
are
private)
• add
images
(Category
Image(s))
• suppress
certain
categories

17. 95%
of
blogs
use
tags
and
Categories
ineffecJvely
(16)
• using
Categories
as
if
they
were
tags
with
mulJple
selecJons
• too
many
Jer
1
Categories
(analysis
paralysis)
and
no
Jer
2,
etc.
• single
taxonomy
view
• performance
issue
using
Categories
as
canonical
URLs
(Category
in
Permalinks
Considered
Harmful,
O^o
on
WordPress)
• don't
refactor
so
Categories
don't
evolve
from
rudimentary
iniJally
used
• don't
use
them
themselves
and
think
that
they're
just
for
readers

18. A
few
good
examples
(17)
• A
List
Apart
a
topic
scheme
for
categories
• excellent
way
of
handling
what
are
referred
to
as
topics
• only
seven
categories
at
the
top:
for
example,
Topics
>
User
Science
>
InformaJon
Architecture
• each
category
is
annotated
with
a
useful
descripJon
• top
level
ones
display
their
sub-­‐categories
name
and
link,
descripJons
and
arJcle
count
but
not
posts
themselves
• arJcles
are
oeen
in
more
than
one
category
but
few
are
in
more
than
three
• there
are
no
tags
and
search
isn't
emphasized
• Epicurious:
categories
|
arJcles
&
guides
|
cuisine
|
Thai;
browse

19. A
few
good
examples
(17)
cont
• Victor
Lombardi's
Noise
Between
StaJons
a
moderately
complex
three
Jer
categories
scheme
by
an
IA
Ma^
Mullenweg
in
Victor
Lombardi
(2004):
• Look
at
how
the
informaJon
architects
go
crazy
with
sub-­‐
categories.
I
love
it!
• Toronto
Public
Library's
Site
Map,
a
classificaJon
scheme
—
categories
—
albeit
by
the
way
things
are
organized
as
opposed
to
topically
—
now
404
See
results
for
site
map
search
query
report
—
Type,
Language,
Age
Level,
Library
Branch,
etc.
—
but
no
page
with
all
categories

20. Blog
stages
of
growth
(D)
The
issues
(19)
• a
blog
evolves
through
stages
—
a
strategy
or
plan
is
a
good
idea
• with
plugins,
hacks,
APIs,
category
specific
templates,
etc.,
customizaJon
is
rampant
in
tags
and
categories
but
not
necessarily
to
good
effect
• mulJple
categories
and
tag
proliferaJon
risk
• custom
taxonomies:
are
they
an
alternaJve
when
hierarchies
aren't
supported
in
custom
taxonomies?
• The
search
argument

21. A
blog's
evoluJon
(20)
• a
blog
evolves
—
the
stages
are
50,
250
and
1,000+
posts
—
illustrate
why
a
plan
is
important
• in
the
early
stage,
given
the
number
of
posts,
categories
change
and
tags
of
li^le
use
• crucial
role
of
refactoring
• this
is
informaJon
architecture:
navigaJon,
findability,
reuse,
hypertext
quality
all
of
which
show
the
importance
of
metadata
• For
both
tags
and
Categories,
these
core
capabiliJes
will
only
become
more
important
and
easier
to
use
and
manage
as
WordPress
develops.
More,
be^er
and
easier.
So
a
strategy
is
a
good
idea.

22. RecommendaJons
(21)
• categories
are
a
crucial;
tags
not
so
much
• categories
are
the
key
to
creaJng
an
informaJon
space
• use
cauJon
assigning
posts
to
mulJple
categories
• don't
use
categories
as
the
Permalink
structure
in
the
iniJal
stage
of
a
blog
because
they
will
change
as
the
blog
evolves
• understand
and
address
the
tag
proliferaJon
risk
• in
general,
date
is
a
poor
navigaJon
scheme
and
way
of
classifying
content
—
who
cares
about
your
process?

23. RecommendaJons
(21)
con:nued
• develop
your
scheme
to
reflect
the
stages
of
development
(50,
250
and
1,000+)
• use
it
in
order
for
it
to
be
useful
(dog
food)
• depth
deepens
context
and
improves
usefulness

24. The
long
term
benefit
(22)
UlJmately,
your
use
of
categories
will
determine
the
long
term
value
and
viability
(survival)
of
your
blog.
What
is
the
impact
of
an
effecJve
categories
strategy?
• the
evoluJon
of
your
blog's
content
theme(s)
• the
quality
of
your
hypertext
• your
personal
producJvity

25. Go
forth
and
categorize!
(23)